At times in their history, Dusseldorfer EG have been the best hockey team in Germany. At others, barely surviving. Their march to the DEL semi-finals in 2015 signal an upswing back among the league's upper echelon.

by Axel Pfannenmüller

In November 2015, Dusseldorfer EG will celebrate their 80th anniversary. These 80 years have been a rollercoaster ride with the full spectrum of emotions: eight national championships, more than one threat of bankruptcy, one-time German Cup winner, leaving their beloved home rink to make a new start in one of Germany’s most enjoyable hockey arenas. Completely deserved, one well-known motto was: “Titles, Teardrops and Triumphs”.

“Best fans in the world”

It was September 1971 when Anatoli Tarasov, head coach of the Soviet national team, made a guest performance in Dusseldorf. Under the spell of a fantastic crowd at the old Brehmstreet rink, he declared the city's hockey fans to be the “best fans in the world.” In 1955, 1975 and 1983, Dusseldorf co-hosted the IIHF World Championship – evidence of its internationally accepted hockey location. During that period, DEG celebrated three national championships in 1967, 1972 and 1975.

4 times in a row

In the middle of the 1980s, DEG started to become the most successful team in all of Germany. With international stars like Chris Valentine, Peter Lee and Roy Roedger, as well as famous German players like Dieter Hegen, Gerd Truntschka and goaltender Helmut de Raaf, Dusseldorf won the national title four consecutive years from 1990 to 1993. With the success, DEG again became a crowd puller. Nearly every game sold out, and season tickets were in such high demand that people left them in their wills. During the 1992 European Cup (one of the predecessors of today’s CHL), Dusseldorf went all the way to the final, eventually losing to Swedish champions Djurgarden Stockholm. 

Emotional rollercoaster

In 1994, the new German hockey league DEL (Deutsche Eishockey Liga) was established. During that year's NHL lockout, superstar Brendan Shanahan played several games for DEG. In 1996, the club won its most recent national championship to date, but the organization's financial situation forced the club to withdraw from the DEL just two years later and start over in the second league.

In 2000, DEG became champions of the lower league and were promoted back to the DEL. One of the team's biggest acquisitions at that time was Russian goalie Andrei Trefilov, who had won the gold as his national team's starting goalie at the 1992 Winter Olympics. In 2001 he was voted DEL Player of the Year. One year later, two new members became crowd favourites: Norwegians Tore Vikingstad and Trond Magnussen. 2003 was marked by one of the most serious transformations in club history: with the Metro Group entering the club as naming and main sponsor, DEG became the DEG Metro Stars for 10 years. 

In 2006, two events stamped the year in the memory of all fans and responsibilities: after 10 years without any title, DEG won the German Cup. The same year, the club moved from its aging rink to the brand-new ISS Dome. What followed was a long-lasting attempt to return the club to the success it had in the ’90s, but to no avail. Then, in 2012, the Metro Group announced the end of their sponsorship, and the club was once again simply Dusseldorfer EG – but without solid financial backing it was unclear whether they would be able to continue playing in the DEL.

New kids on the block

Given their tight financial situation, DEG counted on young, inexpensive players developed from their own youth program with only a few veterans, such as the popular Daniel Kreutzer, remained. But although the team sat at the bottom of the standings for two consecutive years, the local fans appreciated the effort and hard work from these unknown players and enthusiastically supported them. 

The 2014–15 season was one of the most remarkable in a long time. 2015 started with the Winter Game in front of over 51,000 spectators from all over Europe, in which DEG defeated their long-time rivals Kolner Haie 3–2. And at the end of the season, they reached the semi-finals to qualify for the CHL. Now, when thinking about DEG the whole German league thinks of Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous line: “I’ll be back.”

Team facts

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