Adler Mannheim

Adler Mannheim

Full name	Adler Mannheim
Founded	1938
Based In	Mannheim
Arena	SAP Arena (Capacity: 13,600)
League	Deutsche Eishockey Liga
Team Colors
GM	Teal Fowler
Website	adler-mannheim.de

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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 from Mannheim, a city in the north of Baden-Württemberg. Currently, the team plays at SAP Arena, where they moved 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 eight times, seven of those coming after 1994 in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

History

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.

Pre-DEL era

SAP Arena

The first incarnation of the Adler Mannheim were The Mannheimer ice and roller skating club (MERC: Mannheimer Eislauf und Rollschuhclub), 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, but 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 of their scheduled beginning.

On June 5, 1943, the Friedrichspark Stadium was destroyed by an air attack on Mannheim. After the end of the Second World War in 1945 it took four more years begin to play ice hockey again. In the 1951/53 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.

DEL era

In 1994 the Mannheimer ERC was a founding Member of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. While the organization of the MERC still existed the professional hockey team changed its name to Adler Mannheim and were transformed to an independent legal entity. The old organization MERC is still performs in the amateur and junior sectors, including the successful junior team Jungadler Mannheim (young eagles Mannheim) (DNL).

The first two seasons in the DEL ended in playoff quarter finals. But the following season changed everything: The Mannheimer Adler swept through the playoffs. At the minimum number of 9 games the won the championship in 1997. After also winning the championships in 1998 and 1999 head coach Lance Nethery and several players left the team.

In 1999/2000 after a disastrous start to the regular season the Adler reached the playoffs again, but were beaten at the quarter finals again. After that season head coach Chris Valentine had to go and was succeeded by Bill Stewart. In 2000/2001 they were back on the road to success with the fourth DEL championship in 5 years.

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout season, Mannheim native Jochen Hecht (Buffalo Sabres), Cristobal Huet (Montreal Canadiens), Yannick Tremblay (Atlanta Thrashers) and Sven Butenschon (New York Islanders) joined the Adler. The team made it to the finals but were beaten by the Eisbären Berlin. The last games this season was also the last game in the old Friedrichspark stadium.

The following season was a disastrous. In their new home, the SAP Arena, the team was on pos. 10 at the end of the regular season. It was the first time in 26 years the Adler Mannheim did not make it to the play-offs.

Making several changes in the team roster, the team celebrated its resurrection in the following season 2006/2007. After winning the German cup, they closed the regular season at pos. 1. The success continued in the playoffs, so the Adler had their fifthd DEL-Championship and sixth German championship overall.

In July 2011, Mannheim entered a developmental partnership with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL.

Adler participated in the 2011 NHL Premiere series, losing to the Buffalo Sabres 8–3. The Sabres (who count among its players Mannheim native Jochen Hecht) were very well received in Mannheim, and later that season, a contingent of Adler fans traveled to Buffalo and Toronto to witness games hosted by the Sabres and Maple Leafs.

During the 2012 NHL lockout the Adler Mannheim became a popular team for the lockout-players again. The former Mannheim-players Dennis Seidenberg (Boston Bruins) and Marcel Goc (Florida Panthers) joined their former team. They were followed by Jason Pominville, captain of the Buffalo Sabres and again Jochen Hecht who was a free agent since his injury early 2012. Hecht signed a contract (with a NHL-Out paragraph) to 2014, but after the lockout came to an end he was offered a new, one-year contract by the Buffalo Sabres. After the Sabres contract expired, Hecht announced his intention to return to Mannheim to finish his professional career.

On 19 June 2014, Mannheim hired Boston Bruins assistant coach Geoff Ward as their new head coach. After winning the regular season with nine points ahead of the second-placed EHC Red Bull München, the Adler won the quarter-final series against the Nürnberg Ice Tigers 4–1. In the semi-finals, the Adler swept Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg with 4–0 victories – even after being down 0–3 goals in three of the games. In the final, Mannheim finally met ERC Ingolstadt. After a devastating 1–6 loss in the third game with Ingolstadt taking the 2–1 lead in the final series, the Adler turned the series and won all subsequent games. With 4–2 victories, the Adler Mannheim were able to win their sixth DEL championship.

After the 2014–15 season, Ward returned to the NHL and was replaced by Greg Ireland. Ireland was sacked in February 2016, and Craig Woodcroft, who had joined the Adler coaching staff in 2014, was promoted to head coach. Woodcroft failed to guide the Adler squad to the playoffs and left after the 2015–16 season. In May 2016, Sean Simpson was named new head coach.

On 4 December 2017, GM Teal Fowler, head coach Simpson and assistant coach Colin Muller were sacked due to unsatisfactory results. Bill Stewart, who had guided the club to the 2001 DEL title, took over the head coaching job. During the 2017–2018 season, the Adler Mannheim announced Jan-Axel Alavaara as the new GM and Pavel Gross as their new head coach assisted by Mike Pellegrims and Pertti Hasanen.

