Grizzlies Wolfsburg

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Grizzlies Wolfsburg
Greatest successes
Club information
history SEC Wolfsburg (1964–1971)
TV Jahn Wolfsburg (1971–1986)
ESC Wolfsburg (1986–1994)
EC Wolfsburg (1994–1996)
EHC Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg (1996–2015)
Grizzlys Wolfsburg (since 2015)
Nickname The grizzlies
Parent club EHC Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg 1992 e. V.
Club colors orange, black
league German ice hockey league
Venue Ice arena Wolfsburg
capacity 4503 seats (including 3050 seats)
managing Director Karl-Heinz Fliegauf
Head coach Pat Cortina
captain Sebastian Furchner
Season 2020/21 German runner-up

The Grizzlys Wolfsburg , until July 2015 Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg , are a German ice hockey team from Wolfsburg that has played in the German Ice Hockey League since the 2007/08 season . The parent club EHC Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg 1992 e. V. emerged in 1992 from a fan club, took over in 1995 after the bankruptcy of EC Wolfsburg e. V. runs the game and is still responsible for running the youth and amateur teams. In 2004 the professional team was spun off from the parent club to EHC Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams GmbH .

The Grizzlys play their home games in the Eis Arena Wolfsburg , which opened in 2006, and their club colors are orange and black. The club celebrated its greatest successes to date in 2009 when it won the German Ice Hockey Cup and in 2011 when it entered the play-off final after the main round had been completed first, as well as in 2016 and 2017 when the Play- off final was reached. In 2010 and from 2013 to 2015 , the team reached the play-off semifinals, so that from 2013 they were in the semifinals five times in a row.

history

The beginnings at SEC Wolfsburg and TV Jahn Wolfsburg (1964 to 1986)

season league place
1978/79 RL 7th
1979/80 RL
1980/81 RL 2. ↑
1981/82 OIL 7th
1983/84 OIL 5.
1984/85 OIL 6th
1985/86 OIL 11.

↑ ↓ in the promotion / relegation round

The Schillerteich, birthplace of Wolfsburg ice hockey

Ice sports had already become popular in Wolfsburg in the 1960s. The first step towards an organized game took place on October 25, 1964, when the hobby players joined the Wolfsburg Ski Club, which from then on was called SEC (Ski and Ice Sports Club) Wolfsburg. From the previously used Schillerteich in the district of the same name , it went to the Porschestadion district sports facility, where the area originally used for fistball served as a playing area in winter. Since, despite this facility, regular game operations were not possible, the SEC registered a team in the state league in 1967, where a home ground was found in the ice rink at the horse tower in neighboring Hanover .

After joining the TV Jahn Wolfsburg in 1971, the point games were played in the Altenau ice rink and the first successes were recorded. In addition to being promoted to the regional league, the league made it into the league in 1981, but the club was still denied its own stadium. Due to the lack of income from home games and the company's own travel expenses, TV Jahn went bankrupt in 1982, but the company was re-established immediately.

On November 11, 1983, the then ice palace was handed over to the city of Wolfsburg and on November 13, 1983 the so-called "Red Devils" from TV Jahn Wolfsburg played the first game in the major league against SC Solingen. In 1986 the ice hockey division separated from TV Jahn Wolfsburg.

Re-establishment of the ESC Wolfsburg (1986 to 1994)

season league place
1986/87 OIL 3. ↑
1987/88 2nd BL 6th
1988/89 2nd BL 4th
1989/90 2nd BL 4th
1990/91 2nd BL 7th
1991/92 2nd BL 6. ↓
1992/93 OIL 4. ↓
1993/94 RL 1. ↑

↑ ↓ in the promotion / relegation round

With the relegation to the regional league in 1986, the ESC Wolfsburg was founded as an independent ice hockey club with the ENT doctor Dr. Sibylle Hartebrodt (died 2003) founded as chairwoman. The ESC, however, was taken back into the league because Henryk Pytel and Stanislaw Klocek, two top players, were committed and as a result, the clubs of the regional league refused to compete against the supposedly too strong Wolfsburg. After a third place after the preliminary round, Wolfsburg rose to the second Bundesliga in 1987/88 and had a patron in Wolfgang Heitmann who later co-founded the upswing of VfL Wolfsburg .

