GERMANY – I’ll never forget one particular day in the fall of 1991, a time still very much influenced by the recent fall of the Berlin Wall. I was sitting at the dining room table where I diligently read the USA Today, a habit that developed as a pre-practice ritual back in high school. Like every afternoon, I of course rushed through each portion of the paper in order to reward myself with the sports section and more importantly, the NHL box scores, when I then took a look at the hockey notes and saw something that really jumped out at me (and I paraphrase): Neal Broten signs with Preussen Berlin of the German Bundesliga. This was something I couldn’t fathom at the time. I mean Neal Broten was one of the heroes of the “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. This was a guy who was coming off of a 22-point playoff run and Stanley Cup appearance with Minnesota. What was he doing signing in Germany? Furthermore, what the heck was ice hockey doing in Germany?
I was startled and uncertain, totally unaware that the sport had a very long history in the newly reunited country. Be that as it may, we all know now that Broten went there as a business ploy to pressure the North Stars in what had become a contractual standoff and that by November, Neal had resigned with Minnesota, proceeding to have a less-than-spectacular year. More importantly though was that for the first time, I had noted that there was professional hockey south of Scandinavia and west of Czechoslovakia, as it still was at that time.
Fast forward to 1997, the year I arrived in Germany. Well aware of the fact that I’d be spending at least a year overseas without regular access to the NHL, I couldn’t wait to check out the relatively young German DEL. I knew next to nothing about it, but I had noted over the course of time that several fringe NHL’ers had decided to head to Germany to take their careers in another direction. I hadn’t expected much, wondering if the league’s play could at least rival that of the ECHL. The first game I saw though really took me by surprise. The game featured the Landshut Cannibals against the Mannheim Adler (Eagles), two towns I’d certainly never heard of, but more importantly two teams sporting a bunch of players I was very familiar with. Mannheim was throwing out the likes of Philippe Bozon, Paul Stanton, Stephane Richer, Dave Tomlinson, and Gordy Hynes. These were guys I had seen playing regular roles in the NHL just a few years, and in some cases, months beforehand. Landshut was not to be topped though, sporting the likes of very recent former NHL’ers Mike Bullard, Dave McLlwain, Gino Cavallini, Dean Evason, Mark Lamb and Chris Luongo. I watched the game intensely and by the end, I was already “feeling it”. The league had really awakened my interest. It was a strange sensation seeing all these guys I knew and watching them play against many I didn’t, but who in many cases did more than hold their own.
It wasn’t long before I became very familiar with the league and realized that the names of many North Americans (and other Europeans) were to be found dotting most every roster in the DEL. It became terribly interesting to see which players excelled, which ones had their problems with the international game and expectedly, which ones were solely here to rake in whatever amount of Marks their name could earn them before ending their active careers, often leaving the fans with little insight as to why they had ever even been a topic for an NHL team. Naturally, it was also interesting to see which German players were up to speed and could hold their own against the primarily North American talent. There’ve been a lot of good times along the way.
Having now spent more than a decade in Germany, I’ve become quite the fan of the league and very much enjoy everything from it’s marketing and battle for national attention to the development of younger German talents (a good handful having been drafted along the way) to the many players coming from overseas. Throughout this winter, I hope to share a few thoughts about the state of the DEL, the many ex-NHL’ers and ex-AHL’ers playing here and the developments in what will be an incredibly busy and important year for German ice hockey. Head coach Uwe Krupp and his crew will not only be preparing for this winter’s Olympics, but also for a very important 2010 WC tournament right here in Germany, which will be kicked off by an outdoor game against the USA at the Schalker Arena featuring a capacity of 75,976. I hope you’ll stop by every now and again to get some insight on one of Europe’s most interesting leagues in what might be Germany’s most important ice hockey year ever.
Contact: neil.Edwards@prohockeynews.com
Editors note: We are very excited to have Chapin on our staff for this coming year. Chapin is an avid DEL fan and his insight from an American point-of-view will be very interesting, we hope you will enjoy what promises to be a very insightful and interesting series of features over the coming months.
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