Ice hockey in Unna
| Ice hockey in Unna | |
|---|---|
| Club information | |
| history | Königsborner JEC (since 1985) |
| Club colors | blue White |
| Venue | Ice rink Unna |
| capacity | 4,500 seats (including 2,400 seats) |
Ice hockey was played in Unna - Königsborn ( North Rhine-Westphalia ) from 1977 to 2018.
history
Königsborner SV
Unna ice hockey has officially existed since 1979, two years after the ice rink in Unna-Königsborn was built with a total of 4,000 seats (2,400 seats and 1,600 standing places). The first ice hockey club based in Unna was the Königsborner SV, which even reached the promotion round to the 2nd Bundesliga , but ultimately missed promotion and was financially at the end in 1983.
EHC Unna
The EHC Unna, the successor club of Königsborner SV, existed much longer. This started in 1983 and initially played in the NRW League. In the 1984/85 season he was promoted to the league , from which he was relegated two years later. Again two years later, in the 1988/89 season, the EHCU made it back to the third-highest division. There he advanced to the top team and followed in the athletic footsteps of the KSV. In the 1990/91 season, the EHC Unna reached the qualifying round for the 2nd Bundesliga, but missed promotion and stayed in the league for another year before this club had to stop playing for financial reasons.
Königsborner EC / EC Devils Königsborn
However, since people continued to advocate ice hockey in Unna, the Königsborner EC was founded in 1992, which began playing in the regional league, before merging with EC Devils Iserlohn to form EC Devils Königsborn in 1995 and in the 2nd division in 1995/1996 Nord tried his luck. However, this was only a transit camp for the Devils. In the very first season as ECDK, he was promoted to the 1st League North , the second-highest German division at the time. The season started very promisingly, as the Königsborner were even able to sign the NHL star Jaromír Jágr for a friendly game, which caused a stir throughout Germany and a full Unna ice rink. However, the remainder of the 1996/97 season turned out to be one farce. After a long hacking with the German Ice Hockey Federation, the Devils got their license at the last minute. However, due to a lack of financial resources, gaming operations were permanently at risk. Players came and went, the club even demanded entry fees from other clubs. During the current season, which ended with 2 points and the associated last place in the table, a renaming in Königsborner EC took place. The relegation round could not be finished because the last home game against the then neighbor from Hamm was canceled. So this club was history too.
ESC Unna 97
The ESC Unna 97 then started in the national league in the 1997/98 season. Hoping not to make the old mistakes again, he was immediately promoted to the association league in the same year. Since the old mistakes were not made, but a number of new ones were added, the game had to be stopped during the preliminary round. Due to a lack of players with financial backgrounds, the ESCU could not play twice in a row and was therefore excluded from the game. For the time being, this was the last time that Unna ice hockey had its own senior team.
In the 1999/2000 season, the junior team of the Iserlohner EC carried out the regional league home games in Unna, because on the one hand there was a lack of ice ages in Iserlohn, but at the same time they tried to attract spectators. After a mixed season, which was almost closed to the public, the project 1b team was stopped at short notice. In the two following seasons, no men's team started playing in Unna, instead the ice rink in Unna-Königsborn became the new home of the DEC Iserlohn , a women's team that played in the women's national league and joined the Königsborner JEC for the 2007/08 season connected.
Königsborner youth ice hockey club
The Königsborner Youth Ice Hockey Club (KJEC) was founded in 1985. At first, the focus was exclusively on promoting the next generation. Teams based in Unna such as the EHC Unna, the EC Devils Königsborn and the ESC Unna were happy to rely on the well-trained Königsborn offspring. With the deregistration of the ESC Unna in 1998, however, one faced a vacuum.
In order to be able to offer the numerous young players a sporting home after their junior years, a senior team was sent into the race for the first time in the club's history. The team, peppered with numerous homegrown products, started under the name “Bulldogs” in the NRW regional league. Already in the debut season, the young team was promoted to the state league NRW. In 2003/04, the goal of relegation could be secured early with reaching the promotion round to the association league. In the following season 2004/05 the young "Bulldogs" managed the big coup and they became unbeaten champions of the national league. In the subsequent cup round, the KJEC managed to continue the series of successes and celebrate promotion to the association league as vice-cup winner.