The season ended after the preliminary round in sixth place, but the relegation could be avoided by 15 wins in 20 games and a resulting first place in the qualifying round for the 2nd League North. Despite the mediocre performance, two strikers of the ESC were at the top of the scorer ranking with Mark Kosturik in first place with 111 points and John Markell in third place. The second year in the 2nd Bundesliga, as well as the following season 1989/90, ended with a fourth place after the preliminary round. After a seventh place in the preliminary round, ESC Wolfsburg had to start the qualifying round north again in the 1990/91 season , but was able to finish the season there with relegation.

It was different in the following season, in which the team had to compete in the so-called "lower intermediate round" due to a sixth place and after a seventh place, together with the Grefrather EC and EV Ravensburg, relegated to the league. There a fourth place was achieved both after the preliminary round and the championship round of the Oberliga Nord. Due to a structural change in the leagues, the ESC took part in the 1993/94 season in the regional league and finished the season as the preliminary round champion without defeat in 26 games.

Parallel founding of the later Grizzly Adams

The grizzly bear, namesake of the Wolfsburg

In 1986 the then numerically largest fan club "Red Devils" was renamed "Grizzly Adams". In the early 1990s, the fan club registered its own hobby ice hockey team, and the EHC Grizzly Adams e. V. When EC Wolfsburg faced financial failure in the mid-1990s, EHC Grizzly Adams initially took over the junior division of EC Wolfsburg and later merged completely into EHC Grizzly Adams.

The name goes back to James Capen Adams , who was portrayed in the television series The Man in the Mountains by Dan Haggerty . Adams is shown there as a man in the North American wilderness who befriends a young grizzly bear called "Ben" and is therefore nicknamed "Grizzly" Adams. The team mascot of the Grizzlys Wolfsburg is therefore a grizzly bear and is accordingly called Ben.

Bankruptcy and re-establishment (1994 to 1998)

season league place
1994/95 1st League 4th
1995/96 1st League 12th
1996/97 RL 3.
1997/98 RL 4th

Despite the successful 1993/94 season, ESC Wolfsburg went bankrupt at the end of the season. With the former functionaries Michael Musfeldt and Dieter Reim, the "EC Wolfsburg" was founded through a license transfer with EC Duisburg , which started in the 1st League North . The main round was - just like the subsequent championship round - finished with a fourth place. This performance was not continued in the following season and the team could not move into the championship round with a twelfth place after the main round. After this season, the only two-year-old EC Wolfsburg had to stop playing again.

The new beginning was created with the establishment of the EHC Wolfsburg, which was allowed to compete in the Regionalliga Nord for the 1996/97 season. A third place after the preliminary round was also followed by third place in the final round. The 1997/98 season ended the team in fourth place, the subsequent round of promotion to the league ended as it were with fourth place.

Ascents and Descents (1998 to 2007)

Due to the good performance in the national association of the last six years, the newly founded EHC Wolfsburg - with the nickname Grizzly Adams - took part in the game of the German Ice Hockey Federation for the first time in the 1998/99 season . The team played in the 1st League North, which also included the teams from Braunschweig, Adendorf and Timmendorfer Strand . Under the coach Stefan Mikes the relegation round was won at the end of the season after a ninth place in the preliminary round and thus the relegation was achieved.

season league place
1998/99 1st League 9.
1999/00 OIL 5.
2000/01 OIL 1. ↑
2001/02 2nd BL 6th
2002/03 2nd BL 7th
2003/04 2nd BL 1. ↑
2004/05 DEL 13. ↓
2005/06 2nd BL 8th.
2006/07 2nd BL 2. ↑

↑ ↓ in the promotion / relegation round

In the following season 1999/2000 the EHC Wolfsburg played in the meanwhile renamed Oberliga Nord against teams from Duisburg , Bremerhaven and Ratingen , which dominated the action. At the end of the double round, the Grizzly Adams finished fifth in the table, but had to admit defeat to the southern representative EV Landshut 2-1 games in the semi-finals in the promotion play-offs to the 2. Bundesliga 2000/01 .

For the 2000/01 season , the Grizzly Adams were able to sign two top performers: strikers Arpad Györi and Karol Rusznyák - both from HC Dukla Trenčín . With the most goals scored in the league, the fewest goals conceded and in the ice palace at home without losing points, the VW townspeople came in first at the end of the preliminary round. In the final round, the ETC Crimmitschau was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga and the EHC played in a professional league for the first time in five years. The team was strengthened selectively for the 2nd Bundesliga and was able to achieve sixth place straight away. In the following play-offs it came in the quarterfinals to a clash with the Bietigheim Steelers , who won the series 3-2 after five games. After the season there was a change in the squad, in which, among others, Arpad Györi and Karol Rusznyak, who are popular in fan circles, left the club.

With a seventh place after the double round, the Grizzly Adams established themselves in the 2nd Bundesliga in the 2002/03 season. In the play-offs there was again the early end of the season in the quarter-finals, when SC Riessersee won the best-of-five series with 3-0 victories. At the beginning of the 2003/04 season , the defenders Alexander Genze and Petr Bareš were committed, who contributed with their performances to a sovereign victory in the preliminary round. As the first opponent in the play-offs, the Wolfsburg beat the Schwenninger Wild Wings with three wins. In the semifinals, too, SC Bietigheim-Bissingen was defeated 3-2 after five encounters. In the final, the EV Landshut was the opponent, against whom the EHC achieved the biggest success in the club's history with 3-1 wins and rose to the German ice hockey league .

Initially, the Grizzlies were praised as the best climber of all time, but in the second half of the season the team lost connection to the play-off places and fell to the penultimate place in the table and thus into the play-downs . The relegation was avoided by a win in this series against the Kassel Huskies , but the EHC was only equipped with a special permit for this season, as the construction of a necessary, larger arena was not completed on time. At the shareholders' meeting of the DEL on June 28, 2005, the club's license for the coming season was therefore withdrawn and the Kassel Huskies were able to hold their class at the Green Table . The Grizzlies now had to start again in the 2nd ice hockey Bundesliga .

Despite the goal of achieving immediate resurgence, the 2005/06 season did not go as planned for the club. The team secured - after Bob Leslie was fired and Toni Krinner joined as the new coach - the eighth and thus the last play-off place. The season was already over for the team after the first four play-off games against REV Bremerhaven . During the summer break, the ice palace was expanded to make it suitable for the DEL.

Cup game between the Grizzly Adams and the Hamburg Freezers 2007

At the start of the 2006/07 season , the renovated ice palace was inaugurated on September 13 and in EisArena renamed (2007-2013: Volksbank Brawo Ice Arena , since then: Ice Arena ). The first home game of the season took place on September 17, 2006 against EV Landshut, which was won 4: 3. At the end of the main round, the Grizzlies moved into the play-offs as second with 107 points. They prevailed against Mosquitos Essen in a best-of-seven series 4-0 in the quarter-finals , and in the semifinals they defeated EV Landshut in best-of-five mode with three wins. The final series against the Kassel Huskies won the team without a defeat with 3: 0, an increase on 17 April 2007 for the second time in the German Ice Hockey League on.

Times in the DEL (since 2007)

season league place Play-offs
2007/08 DEL 13th -
2008/09 DEL 7th Quarter finals
2009/10 DEL 3. Semifinals
2010/11 DEL 1. final
2011/12 DEL 3. Quarter finals
2012/13 DEL 10. Semifinals
2013/14 DEL 6th Semifinals
2014/15 DEL 7th Semifinals
2015/16 DEL 4th final
2016/17 DEL 5. final
2017/18 DEL 7th Quarter finals
2018/19 DEL 12th -
2019/20 DEL 9. -
2020/21 DEL 3. / N final

The 2007/08 season ended the Grizzly Adams 13th with 55 points and thus missed the play-offs. With an average of 17.27 penalty minutes, however, the team won the WestLB Fair Play Trophy , an award given annually by the German Ice Hockey League and WestLB to the fairest team in the DEL season.

In the 2008/09 season , the Grizzly Adams celebrated their greatest success in the club's history by winning the German Ice Hockey Cup . After a seventh place after the preliminary round, the team reached the pre-play-offs and stood after 3-1 wins against the Augsburger Panther in the quarter-finals of the German ice hockey league. There the grizzlies met the Hanover Scorpions , to which they were defeated after 2: 4 games. As in the previous year, the team also won the WestLB Fair Play Trophy as the fairest team of the season.

