Throughout the decades, Adler Mannheim consistently held onto a position in Germany's highest leagues, but it wasn't until after the formation of the DEL in 1994 that the club took off, winning five titles in an 11-year span.

by Konstantin Bös

One of the most successful ice hockey clubs in Germany since the formation of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga is the one in Mannheim, which has won six championship titles in 21 seasons. Adler Mannheim have a long history represented by a lot of success not only in the German leagues, but also at international tournaments. To their fans they're not just a hockey team, but the whole city of Mannheim lives for the sport.

Mannheim – hockey town in Germany

It all started in the beginning of 1938, when Mannheimer ERC was founded. In 2013, the 75th anniversary of hockey in Mannheim was celebrated with a big exhibition. From 1978 until 1990, the club was especially successful. During that time, one of the headcoaches was Ladislav Olejník, a former national team player from the Czech Republic, who was there for almost 10 years. Afterwards Mannheim got hit by huge financial problems, which almost made forced the team into bankruptcy in early 1994. After selling their star players like Peter Draisaitl and Jiri Lala and convincing the remaining players to take pay cuts, they were able to continue playing.

Having quickly built a new and young team, they helped found the DEL, a new elite professional league. With Lance Nethery as head coach, Mannheim were able to win the German champion title three years in a row from 1997 to 1999. Players like Harold Kreis, Jochen Hecht, Pavel Gross, Dave Tomlinson and Stéphane Richer were part of the team during that area.

Since 2006, the multi-functional SAP Arena has served as the team's home rink. Two NHL teams, the San Jose Sharks and the Buffalo Sabres, came to Germany to face Adler in the arena. In their first year in the new arena they won the “double”, meaning the league and cup titles in the same season. After beating Nuremberg in three straight games in the DEL final series, they also won the final of the German Cup against Kölner Haie. They returned to the league final in 2012 and were 15 minutes away from clinching another title. They led the best-of-five series 2–1 and were ahead 5–2 on home ice, but Eisbären Berlin came back to win 6–5 in overtime, then took the decisive fifth game back in Berlin to claim the championship.

Mannheim and youth players

One of the most important parts of the hockey operations in Mannheim is the youth program. Mannheim is one of the best organisations in Germany when it comes to work with young, talented players. The program has produced NHL players Dennis Seidenberg and Marcel Goc, and in 2014, Leon Draisaitl, the son of Peter, was picked 3rd overall in the NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers.

During his time with the Philadelphia Flyers, Seidenberg once said that it was in Mannheim where he had learned the things he had to know to make an NHL team. Today, many former players of Mannheim's youth team are playing in Germany's first league, higher or even for the German national team. The cooperation with the Toronto Maple Leafs helps Adler improve the skills of their players and their coaching staff. On a regular basis, players and coaches are able to participate at the prospect camp of the Maple Leafs.

A little bit of NHL flair behind the bench

In December 2013, the club relieved head coach Harold Kreis of his duties. German hockey legend Hans Zach took over the job for the rest of the season, but he made it very clear that he did not intend to make a full-time return to coaching. It took general manager Teal Fowler his staff a while to find the right replacement, and finally hired former Boston Bruins assistant coach Geoff Ward, whose main task was to work on the offence and the power play. His assistants were Craig Woodcroft and Jay Leach.

This North American brought success back to Germany's "hockey town", leading the team to another "double" in 2015 – first place in the regular season and in the playoffs as well to become national champions once more. In six out of the seven years that Mannheim won the championship title, the head coach has been from the United States or Canada. The fans were more than appreciative of the effort from their team – 11,320 fans came out to watch Adler home games in 2014–15, second-highest in Germany and fifth-highest in all of Europe. 

Despite the team dropping to 10th place in 2015–16, Adler's home attendance increased to 11,657 per game. They also led the CHL with an average of 7511 spectators per game. Moving forward, the new coach is another Canadian, Sean Simpson.

Team facts

CHL seasons

2015–16: 1st in Group I, Round of 32
2014–15: 4th in Group G

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NOTE: This article has been updated since its original publication.