The Adler finished their regular season 2018–19 at the top of the standings table with a new point average record of 2.23 points per game and won the DEL title 2018–19 defeating EHC Red Bull München 4–1 in the playoff finals. During the summer break, the Adler Mannheim released their long-time team captain Marcus Kink – his successor being NHL veteran and German national player Marcel Goc. Also during the summer break of 2019, Adler Mannheim's rookie defenseman Moritz Seider was drafted in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft, sixth overall, by the Detroit Red Wings.[ Seider was the first German defenseman to be selected in the first round of an NHL Entry Draft, and the fourth-highest German-born player to be selected until Tim Stützle was selected third overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2020 NHL Draft. On 14 July 2019, Seider was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract with the Detroit Red Wings.[ On 27 December 2020, Stützle signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Ottawa Senators.[

After a poor start to the 2023/24 season, general manager Jan-Axel Alavaara and head coach Johan Lundskog were dismissed mid-season and American former NHL head coach Dallas Eakins was announced as new head coach and general manager on 27 November 2023.

Honours

Domestic

• Deutsche Eishockey Liga
  • 1 ! Winners: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2015, 2019
  • 1 ! Runners-up: 2002, 2005, 2012
• Deutscher Eishockey-Pokal
  • 1 ! Winners: 2003, 2007
  • 1 ! Runners-up: 2006
• Eishockey-Bundesliga
  • 1 ! Winners: 1980
  • 1 ! Runners-up: 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987

International

• Lehner Cup
  • 1 ! Runners-up: 2017, 2018

DEL Season records

Adler Mannheim DEL season records
Season	Games	Won	Tie	Lost	OTW	OTL	Points	Goals for	Goals against	Rank	Playoffs
1994–95	44	29	-	9	6	0	64	164	108	3	Quarter-final loss
1995–96	50	29	-	12	7	2	67	195	163	7	Quarter-final loss
1996–97	50	35	-	10	5	1	76	212	123	1	Champion
1997–98	48	26	-	16	3	3	58	170	145	4	Champion
1998–99	52	24	-	16	5	7	89	208	182	3	Champion
1999-00	56	27	-	19	6	4	97	199	181	5	Quarter-final loss
2000–01	60	31	-	16	9	4	115	205	144	1	Champion
2001–02	60	34	-	14	6	6	120	186	135	2	Final loss
2002–03	52	25	-	16	8	3	94	152	129	4	Semi-final loss
2003–04	52	26	-	16	4	6	92	151	124	6	Quarter-final loss
2004–05	52	23	-	21	3	5	80	151	150	6	Final loss
2005–06	52	19	-	26	4	3	68	148	155	10	Did not make playoffs
2006–07	52	29	-	9	6	8	107	184	147	1	Champion
2007–08	56	24	-	20	8	4	92	180	174	6	Quarter-final loss
2008–09	52	22	-	18	7	5	85	144	131	4	Semi-final loss
2009–10	56	23	-	22	4	7	84	177	177	9	Playoffs Qualifier loss
2010–11	52	20	-	20	7	5	79	131	137	7	Quarter-final loss
2011–12	52	23	-	15	7	7	90	171	148	4	Final loss
2012–13	52	30	-	16	3	3	99	164	125	1	Quarter-final loss
2013–14	52	26	-	18	4	4	90	148	123	4	Quarter-final loss
2014–15	52	33	-	14	3	2	107	173	123	1	Champion
2015–16	52	20	-	24	5	3	73	138	146	4	Playoffs Qualifier loss
2016–17	52	30	-	12	6	4	106	183	135	2	Quarter-final loss
2017–18	52	21	-	22	6	3	78	151	149	5	Semi-final loss
2018–19	52	35	-	8	2	7	116	194	117	1	Champion
2019–20	52	28	-	12	6	6	180	132	102	2	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020–21	38	23	-	5	8	2	87	116	71	1	Semi-final loss
2021–22	54	24	-	19	10	1	93	165	129	5	Semi-final loss
2022–23	56	34	-	15	6	1	99	162	136	3	Semi-final loss
2023–24	52	21	-	20	2	3	80	147	149	7	Quarter-final loss

Affiliated teams

Jungadler Mannheim

The youth performance center of the Adler Mannheim is called "Jungadler Mannheim" (youth eagles). Their under 20 junior team is 16-times national youth champion and record holder. Famous former Jungadler players are e.g. Dominik Kahun (Chicago Blackhawks), Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers), Moritz Seider (Detroit Red Wings), and Tim Stützle (Ottawa Senators).

ERC Mannheimer WildCats

The female contingent of the Mannheimer ERC carries the name "Wild Cats." The most successful period in the WildCats' career was between 1988 and 1994 during which they won three German championships and vice-championships. The Wildcats did not play during the 2005–06 season after four players terminated their contracts. Therefore, they were forced to temporarily withdraw from the league.

External links

• Adler Mannheim official website
• The official site of the master association, Mannheimer ERC (also link to Wild Cats homepage)
• DEL Homepage

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