The 2009/10 season ended the team in third place after the preliminary round. In the subsequent play-off round, the DEG Metro Stars were defeated 3-0 in the quarter-finals before the Wolfsburg team lost 3-1 in the semi-final against the Augsburg Panthers . In addition, the team was awarded the WestLB Fair Play Trophy for the third time in a row.

The 2010/11 season ended with the team first in the preliminary round. In the subsequent play-off round, the Kölner Haie were defeated in the quarter-finals and the Krefeld Penguins in the semifinals with 3-0 without losing a game. In the final, the Wolfsburg were just as smoothly defeated, albeit by a narrow margin in the individual games, to the Eisbären Berlin with 0: 3.

The 2011/12 season ended for Wolfsburg in third place after the preliminary round. The team scored the most goals in the league and had the best defense. In the play-off quarter-finals, the Lower Saxony surprisingly eliminated 4-0 in the best-of-seven series against the Straubing Tigers .

In the 2012/13 season Wolfsburg started with a lot of injury problems. Defender and national player Christoph Fischer was injured so badly before the season that he couldn't play a single game for Grizzly Adams for the entire 2012/13 season. Defender Armin Wurm was initially unavailable due to an injury and only recovered on matchday 12. In addition, Simon Danner suffered a concussion on matchday four and, like Fischer, was out the rest of the season. Shortly afterwards, another defender, Rainer Köttstorfer, was injured so badly that he did not come back that season. After all, in the first third of the season with the star strikers Tyler Haskins (7 games) and Matt Dzieduszycki (15 games), two other top performers on the offensive due to concussions. This happened at a time when other DEL teams were reinforcing themselves with players from the NHL during the NHL lockout . At this point, however, the people in charge of the Grizzly Adams ruled out reinforcement with lockout players due to a lack of planning security. The result of all this was the last place in the table in October 2012. Around Christmas 2012 and at the turn of the year, on the one hand, the ranks of the injured partially thinned, on the other hand, more players were signed. This meant that the Grizzly Adams were able to secure tenth place in the table with a brilliant catch-up with the last game day of the main round, which entitled to participate in the pre-play-offs. Here the Wolfsburg defeated the Nürnberg Ice Tigers , the table seventh in the main round, with 2: 1 in the best-of-three series and thus moved into the play-off quarter-finals - for the first time ever in DEL history Tenth in the table made it into the quarter-finals. The first in the main round, the Adler Mannheim, was waiting in the quarter-finals . Here the Wolfsburg prevailed after games with 4: 2 and were thus in the semi-finals. Here, however, the Kölner Haie won with a clear 3-0 sweep against the now exhausted Grizzly Adams.

The 2013/14 season started very successfully for the Grizzly Adams, so Wolfsburg could look forward to the best start to a DEL season ever. However, the injury bad luck caught up with Wolfsburg again, so they lost the important attackers Greg Moore and Matt Dzieduszycki for several months early in the season , for the latter the injury even meant the premature end of the season. The failure of Greg Moore was compensated for by the signing of Brent Aubin , and shortly before Christmas Ramzi Abid also joined the team, both of whom received a contract until the end of the season. The Wolfsburg team also managed something historical at the beginning of the season - they lost 8-1 to the newcomer Schwenninger Wild Wings and a few weeks later they won 8-0 at home against the reigning champion Eisbären Berlin , which was the second highest victory in Wolfsburg's DEL history meant. In the course of the season, however, the team managed to act more consistently, so that they were among the top six teams in the table for the majority of the season. The main round was finally finished in sixth place in the table. In the playoffs for the German championship, the Grizzly Adams first knocked out the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers with a 4-2 win in a row. In the semifinals, as in the previous year, they lost to the Kölner Haien , who won the series 4-1.

In the 2014/15 season , the Grizzly Adams reached seventh place in the main round. In the play-offs they knocked out EHC Red Bull Munich 4-0 in the quarter-finals before losing to Adler Mannheim with the same result in the semifinals.

On July 23, 2015, EHC Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg GmbH announced that it would in future be called Grizzlys Wolfsburg in short , and the logo was redesigned accordingly. In the following 2015/16 season they finished fourth in the main round. In the meantime, because of the VW emissions affair and thus savings in the sporting area, there was a threat that the financing by Volkswagen AG would be stopped before a reduced sponsorship was promised for the coming season. In the play-off games they beat the Düsseldorfer EG 4-1 in the quarter-finals and the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers 4-2 in the semifinals, so that they were in the DEL final for the second time in their history. There they lost 4-0 to EHC Red Bull Munich. Thus, the grizzlies did not manage to win in both DEL finals in seven games. Participation in the Champions Hockey League in the 2016/17 season was associated with reaching the finals . There the team reached the first play-off round, in which the grizzlies were eliminated against the ZSC Lions .