As a result of a restructuring of the North Rhine-Westphalian amateur leagues, the Königsborner JEC was classified in the highest German amateur class - the Regionalliga - in the 2005/06 season. Here the young "Bulldogs" had to compete against clubs that had numerous professionals and semi-professionals. The financially limited possibilities did not allow big jumps, which is why the class could not be kept athletic. The young players fought until the end - in contrast to other clubs - completely free of charge.
As a successor, the KJEC was able to compete in the Regionalliga in the 2006/07 season. After a surprisingly strong preliminary round - the KJEC finished 9th out of a total of 12 places - coach Uwe Roosen's team was relegated in the subsequent cup round. But the Bulldogs will also be represented in the regional league in the 2007/08 season. With the withdrawal of ESV Bergisch Gladbach, Königsborn was able to hold the class again as a successor.
The 2007/08 season was the most successful sport in the club's history to date. After Königsborn, at that time still under coach Uwe Roosen, had finished the preliminary round again on the penultimate place in the table, they were much more successful in the following cup round. After Willi Tesch had already taken over the duties of Uwe Roosen after his resignation immediately after the preliminary round game at DEG Metro Stars II, things gradually got better. Just in time for the start of the cup round, the two successful regional league foreigners Derek Picklyk and David Stetch from league rivals EC Bergisch Land were signed. This change turned out to be the right one, because from then on Königsborn fought for the cup victory. In the end, they were able to celebrate their relegation early on and missed the cup victory with just two points behind.
The sporting success of the first men's team from the previous season was exceeded in the 2008/09 season: After a successful preliminary round, the KJEC missed the promotion round to the league with only seven points and finished in seventh place. As in the previous year, the Königsborn team came second in the cup round and were runner-up in the cup.
For the 2010/11 season , the first team rose to the newly founded Oberliga West . In 2014 he withdrew to the NRW League .
Since the ice rink in Unna was closed, the junior teams and the women's team of the Königsborner JEC have been playing and training in the Bergkamen ice rink .
Women ice hockey
Since the 2007/08 season, the DEC Iserlohn women's ice hockey team has also been participating in the game under the name of Königsborner JEC . In the regional league cup round in 2008 they won the cup and in the following season 2008/09 the women made it to the second division north.
Ice rink
The Unna ice rink was opened in 1977 and offered space for almost 4,200 spectators. The sports hall itself had two ice rinks, several changing rooms and a weight room. Over the years the hall has hosted several national and international events, such as B. Venue of some international matches of the German national ice hockey team Based on the findings of the investigations into the roof structure of the ice rink, which were carried out since January 2007 due to the collapse of the Bad Reichenhall ice rink and swimming pool, the ice rink was closed on April 26, 2007 until after the completion of The refurbishment work planned as necessary is closed. On June 15, 2007, the Unna City Council decided with a majority of 34 against 11 votes to support the redevelopment with up to 600,000 euros. On November 3, 2007, the hall was reopened after a successful renovation. From 2014, there was an increased discussion in Unna about the continued operation and profitability of the hall. In 2017, the contract with the tenant, which ran until 2020, was terminated by the city. After the ice processing system could no longer be repaired in summer 2018 , the city council decided to close and demolish the hall.
The ice rink was the venue for international matches. In 1997 the German Ice Hockey Federation organized the so-called "Christmas Cup", an annual ladies' ice hockey tournament in which Germany and Switzerland and Canada also took part. The highlight was the international match of the German men's national team against Kazakhstan , which the Germans won 3-0. The Unna ice rink is also a popular training location. In addition to the national team, which set up a training camp in Unna, the Kassel Huskies regularly came to train in Hellwegstadt. A summer training camp of the LEV NRW also took place here every year.
Web links
- Official website of the Königsborner JEC
- Website of the DEC Iserlohn with information on the women's team of the KJEC ( Memento from June 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive )