The Lions Frankfurt have fired their head coach Matti Tiilikainen. The club from the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) confirmed this on Monday afternoon. Accordingly, Löwen sports director Franz-David Fritzmeier will be in charge against ERC Ingolstadt on Thursday (7.30 p.m.), the rest of the coaching team will remain unchanged.
“Now that we have reached the lowest point of the current DEL season 16 match days before the end of the main round, we are giving this impetus to end our current negative run,” said the managing partner of Hessen, Stefan Krämer. It is not yet known how long Fritzmeier will remain head coach. He could not be reached for a statement.
Surprised at the time
The reason for the dismissal is Frankfurt’s longest losing streak in the DEL: the team has not been able to win for 10 games under coach Tiilikainen and fell back to 12th place in the table. The Iserlohn Roosters, who are currently in last place and who the Lions recently lost 4-0, are only five points away.
The Finnish coach’s commitment was originally intended to last two years. There should be continuity; in the previous two seasons, the Lions separated after one season from the successful head coaches Bo Subr (promotion to the DEL) and Gerry Fleming (remaining in the league).
The timing of the coaching change is surprising. On Sunday after the away game against Munich, Fritzmeier expressly praised the work of the coaching team. In the club’s press release, he speaks about the dismissal of the head coach as a “joint decision” with the Löwen shareholders Krämer and Andreas Stracke.
The reason for the negative assessment of the overall sporting situation could also be that the squad was significantly strengthened before the season with professionals such as Maksim Matushkin, Cameron Brace and Cody Kunyk compared to last season, which the club finished in tenth place. In recent weeks, however, there has been a particular lack of straightforward offensive play, and several professionals have made serious individual mistakes.
New goalkeeper from the Czech Republic
Fritzmeier should now ensure that the results improve. For the third time during his time in Frankfurt, the 43-year-old will take over as head coach on an interim basis. Before he was hired as sports director at the Lions, he was head coach at the Krefeld Pinguins and also assistant coach at the Kölner Haien in the DEL.
With the news of the coach’s dismissal, the Lions also announced the signing of a new goalkeeper. Július Hudáček becomes the fourth goalkeeper in the Lions’ squad. The 35-year-old, who according to Fritzmeier “has already proven his class many times internationally,” comes from the Czech first division club HC Kladno.
Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2 Valentin Teufel Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1 David Lindenfeld, Frankfurt Published/Updated:
The commitment is logical, as the current goalkeeper Joseph Cannata has repeatedly made minor mistakes in recent games. With a new head coach and goalkeeper, the Lions now hope to initiate a turnaround in the fight against relegation.