In the 2016/17 season they reached 5th place after the main round. After play-off victories against the Kölner Haie and - as in the previous year - with 4-2 wins against the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers, so that they again in the final against the EHC Red Bull Munich stood that they lost with 1: 4 wins. Once again they qualified for the Champions Hockey League, in which they were eliminated in the first round after two wins and four losses. The 2017/18 game year was the last under the leadership of coach Pavel Gross, whose move to Mannheim (from the 2018/19 season on) became known in January 2018. Gross led the Wolfsburg into the quarter-finals of the championship round in his last year in office, where they were eliminated with 1: 4 wins against the Eisbären Berlin.

team

Squad of the 2020/21 season

Status: January 12, 2021

No. Nat. player Item Date of birth in the team since place of birth
34 Flag of Canada and Germany.svg Chet Pickard G November 29, 1989 2019 Moncton , New Brunswick , Canada
1 GermanyGermany Dustin Strahlmeier G 17th May 1992 2020 Gelsenkirchen , Germany
59 GermanyGermany Maximilian Adam D. February 22, 1998 2019 Goerlitz , Germany
7th GermanyGermany Dominik Bittner D. June 10, 1992 2019 Weilheim , Germany
91 DenmarkDenmark Phillip Bruggisser D. August 7, 1991 2020 Rødovre , Denmark
55 Flag of Canada and Germany.svg Ryan Button D. March 26, 1991 2019 Edmonton , Alberta , Canada
9 United StatesUnited States Jeff Likens D. August 28, 1985 2013 Barrington , Illinois , USA
44 CanadaCanada Julian Melchiori D. December 6, 1991 2020 Richmond Hill , Ontario , Canada
24 GermanyGermany Janik Möser Injured.svg D. September 26, 1995 2020 Mannheim , Germany
41 GermanyGermany Steven Raabe D. June 1, 2001 2018 Salzgitter , Germany
12th GermanyGermany Armin Wurm D. June 11, 1989 2009 Fuessen , Germany
28 CanadaCanada Jordan Boucher LW February 21, 1994 2020 Montréal , Québec , Canada
29 GermanyGermany Valentin Busch F. January 8, 1998 2018 Erding , Germany
23 GermanyGermany Gerrit Fauser C. July 13, 1989 2013 Nuremberg , Germany
4th Flag of Canada and Germany.svg Garrett Festerling C. March 3, 1986 2019 Quesnel , British Columbia , Canada
17th GermanyGermany Sebastian Furchner LW March 5, 1982 2008 Kaufbeuren , Germany
88 SwedenSweden Max Goertz RW January 28, 1993 2020 Höör , Sweden
94 GermanyGermany Phil Hungerecker LW August 3, 1994 2020 Lueneburg , Germany
71 FinlandFinland Matti Järvinen C. October 14, 1989 2020 London , UK
93 CanadaCanada Spencer Machacek RW October 14, 1988 2018 Lethbridge , Alberta , Canada
90 GermanyGermany NetherlandsNetherlands Jan Nijenhuis F. August 4, 2001 2019 Munich , Germany
46 NorwayNorway Mathis Olimb C. February 1, 1986 2019 Oslo , Norway
95 GermanyGermany Fabio Pfohl C. October 8, 1995 2018 Waldkraiburg , Germany
18th FranceFrance Anthony Rech LW July 9, 1992 2010 Sallanches , France

Coaching staff

activity Surname Date of birth In the team since place of birth
Trainer CanadaCanada Pat Cortina 4th September 1964 2019 Montreal , Quebec
assistant United StatesUnited States Tyler Haskins May 26, 1986 2020 Madison , Ohio , USA
assistant FinlandFinland Petteri Väkiparta 2nd December 1977 2019 Heinola , Finland

