Iserlohn Roosters
| Iserlohn Roosters | |
|---|---|
 |
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| City | Iserlohn, Germany |
| League | Deutsche Eishockey Liga |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Home arena | Eissporthalle Iserlohn |
| Colors | Blue, White |
| General manager | Karsten Mende |
| Head coach | Jari Pasanen |
| Captain | Jason Jaspers |
| Website | iserlohn-roosters.de |
The Iserlohn Roosters are a professional ice hockey team based in Iserlohn, North-Rhine-Westphalia. They are members of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) since 2000 and play their home games at the Eissporthalle Iserlohn which is also known as Eissporthalle am Seilersee. The team made the playoffs three times in its first 15 seasons in the DEL. The Roosters are widely regarded for their fans and having one of the best atmospheres at home games in Europe despite having an arena capacity for just 4967 spectators. The club caused much controversy in 1987 when, under Heinz Weifenbach, a US$900,000 advertising deal was signed for former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's The Green Book. The book is widely acknowledged as having been inspired by Mao Zedong's The Little Red Book.
The history of ice hockey in Iserlohn began in the neighbouring town of Hemer. Canadian soldiers were deployed to a district of Hemer called Deilinghofen. They came to the town after the end of the Korean War in 1953 and soon built an arena - first without a roof. The teenagers in Deilinghofen were interested in this strange kind of sport and wanted to play it, too. They played on streets or frozen ponds, and were allowed to play in the arena in 1957 for the first time. Recognizing the joy of the teenagers, they got coaches with Charles McCuaig later becoming a steady trainer. After a long preparation time, the first game against a Canadian youth team from Soest was on 8 March 1958 in front of 120 people. Deilinghofen played well, but lost 2-6. The equipment was borrowed from the soldiers. After that game, the matches were more steady and with more bystanders, so the arena had to get a roof in 1958.
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