Challenged in the premier class: The Straubing Tigers (here against the other big cats from Nuremberg, November 1st, 2024)
Imagine such a home football tournament. There is no one in the country who doesn’t know about it because all the media would be full of it. From today onwards, when the women’s and men’s national ice hockey teams are challenged at the same time at the Germany Cup in Landshut an der Isar, Bavaria, it will be a major sporting event for those in the know. The traditional test of strength at the beginning of November begins with the women’s selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) against France on Wednesday, on Friday against the Slovakians and on Saturday against the Hungarians. The men in the DEB jersey, who lost 3-1 to eventual runner-up world champions Switzerland in the quarter-finals of the previous World Cup in the Czech Republic, will start the test tournament against Denmark on Thursday. On Saturday the Slovakian selection awaits the team of national coach Harold Kreis, and on Sunday there will be a neighborhood duel against Austria.
Ice hockey and football, they are played on two different planets. This is particularly evident in the Champions League. While the product of this name in football has been pimped up to the commercial limit from this season onwards with a new mode, even more games, even more marketing, bonuses and reporting, the Champions Hockey League (CHL) is taking place behind closed doors. Does anyone know the three participants from the German Ice Hockey League (DEL)?
Both the Berliner Eisbären as reigning champions and the Fischtown Pinguins from Bremerhaven as “vice” and the Straubing Tigers have reached the round of 16, which will be played starting next week. The Berliners will be guests in Sheffield on November 13th and will host the Steelers for the second leg on November 19th. Bremerhaven has home advantage against Skellefteå AIK from the north of Sweden on November 12th, as does Straubing against the ZSC Lions from Zurich, before the Krummstöcke crosses away on November 19th. The quarter-finals will take place on the 3rd/4th. and December 17th, the semifinals in mid-January. Whoever reaches the CHL final on February 18th and wins will receive a six-figure bonus at the end. It is a little more than half of the 700,000 euros that are paid to kickers in the Champions League for a draw in the preliminary round. Every win is rewarded with 2.1 million euros. Each participant receives over 18.5 million euros as an entry bonus alone, not to mention the dizzying numbers from the knockout round to the final. In return, fans are charged particularly hefty ticket prices. Ice hockey here, on the other hand, is comparatively less commercialized, unlike, as is well known, in the USA.
Because of the Germany Cup, the league has been on pause this week, so that the DEL cracks – with the exception of the national players – can regenerate until the middle of next week. Meanwhile, the clubs have the opportunity to analyze the 15 DEL match days so far and become more or less thoughtful when looking at the table. The worry lines are particularly great for the Düsseldorf team, who are in the relegation zone with just nine points, 32 own goals compared to 58 from their opponents. If things continue like this, things could get very bitter for the eight-time champions, who won four titles in a row from 1990 to 1993, next year on the 90th anniversary of the club’s founding.
The Iserlohn Roosters are holding up quite well as second to last with 14 points, while the Eisbären from the capital have taken off at the top. With one more game, they already have 37 points, six more than Ingolstadt in second place and seven more than Bremerhaven. It looks like the Berliners have not had enough with their total of ten championships, three of them in the last four seasons. The domestic league continues from November 14th.