Significant past teams

Champion 2nd Bundesliga and promotion to DEL 2006/07

Michael Henrich after winning the championship in the 2nd Bundesliga
position Surname
Goal: Chris Rogles , Jan Münster , Sandro Agricola , Kevin McGibney , Seamus Kotyk
Defense: Alexander Genze , Thomas Gödtel , David Danner , Lars Brüggemann , Mike Pudlick , Tim Schneider , Jesse Fibiger , Elvis Bešlagič , Michael Schutte , Stephan Wilhelm
Storm: Maximilian Seyller , Timothy Regan , Todd Simon , Christoph Wietfeldt , André Reiss , Preston Callander , Mark Kosick , Michael Henrich , Jan Žůrek , Mattias Wikström , Rainer Suchan , Sven Breiter , Eric Dylla , Josef Kottmair , Herbert Geisberger , Markus Guggemos , Andrej Kaufmann
Trainer: Toni Krinner

Cup winner 2009

position Surname
Goal: Oliver Jonas , Etienne Renkewitz , Daniar Dshunussow
Defense: Alexander Genze , Marvin Degon , Jan-Axel Alavaara , Arvīds Reķis , David Danner , Markus Gleich , Matt Kinch , Dirk Wrobel , Alexander Dotzler , Petr Macholda , Fredrik Svensson
Storm: Tim Regan , Kai Hospelt , Gregg Johnson , Norm Milley , Sebastian Furchner , Ken Magowan , Christoph Höhenleitner , Jan Žůrek , Jason Ulmer , Mike Green , Damian Martin , Florian Vollmer , Justin Papineau , Andreas Morczinietz
Trainer: Toni Krinner , Pavel Gross

player

Members of the Hockey Hall of Fame Germany

Personalities who have made an outstanding contribution to ice hockey in Germany are accepted into the “Hall of Fame” of the German Ice Hockey Museum. Of the actors recorded in Wolfsburg:

(Team membership and position in brackets)

The Canadian was on the ice in 16 games for Wolfsburg during the 1995/96 season and scored a total of 25 points scorer.
The former NHL veteran trained the ESC Wolfsburg between 1988 and 1989 in the 2nd Bundesliga and reached fourth place in the table.

Internal club records

Status: 2014/15 season

Games
place player Games
1. Jan Žůrek 449
2. Sebastian Furchner 403
3. Norm Milley 402
4th Christoph Wietfeldt 347
5. Roman Veber 283
Top scorer
place Surname Points
1. Mark Kosturik 861
2. John Markell 658
3. Jan Žůrek 453
4th Norm Milley 370
5. László Csata 278
Penalty minutes
place Surname PIM
1. John Markell 505
2. Todd Simon 447
3. Christoph Wietfeldt 433
4th Roman Veber 349
5. László Csata 315

Well-known former players

(Team membership and position in brackets)

Čiernik only played one season in Wolfsburg, but was guaranteed to stay in the league and a crowd favorite thanks to his scorer points. He then moved to the Kölner Haien , where he was the team's best scorer several times.
The former national team goalkeeper played his last active season with the Grizzlies before retiring due to injury problems.
Since the 2004/05 NHL season was canceled because of the lockout , Conklin signed a contract with the Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg in January 2005. There he played eleven games.
The striker played four seasons for ESC Wolfsburg and was appointed to the German national team due to his performance.
The former NHL veteran played twelve games for Wolfsburg during the NHL lockout in 1994/95 and recorded 38 scorer points.
Rogles was one of the guarantors for promotion to the DEL in 2007. In 1999, the American was named the best goalkeeper in the highest German ice hockey league.
Up until Karel Lang's appearance at Füchsen Duisburg in the game against the Straubing Tigers on March 2, 2007, McGibney was the oldest player to have ever played in the DEL. He was 45 years old at the time.
Markell stormed a total of four seasons in the NHL and came to ESC Wolfsburg in 1987. There he was one of the top performers of the team, which was reflected in 511 scorer points in 194 games.
Ivan Čiernik

Participation of players in the All-Star-Game

Some players from Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg were nominated for the DEL All-Star-Game while they were on the team . This is a friendly game that has been held annually since 1998 and in which the most outstanding players of the German Ice Hockey League compete against each other.

