Callback and through Canada to First Class

For the lions who have been promoted, the preparation for DEL has started. The search is on for a new coach – and a half-dozen top performers.

Frankfurt isn’t ice cream, but instead has slides on which you can shoot other discs or wooden balls instead of real pucks, and above all: “It smells like medicine balls,” says Jan Barta and He gets excited when the working conditions speak, which he meets with a delegation of the relatively small Frankfurt Lions at the Athletics Hall in Kalbach. “That’s exactly what we need,” says the newly promoted Dell assistant coach about the sports facility. Mid-September awaits them – and for a classic, which will be relaunched in the eSporthall am Ratsweg even before the start of competitive sport.

On 12 August (7:30 p.m.), iconic club and longtime arch-rivals Adler Mannheim will head to Mannheim for the first Test match, as the Lions have now announced – along with four other dates: at the Bietigheim Steelers (September 2), Schweininger A second home game against Wild Wings (4. September) and Kölner Hahn (9 September) as well as a dress rehearsal against Dresdner Islöwen (11 September). Preparations are underway, much has been done and behind the scenes in Kalbakh, Canada. For example, the licensing has been rolled out, and there is every reason to be in good spirits in the Leuven camp and expect the league to say yes at the end of June. And most of the team already is.

DEL 2’s 16 champions move on with the Lions, with three new ones officially announced so far. “It’s important that we show ourselves as a promoter with positive vibes,” explains sporting director Franz-David Fritzmeier. That’s why we hired a lot of players who have the spirit to make it as a team. Now we need something else. , which really helps us in their quality”. Will fill one of nine possible positions in DEL.

The same applies to all that Fritzmeier formulates as a requirement for the most important open personnel issue, the replacement of the position of head coach after his separation from Bo Subar. “The head coach has to accept the fact that we are not Isberen Berlin or Adler Mannheim, but a club with mature structures and a lot of potential,” explains the sporting director. Enable input in this environment.” When can coach casting be expected? “Definitely tomorrow, but I don’t mind if it takes four weeks or more,” Fritzmeier says. “It’s important that we find the best possible solution.”

He attaches particular importance to the fact that the new boss on the gang organizes himself as a team player alongside the existing team, a tribe that has been around for a long time – Barta and fitness trainer David Dubel, proven supervisors Lasse Joaquinen. Along with and Marco Suvello, Fritzmeier is also a new goalkeeper and video coach to succeed Valtteri Salo himself. “The head coach is important, but the one-man show is not,” says Fritzmeier. “The coach is often more involved in putting the team together. But in our situation, he has to fit the team and the coaching staff.”

Most of the second division champions have resumed the long haul since 16 May, just three and a half weeks after the rise was completed with the final DEL-2 victory at Ravensburg. “We are having lively exchanges with every player, even those who are not there,” Barta reports. Many lions prepare for the summer in their Canadian homeland according to individually designed training plans, which can be adjusted based on feedback. Anyone living in Frankfurt trains three days a week in Kalbach and two days a week at Club Partner Prime Time Fitness, with Daubil assigned to the Lions as a coach: Marcus Freis or Konstantin Vogt, goalkeeper Bastian. There are youths like Kusis too. , in total this time seven, eight players.

“We make sure that we get players with the maximum body that you can develop in Frankfurt over the summer,” explains Barta. On August 1st, when things are really going on Ratsweg and when the snow is ready two or three weeks earlier than usual. And where less than two weeks later Mannheim’s old familiar will offer up strong first-class flavors.