Old “news”...

Posted by Dakkster from Southern Sweden on 09/16/10 at 11:51 PM ET

Woo Hoo, go Ice Bears!

Posted by Osrt on 09/17/10 at 03:01 AM ET

This is going to be a fun blog.  Looking forward to the Euro leagues.

Posted by SYF from a viewing moratorium of NBC's hockey coverage on 09/17/10 at 03:17 AM ET

Berlin,lol
just plain lucky

Posted by edillac from isolation on 09/17/10 at 04:47 AM ET

Thanks SYF!
There are some great leagues overseas, so this will be a lot of fun!

Posted by Phil Davies from Ontario, Canada on 09/17/10 at 10:46 PM ET

Most people over here in Europe don’t give a shit about the European Trophy tournament. It’s a mediocre pre-season tournament. And it ended almost two weeks ago as well.

Posted by Dakkster from Southern Sweden on 09/17/10 at 11:49 PM ET

hmm ... looks like my comment’s been swallowed by the depths of the net *?*

well, calling berlin’s victory lucky is like saying the wings’ last four cups were just plain lucky (instead of a display of pure dominance and hockey perfection).
apart from a rough start, berlin played a perfect tournament. impressive.

especially considering the fact that the finnish, swedish and swiss leagues are more than just a bit stronger than our del.

makes me wonder why they’re having so many problemns now in the regular season - but then, maybe it’s a good sign when mediocre del-teams can beat the euro trophy winner *g*

Most people over here in Europe don’t give a shit about the European Trophy tournament.

ah, maybe that is ‘cause it’s been the first time the teams played for this european trophy? give it some time and maybe it’s gonna be a real treat. the hockey cl turned out to be boring, but this one could establish itself. a pity the khl’s not included ... *g*

thanx for the shout-out to the del, phil - even though the league vastly overrates itself, at least here in germany

looking forward to more stuff from the euro front!

Posted by german_wing from Toronto, Canada on 09/18/10 at 08:00 AM ET

Dakkster are you an HV71 fan?

I agree with you german_wing!
I think inter-league play in Europe is a great thing, as the Spengler Cup shows every year. I know that tournament organizers are looking to add more teams in the future so hopefully the KHL joins soon, although it seems doubtful.

Posted by Phil Davies from Ontario, Canada on 09/18/10 at 09:58 AM ET

oh, i could live without the khl being included. like the hockey champions league showed, the more teams are involved, the more likely is the whole thing to collapse. and if there’s one thing euro hockey needs (and we need that even more in germany), it’s definitely consistency. including the khl might thus be a step in the wrong direction. and, of course, would make it easier for most of the other clubs to look good

Posted by german_wing from Toronto, Canada on 09/18/10 at 12:24 PM ET

Posted by german_wing

Good to hear that the Eisbaren are a quality team. I wanted to catch a game last winter in Berlin but didn’t make it happen. I’ll be sure to do so next time.

Posted by Osrt on 09/18/10 at 12:50 PM ET

Haha, actually, I’m more of a Brynäs guy, but I hardly care about the SEL compared to the NHL. But I’m going to watch some more SEL games this year, especially HV71 games to see how Daniel Larsson, Adam Almquist and Andre Petersson do. It’s nice that Jarnkrok already plays on Brynäs, then I don’t need to add a team to follow Wings prospects Petersson is a guy I wish the Wings got their hands on.

It might be that we’ll start giving a *#$%@& more as time goes on, but it was obvious that the teams weren’t fully into it because they didn’t want to lose anyone unnecessarily to injury just before the regular season starts.

Posted by Dakkster from Southern Sweden on 09/18/10 at 01:05 PM ET

for about a decade, berlin is the place to go if you want to see real good hockey in germany. plus, you’ll experience a great atmosphere there. their old hut of arena is gone, but o2 world is arguably the best venue in the league, followed by mannheim and cologne.

last season, the eisbären tore up the del. they finished 20+ points ahead of 2nd place frankfurt lions (rip!). sure, they also lean on some ex-nhlers or didn’t-make-it-to-the-nhlers, but also mightily on their own junior players. don’t think there’s a better junior system in germany.

since berlin is so far in the north-east of germany, you don’t really have anything like a rivalry going (mid-nineties were nice with former east club eisbären and west club capitals, but the latter surprisingly ran out of money and lost their del license), so going there when some other strong team comes to town should rock. as your attorney, i’d advise you to catch a game against mannheim.

Posted by german_wing from Toronto, Canada on 09/18/10 at 01:09 PM ET

Dakkster,

As a Leafs fan, I’m jealous of the Wings prospects, their current roster, their management, heck even their concession stand staff are probably the best in the league!

Leaf fans do have hope in Gunnarsson and Gustavsson though!

german_wing and osrt,

I’m glad to see some fans of the DEL on here!

Posted by Phil Davies from Ontario, Canada on 09/18/10 at 05:00 PM ET

phil,

i’m really surprised that someone across the pond cares so much about euro hockey. probably one of the best positive hockey surprises this year! :D

i have to admit that while i still follow the del closely, my heart isn’t really in it anymore. that stopped when “my” lions ceased to exist ...
last season was very entertaining, and i think this season could even be better parity-wise.
it’s just kinda hard to follow the league with a smile when the club you’ve supported half your life is suddenly not part of the party anymore (and heck, not even existing anymore).

well, at least there’s still tore vikingstad. *g*

whenever you need some in-depth info on the del or some club or some player, don’t hesitate to ask, aye?

but even before the del was founded in 94, i was a huge nhl fan, at that time admiring the wings and dominik hasek. meanwhile, there’s not even one nhl team i actually dislike (not even the rangers, since laughing about sather makes up for them being, well, the rangers) and a few i really, really like. it’s a lot of fun do to so when you’re not regionally involved

Posted by german_wing from Toronto, Canada on 09/18/10 at 07:47 PM ET