Participation in the All-Star-Game while being part of the team
Surname position Team membership Participations team
USA-Slovakia Ladislav Karabín striker 2004/05 2005 DEL All-Star Team DEL All-Star Team
SlovakiaSlovakia Ivan Čiernik striker 2004/05 2005 DEL All-Star Team DEL All-Star Team
CanadaCanada Jason Ulmer striker 2007-2011 2008 , 2009 North America team North America team
CanadaCanada Justin Papineau striker 2008-2009 2009 North America team North America team

Trainer

Period Trainer
1987-1988 GermanyGermany Charlie way
1988-1989 CanadaCanada Bill Lochead
1989-1991 German-Canadians Robert Murray
1991-1992 FinlandFinland Jorma Siitarinen
1992 CanadaCanada John Markell
1994-1997 RussiaRussia Nikolai Besproswannych
1997-1998 Czech RepublicCzech Republic Dušan Slanina
1998 – March 2005 GermanyGermany Stefan Mikes
2005 – Jan. 2006 CanadaCanada Bob Leslie
Jan. 2006-2010 GermanyGermany Toni Krinner
Aug. 2010 – Apr. 2018 Czech RepublicCzech Republic Pavel Gross
2018 – Oct. 2018 FinlandFinland Pekka Tirkkonen
Oct. 2018 – March 2019 CanadaCanada Hans Kossmann
since 2019 CanadaCanada Pat Cortina

As the first coach of the second Bundesliga team in 1987, Charlie Weise was behind the ESC Wolfsburg gang. This was replaced after the season by former NHL veteran Bill Lochead . In his debut season as a coach, the Canadian was able to achieve fourth place with the team, but returned to his home country after the season. In his place, Robert Murray, a game director, was hired who, due to years of service in German ice hockey leagues, had the experience to successfully train the ESC. Under him, the team was able to move into the qualifying round for the Bundesliga 1990/91, but this success was not repeated a season later and Murray left the VW townspeople after a seventh place after the preliminary round in the 1990/91 season . As a successor Jorma Siitarinen was committed, who was replaced by John Markell as player- coach due to lack of success during the season .

After the bankruptcy of the ESC and the re-establishment as EC Wolfsburg, the Russian Nikolai Besproswannych took the coaching office for the 1994/95 season and rebuilt the financially troubled club. Overall, he was three seasons behind the gang and was replaced in 1997 by Dušan Slanina .

After the re-establishment of the EHC Wolfsburg took part again in the season 1998/99 in the game operation of the German ice hockey association. As the first coach, Stefan Mikes was hired , who among other things achieved promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga in 2000/01 and permanent playoff participation with the club. The greatest success for Mikes was the promotion of his team to the DEL for the 2004/05 season. After the rise, however, he had to take his hat off in March 2005 and make room for Bob Leslie , who was henceforth behind the gang. However, there were no successes under the new coach and so he had to hand over his position to Toni Krinner in the middle of the season , who acted as trainer until April 2010. Pavel Gross , who has been employed as assistant coach at the EHC since 2008, took over as coach in August 2010 and led the team into the final of the play-offs in its first season. After Gross announced his move to Mannheim, Pekka Tirkkonen was presented as the new coach of Grizzlys Wolfsburg in February 2018. On October 22, 2018, they parted ways with Tirkkonen after 13 games with just nine points. One day later, Hans Kossmann was announced as the new coach. After the end of the main round, which the Grizzlys finished in twelfth place in the table, his contract was not extended. Pat Cortina took over the team as head coach for the 2019/20 season.

Parent club

The parent club - the EHC Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg 1992 eV - has a regional significance for ice hockey beyond the borders of Wolfsburg for the surrounding cities of Braunschweig, Gifhorn and Helmstedt and is responsible for the club's youth work, which young players are used in the men's team trains and unites all junior teams under the nickname Young Grizzlys . In addition, teams in the age groups U7-Bambini, U9-small students, U11-small students, U13-boys and U15-students play in each of the highest leagues of the Lower Saxony Ice Sports Association (with teams from Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) and have won many championships there.

The U17 youth play nationwide in the top German division, the DEB Bundesliga Division I North and the U20 Juniors German Junior League DNL III North.

As a preliminary stage to team operations, the club also maintains the EHC ice hockey school for children from four to ten years old for beginners without prior knowledge.

Funding licenses

The EHC Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams GmbH 'with some clubs partnerships under the production license program . Here, young players are hired out to gain game practice. For the 2013/14 season, the Wolfsburg team are cooperating with the Eispiraten Crimmitschau ( DEL 2 ), the Icefighters Leipzig ( Oberliga ) and the Hanover Scorpions (Oberliga).

