Ice hockey in Grefrath
Ice hockey in Grefrath has been played within ice sports clubssince 1969, when the original Grefrather EC was founded. Today there are two clubs that do ice skating as well as ice hockey.
history
| Grefrather EC | |
|---|---|
| Greatest successes | |
| Club information | |
| history |
Grefrather EC from 1969 (1969–1992) Grefrather EV (1992–2001) Grefrather EC 2001 (since 2001) |
| Club colors | Blue - yellow |
| league | State League NRW |
| Venue | Ice sports center Grefrath |
| capacity | 4,500 seats |
| Head coach | Arno Brux |
Grefrather EC from 1969
The history of the Grefrather ice hockey teams begins with the founding of the Grefrather EC 1969 , in the Regional - season 1972/73 the first time on higher-class hockey and from season 1973/74 at the league participated. During this time, the GEC was one of the strongest teams in the league. Clubs like EC Hannover, Hamburger SV or Eintracht Frankfurt regularly lost during this time, sometimes very significantly in Grefrath. For their own start, Eintracht Frankfurt had to play the home game in Grefrath and lost 15: 3. The team was denied promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga. The EHC Munich turned out to be too strong. Important players of this time were Brase, Preaching, Feyen, Locicero, Obermann, Rick Daigle and John Plouffe. The Oberliga belonged to the GEC until the 1989/90 season , when the team under coach Vic Stanfield was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga . The most famous players of this time were Mark MacKay and Wayne Hynes .
At the end of the 1991/92 season , the "old" GEC had to file for bankruptcy due to ongoing economic problems.
Grefrather EV
In order to continue the game operation, Grefrather EV was founded, which continued the game operation in the 1992/93 season in the Oberliga Nord . With the introduction of the German Ice Hockey League and the associated restructuring of the league system, the team was classified in the third-class 2nd League North . From this division, the team rose to the first division north in the 1996/97 season and was then one of the founding members of the second division , which in the first season of 1998/99 was still operating under the name “ Bundesliga” .
As part of the adoption of additional names for the teams, the first team of the GEV was given the nickname Power Panthers . Well-known players such as Helmut de Raaf , François Sills , Werner Kühn , Andy Pritchard and Benoît Doucet played in the ice rink on Stadionstrasse at that time. The team's greatest success was their participation in the promotion round to the 2nd Bundesliga in the 1997/98 season under coach Lothar Kremershof .
In the course of the 1999/00 season , the club management decided due to ongoing financial problems to stop the first team's play after the preliminary round. Then an application was made to continue playing with the second team in the qualification for the Regional League North Rhine-Westphalia and thus to be allowed to withdraw into the leagues of the State Ice Sports Association of North Rhine-Westphalia. Under the impression that GEC Nordhorn and EHC Neuwied had already stopped playing in the same division, Grefrather EV finally received approval, but nevertheless had to file for bankruptcy in 2001 .
Grefrather EC 2001
As the successor to the Grefrather EV, the Grefrather EC was founded in 2001 to continue the game operations , which retained the nickname Power Panthers for its first team. The club was supported in the implementation of the first team in the Regional League North Rhine-Westphalia until after the 2003/04 season by Grefrather Eishockey GmbH . In the course of the 2003/04 season , the shareholders of the GmbH decided to end the cooperation with the club at the end of the season. Due to the relegation at the end of the season to the fifth class association league NRW, the first team was effectively transferred to the new Nierspanthers Ltd. outsourced and also the nickname of the team adapted.
The team of the Nierspanther took part in the 2005/06 season in the fourth-class regional league North Rhine-Westphalia, where they reached the promotion round to the Oberliga Nord with the participants of the Regionalliga Hessen and landed there in fifth place. In the 2006/07 season , the men's team again reached fourth place in the regional league. In the joint promotion round to the Oberliga Nord, fifth place was again occupied, which narrowly missed the play-off games. In the second half of the season, the GEC 2001 board and the management of Nierspanther Ltd. to discrepancies that ended in the termination of the cooperation agreement. The board decided to withdraw the senior team from the fourth-class regional league to the fifth-class association league, which was accepted by the state ice sports association of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The senior team, the Nierspanther , took part in the fifth-class Association League North Rhine-Westphalia in the 2009/10 season and was no longer registered for participation in the game operation for the 2010/11 season.
Lady Panthers
The women's team was founded in the times of the GEV, the Lady Panthers Grefrath , reached in the Relegation 1993/94 promotion to the woman hockey Bundesliga , won there in the 1996/97 season after a first place in Group North in the play -offs third place. The team was able to assert itself in the highest German women's ice hockey league until the 2010/11 season , when the team had to go down while lying in last place. In 2002 and 2004 the team even managed to win the German Women's Ice Hockey Cup .
Well-known players in the Lady Panthers include Olympian Esther Thyßen and her sisters Sarah and Rachel Thyßen.
Grefrather EG
| Grefrather EG | |
|---|---|
| Greatest successes | |
|
Promotion to the Regionalliga West 2020 |
|
| Club information | |
| history | Grefrather EG (founded 2009) |
| Club colors | Blue - yellow |
| league | Regionalliga West |
| Venue | Ice sports center Grefrath |
| executive Director | Christoph Hagen |
| Head coach | Karel Lang |
| Season 2019/20 | 5th place LL-NRW / promotion |
Due to disagreements in Grefrather Eissport, the Grefrather Eissport Gemeinschaft (GEG) was founded in 2009 , which around 90% of the GEC members joined in 2001. With its senior team, the Grefrath Phoenix , the GEG takes part in the third-class Oberliga West , with a women's team in the 2nd League North organized by the LEV NRW and also with junior teams in the game. The senior team has been trained by Karel Lang since 2010 .
In 2014, the club withdrew from the league game.
Venue
Until 2012/13 the sporting events of all Grefrath ice sports teams took place in the ice sports center Grefrath, which is operated by the "Sport und Freizeit GmbH". Other events such as concerts or trade fairs are also held in the hall. In addition, the ice sports center is open to the public.
Since 2013/14 no more ice times have been rented to the GEC 2001 in the ice sports center Grefrath, so that the women's team of the GEC 2001 plays the home games in Wesel and trains in Essen together with the women of the ESC Mosquito Essen . Some of the players from the youth teams at GEC 2001 switched to GSC Moers and some to GEG.
Individual evidence
- ^ Rene Thielsch: 40 years of ice hockey in Grefrath. In: Grefrather EG website. February 8, 2013, accessed February 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Grefrather EG withdraws team from the Oberliga ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
