It is a completely new feeling with which the Schwenninger Wild Wings enter the Kölnarena on Wednesday evening. Since the club returned to the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) ten years ago, there has been little to laugh about, they only reached the play-offs once. Otherwise, the Schwenningers always found themselves in the bottom of the table, and sometimes only stayed in the league because there was no promotion or relegation in the DEL. Now it’s back, but after the first quarter of the new season the Wild Wings have nothing to do with it. If they win in Cologne this Wednesday (7:30 p.m. Magentsport), they can even jump to second place.
One reason for this is Steve Walker. An “absolute winner,” as striker Daniel Pfaffengut said in the “Ice Hockey Show,” “he’s here to do something.” Just like Walker always did. First as a player in Berlin, most recently as the right-hand man of successful Munich coach Don Jackson for four years. Now the Canadian is head coach in the DEL for the first time. And you can see there’s a lot of Jackson in Walker.
The Wild Wings attack early and fight for the pucks in the offensive third. Which is ideal for the smaller ice surface in Schwenningen: “In combination, that makes the difference,” says Pfaffengut, whose club switched to the usual North American size of 60 by 26 meters when the hall was renovated in 2020. In Europe the game is usually played on 60 x 30 meters. It doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but it changes the game fundamentally: less space, less time, different angles of the walking paths. Schwenningen is the only DEL club with small ice – and needed time to adjust to it. Only now with Walker’s system is it working, the Wild Wings have won every home game so far.
Bremerhaven and Straubing are also up there
But they are not the only team that is doing differently than expected. Bremerhaven and Straubing are also at the top. That makes three teams in the top six that don’t actually belong there if you use the budget table as a benchmark. The two finalists from the previous season are missing, defending champions Red Bull Munich are currently only ninth and ERC Ingolstadt are only twelfth.
Munich recently lost four games in a row; if you count the Champions League, it was even six. Because there is a new style of play there too, that of former national coach Toni Söderholm. And his ideas – space instead of man coverage, different forecheck – are still not working as desired. Just like last Friday, when there was a 1:3 defeat against Walkers Schwenninger. It wasn’t until Sunday that the Munich team were able to celebrate again, beating Augsburg 5-1. But it remains difficult.
Nothing better could happen to the league as a whole. At the moment, what has been said for years really applies: that anyone can beat anyone in the DEL. There have only been three different champions since 2015, and Mannheim, Berlin and Munich are the favorites this season too. But the path there is more exciting than in other leagues. Especially this season with all the surprises and disappointments. The latter can also be found in the west, Düsseldorf and Iserlohn are at the bottom and have already thrown out the coach. To then beat the top teams from Mannheim and Straubing on Sunday.
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Anything can happen this Wednesday in Cologne. Schwenningen is arriving as the new top team, but Cologne is potentially one too, after seven games the Haie were at the top. They then dropped points, even against teams from the bottom of the table, before winning again against top teams in Straubing and Wolfsburg. Now it’s onto the next one. How could it turn out? Nobody can say.