Venues

The EisArena Wolfsburg

The Eis Arena Wolfsburg has been the home ground of the grizzlies and the junior teams since the 2006/07 season and has a total capacity of 4500 seats, of which around 3000 are available. In addition, the hall has a 300 m² VIP area, which offers space for 300 spectators.

On November 23, 2005, the Wolfsburg city council decided to convert the Wolfsburg ice rink Eispalast, which opened in 1983, for the coming season. The new arena was completed on September 1, 2006.

Audience statistics
season Home games spectator Spectators per game
2014/15 32 80.964 2,530
2013/14 31 81,793 2,638
2012/13 31 78,862 2,544
2011/12 28 70.086 2,503
2010/11 32 87,805 2,744
2009/10 32 80,979 2,531
2008/09 31 73,352 2,366
2007/08 28 65,415 2,336

(It shows the total occupancy for the whole season.)

Club culture

Fans and rivalries

The fans of the Grizzlys are organized in four fan clubs, which have a superordinate fan council. This advocates the concerns of the fan clubs, serves as a "mouthpiece" between fans and the club and organizes trips away from home. Due to the regional proximity to the Hannover Scorpions and the Kassel Huskies , games against these teams were particularly explosive. The north duel with the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven has been taking place since the 2016/17 season .

There are fan friendships with the sponsoring license partner Eispiraten Crimmitschau , the Hanover Indians and the Eisbären Berlin ( bear brothers ).

mascot

"Ben", a grizzly bear, has served as the mascot since 2008 and wants to get the audience in the mood for the game with his presence on the ice before the game. In addition, he takes on the role of advertising medium and merchandising figure for the club.

Sponsorship

The brown bear Goliath from Worbis in Thuringia has been the patent animal of the entire ice hockey team since October 25, 2004. Representatives of the then Grizzly Adams visited their sponsored bears and their conspecifics in the bear park and sealed the sponsorship.

Web links

Commons : Grizzlys Wolfsburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ehc-wolfsburg.de: The history of the association
  2. grizzly-family.de, article from October 27, 2008: 25 years are a proud time ( Memento from April 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ A b Ice hockey in Wolfsburg: One hall, four clubs. In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung . November 11, 2008, archived from the original on March 3, 2009 ; accessed on March 23, 2020 .
  4. grizzly-adams.de: history of the fan club
  5. schwaebische.de: DEL-Aus for Wolfsburg - Kassel remains first class
  6. westlb.de: Grizzly Adams win WestLB Fair Play Trophy ( Memento from December 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  7. del.org: Statistics for the 2009/10 season , accessed April 26, 2010
  8. EHC Wolfsburg: [1] , accessed on November 7, 2013
  9. In future less VW money for Grizzlys Wolfsburg. rp-online.de from December 19, 2015, accessed on April 24, 2016
  10. Match report from October 11, 2016 at zsclions.ch , accessed on December 11, 2016
  11. https://www.rnz.de/sport/adlermannheim_artikel,-adler-mannheim-pavel-gross-entscheidet-sich-fuer-den-schleudersitz-_arid,329432.html
  12. http://www.kicker.de/news/eishockey/startseite/720111/artikel_adler-berlin-und-muenchen-durch-nuernberg-fuehrt.html
  13. Daniel Hotop and Christian Buchler: Grizzlys part ways with Tirkkonen . ( braunschweiger-zeitung.de [accessed on October 22, 2018]).
  14. Braunschweiger Zeitung: Hans Kossmann is the new coach for the Wolfsburg Grizzlys . ( braunschweiger-zeitung.de [accessed on October 23, 2018]).
  15. Grizzlys Wolfsburg part again with Kossmann. Retrieved March 22, 2019 .
  16. NDR: Grizzlys Wolfsburg: Cortina is the new coach. Retrieved March 22, 2019 .
  17. ^ City of Wolfsburg: City of Wolfsburg - EisArena. In: wolfsburg.de. Retrieved September 28, 2017 .
  18. ^ DEL statistics
  19. ehc-wolfsburg.de: Portrait of Ben, the mascot
  20. ehc-wolfsburg.de: Grizzly Adams support Bear Park
This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on March 17, 2009 in this version .