Ice hockey in Germany
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Ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
is one of the more popular sports in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, however it still ranks far behind football in spectator favour and meaning. Ice hockey is organized today in Germany by the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the highest professional league, and by the Deutschen Eishockey-Bund
Deutscher Eishockey-Bund
The German Ice Hockey Federation , commonly abbereviated as DEB, has been the responsible federation of ice hockey associations since its establishment on June 16, 1963, for the sport of ice hockey in Germany...
ice hockey federation, which is the sport's federation in Germany and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation is the worldwide governing body for ice hockey and in-line hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 70 members...
.
The Men's German national ice hockey team
German national ice hockey team
The German men's national ice hockey team first participated in serious international competition at the 1911 European Hockey Championship. When Germany was split after World War II, a separate East German national ice hockey team existed until 1990...
stands eighth in the world on the current IIHF rank list
IIHF World Ranking
The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the national teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation.The system was approved by the IIHF congress in September 2003...
. Since they were eighth before the Ice Hockey World Cup 2005, they automatically qualified for the Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
Ice Hockey tournament.
History
The beginnings of the ice hockey in Germany lie around 1900 in Berlin. An ice hockey-like game was probably played as early as on February 4, 1897 on the Halensee Lake in Berlin. However, this game likely had more in common with the related sport bandyBandy
Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...
. The participants were Akademischer SC 1893 Berlin
Akademischer SC 1893 Berlin
Akademischer Sport-Club 1893 Berlin was a German association football club based in Berlin and is notable as one of the founding clubs of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900....
and a team of students.
1901 saw the first German club that created its own ice hockey department, the Berliner Schlittschuhclub
Berliner Schlittschuhclub
Berliner Schlittschuhclub is an ice hockey team in Berlin, Germany. They are a member of the Berliner SC sports club, and currently play in the Regionalliga under the name ESC Berlin...
. As a consequence, further ice hockey associations or departments developed first in Berlin and then in other large German cities. In 1908 ice hockey was taken up as section of the Deutscher Eissport-Verband. On September 19, 1909, Germany became the sixth member nation of the predecessor organization of the IIHF
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation is the worldwide governing body for ice hockey and in-line hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 70 members...
, the "Ligue International de Hockey sur Glace" (LIHG).
By 1910, when Germany participated in the first European Ice Hockey Championship a city league with ten teams was already playing in Berlin. Beside the Berliner Schlittschuhclub
Berliner Schlittschuhclub
Berliner Schlittschuhclub is an ice hockey team in Berlin, Germany. They are a member of the Berliner SC sports club, and currently play in the Regionalliga under the name ESC Berlin...
of the BFC Preussen, the teams were the Sportclub Berlin, the Berliner Eislaufverein 1904, the BFC Britania, the Berliner EV 1886, the Hockey Club Berlin, the Sportklub Komet, the SC Charlottenburg and the Eislauf Verein Berlin. In 1912, the first German championships
German champions (ice hockey)
- 1912-1948 :- 1949-58: Oberliga in West Germany :- 1958-94: Bundesliga:* Until 1990, the Bundesliga covered only West Germany. After the reunification of the country, East German clubs took part in the competition to.- 1995 - current: DEL :...
were held, which the Berliner Schlittschuhclub would win.
After the First World War, Germany was excluded from the LIHG in 1920 and could thus not in any LIHG tournaments. On January 11, 1926, the Deutsche Eissport-Verband, the body responsible for ice hockey in Germany, was re-admitted to the LIHG, and Germany was once again able to participate in the European Ice-Hockey championships beginning in 1927.
Until 1940, the development of the ice hockey in Germany made great strides. By the 1932 Winter Olympics
1932 Winter Olympics
The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1932 in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February 4 and closed on February 15. It would be the first winter olympics held in the United...
in Lake Placid, Germany attained the bronze medal, and during the European championships (then a qualifier for the Ice Hockey World Cup) won the European title in 1930 and 1934. The 1936 Winter Olympics
1936 Winter Olympics
The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. Germany also hosted the Summer Olympics the same year in Berlin...
saw a contentious issue arise when the Nazi party were forced to include a Jewish player (Rudi Ball
Rudi Ball
Rudi Victor Ball was a champion ice hockey player.Ball was born in Berlin, Germany and died in Johannesburg, South Africa....
) on the team. Ice hockey developed further in this time period with the emergence of new regional organizations across the country.
After the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Germany was again excluded from the LIHG in April 1946. At this time a national league for the best teams, the Oberliga (Ice Hockey)
Oberliga (Ice Hockey)
The Oberliga is currently the third tier of ice hockey in Germany. In the 2007-08 season, the Oberliga is split in a northern and a southern group.-1948-58:...
, developed in the Federal Republic
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, while the Soviet occupation zone, the later German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, took its own development. (See Also: Ice Hockey in the DDR)
The Federal Republic of Germany was admitted to the LIGH on March 10, 1951, and the GDR joined as an independent member with the Deutschen Eislauf-Verband der DDR on June 9, 1954.
The Oberliga was replaced 1958 by the reintroduced Ice Hockey Bundesliga, before 1963 the Deutsche Eishockey-Bund
Deutscher Eishockey-Bund
The German Ice Hockey Federation , commonly abbereviated as DEB, has been the responsible federation of ice hockey associations since its establishment on June 16, 1963, for the sport of ice hockey in Germany...
was created, which remained under the umbrella of the Deutschen Eissport-Verbandes. Internationally the national team of the FRG created the jump into the A-World Championship, where they could be established end of the 1970s and into the 1980s. However, it never ranked among the top four teams in the world.
Tournaments and championships
- Championships
- general: German Champions (ice hockey)German champions (ice hockey)- 1912-1948 :- 1949-58: Oberliga in West Germany :- 1958-94: Bundesliga:* Until 1990, the Bundesliga covered only West Germany. After the reunification of the country, East German clubs took part in the competition to.- 1995 - current: DEL :...
- current: Deutsche Eishockey Liga, 2nd Bundesliga2nd Bundesliga (ice hockey)The 2nd Eishockey-Bundesliga is the second tier of Ice hockey in Germany. It is organised by the DEB, the German Ice Hockey Federation. In the 2007-08 season, it features 14 teams.- History of the 2nd Ice Hockey Bundesliga :...
, Oberliga (Ice Hockey)Oberliga (Ice Hockey)The Oberliga is currently the third tier of ice hockey in Germany. In the 2007-08 season, the Oberliga is split in a northern and a southern group.-1948-58:...
, Regionalliga (ice hockey)Regionalliga (ice hockey)The Regionalliga is the fourth level of ice hockey in Germany. It was founded in 1961.... - historical: Berliner Stadtliga, Oberliga (Ice Hockey)Oberliga (Ice Hockey)The Oberliga is currently the third tier of ice hockey in Germany. In the 2007-08 season, the Oberliga is split in a northern and a southern group.-1948-58:...
, Bundesliga (ice hockey)
- general: German Champions (ice hockey)
- Internationale Tournaments
- Deutschland-Cup
- Olympische Eishockey-Turniere in Germany
- 1936
- The Men's Eishockey-Weltmeisterschaft in Germany
- 1930 (in ChamonixChamonixChamonix-Mont-Blanc or, more commonly, Chamonix is a commune in the Haute-Savoie département in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It was the site of the 1924 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympics...
and BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
), 1936 (gleichzeitig Olympische Spiele), 1955, 1975, 1983, 1993, 2001, 2010
- 1930 (in Chamonix
- The men's Eishockey-Europameisterschaft in Germany (nur reine Europameisterschaften)
- 1911, 1913, 1914, 1932