Mannheim Eagles
| Adler Mannheim | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| City | Mannheim, Germany |
| League | Deutsche Eishockey Liga |
| Founded | 1938 |
| Home arena |
SAP Arena (capacity: 13,600) |
| Colours | |
| General manager | Teal Fowler |
| Head coach | Sean Simpson |
| Captain | Marcus Kink |
| Website | adler-mannheim.de |
| Franchise history | |
| Adler Mannheim | |
The Adler Mannheim ('Mannheim Eagles', formerly Mannheimer ERC) are an ice hockey team of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the highest ice hockey league in Germany. The team is based in Mannheim, a city in the northern part of Baden-Württemberg. Currently, the team plays at SAP Arena, where they moved to at the beginning of the 2005–06 season after having played at Eisstadion am Friedrichspark for nearly seven decades from 1938 through 2005. They have won the German Championship a total of seven times. Six of those coming after 1994 in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
German ice hockey changed a lot after the Deutsche Eishockey Liga was founded in 1994. Its growing influence also brought growing independence from the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund-organization (DEB) which dominated the ice hockey in Germany for decades.
The first incarnation of the Adler Mannheim were The Mannheimer ice and roller skating club (MERC: Mannheimer Eis- und Rollsportclub), founded on May 19, 1938. On February 19, 1939, they had their introduction match in the brand new Friedrichspark Stadium. The match against the winner of the German Championship was lost 0–11, but the following seasons were more and more successful. However, due to the ongoing Second World War, it was difficult to play a regular season without some limitations. In 1942, after the Mannheim was qualified for the finals, the proclamation of the total war led to the cancellation of the finals, less than 24 hours before their scheduled beginning.
On June 5, 1943, the Eisstadion am Friedrichspark was destroyed by an air attack on Mannheim. After the end of the Second World War in 1945, it took another four years before the hockey club began playing once again. In the 1951/52 season, Mannheim again had a team to play in a regular team, but it was not very successful. The most successful game in this time was a 10–2 victory against a team of American soldiers based in the Mannheim-area.
...
Wikipedia