GERMANY – The motto of this coming DEL season once again is: “The bear hunt is on.” And having won four titles within the last five seasons, defending champion Eisbaeren Berlin (Berlin Polar Bears) are the team to beat. Manager Peter-John Lee and head coach Don Jackson stuck to the rule of never to change a winning team. While the core of the roster remained intact, departures like star defender Deron Quint and offensive whirlwind Nathan Robinson were compensated for by the return of 2006 DEL MVP Derrick Walser and the addition of NHL veteran Jeff Friesen.
On paper Berlin’s biggest rivals seem to be the Adler Mannheim (Mannheim Eagles). Their new head coach Doug Mason is eager to restore his reputation after last year’s nightmare with Cologne; and this time around he has a high-quality roster to work with. The record five-time DEL champion bolstered up its lines with the likes of “title guarantee” Nathan Robinson (champion 2007 with Mannheim, 2008 and 2009 with Berlin) and blue line-offensive force Jame Pollock. “We don’t want to hide, we are determined to attack”, states manager Marcus Kuhl.
Last year’s finalists DEG Metro Stars rely on NHL experience to maintain their high performance level: Goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin (219 NHL games), defender Patrick Traverse (285) and center Craig MacDonald (240) lead a group of renowned new faces that should please the highly enthusiastic and equally critical Duesseldorf fan base. “Last season we established a young competitive team, which probably can reach even higher goals with the experienced additions we made,” said head coach Harold Kreis. Meanwhile manager Lance Nethery warns: “Being vice-champion doesn’t mean anything the next season – last year Cologne gave perfect proof to that.”
Indeed, after a disastrous 2008/09 campaign, which saw the Koelner Haie (Cologne Sharks) finish second to last, the former DEL powerhouse is eager to return to the elite group of title contenders. This ambition is firmly linked with two individuals: returning Slovakian sniper Ivan Ciernik and newly appointed head coach Igor Pavlov, who last year led the Krefeld Pinguine (Krefeld Penguins) through a memorable season that ended in a 7-game quarter final nail-biter against Duesseldorf.
Fighting for decent play-off spots, these two Rhineland rivals are up against multi-faced competition: The Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg for example are appearing to be in good shape to repeat their last season’s success, which materialized in winning the (no longer existing) cup competition. For what feels like the hundredth time, the Hamburg Freezers hope to finally transform their roster’s undoubted quality into some sort of measurable success. The Ingolstadt Panthers went to a massive roster restructure to pick up their successful development, which they enjoyed for most of the time after their promotion to the DEL seven years ago.
Another interesting experiment that deserves attention is how the “voluntary” cut-back in salary will affect the players’ performance of last year’s semi-finalist Hannover Scorpions.
Top scorer Eric Schneider gave the answer to this question his way – he pulled his contract option and agreed to terms with the Frankfurt Lions.
And who will have the questionable honor of inheriting the title of being the league’s worst team? While the Augsburg Panthers, Iserlohn Roosters, Kassel Huskies, Nuernberg (Nuremberg) Ice Tigers and Straubing Tigers all have the goal of fighting for tenth place (and therefore last entry to the pre-playoffs): It doesn’t take a magician to predict, that the successor of the now defunct Fuechse Duisburg (Duisburg Foxes) is most certainly to be found in that group.
Contact Carsten.vanZanten@prohockeynews.com
Editors note:
Carsten is another new writer addition to our team. He will provide regular news round-ups and feature interviews from the DEL.
