Balm for Bremerhaven
The whole of Fischtown continues to hope for the penguins
By Volker Warkentin, Bremerhaven
April 24, 2024, 7:59 a.m
The mere fact that their Fischtown Pinguins made it to the final round of the German ice hockey championship is lifting the mood in Bremerhaven, a city with 15 percent of unemployed people. “Finally some good news,” says a former shipbuilder.
Even if it was stopped on Tuesday: The high flight of their penguins is balm for the battered souls in Bremerhaven. That goes down like oil. “It’s a miracle,” says a financial advisor from the local savings bank, happy about the recent good mood on the Lower Weser. The ice hockey players of the “Fischtown Pinguins”, who were at times just a hand’s breadth away from the championship title, have conquered an entire city that is rooting for them and keeping their fingers crossed. The fact that the path to the title is difficult has been shown in four of a maximum of seven playoff games against the Berlin Eisbären. The capital city team left the ice as winners on Tuesday with a 4-1 win and are now on course for the championship. They can clear everything up on Friday.
But it seems as if the good mood in the city will remain.
“Finally some good news after the many horror reports about high unemployment rates and economic decline,” is how a pensioner and former shipbuilder sums up the situation. Until recently, the mood in the lakeside town on the Lower Weser was predominantly subdued. No wonder, because the unemployment rate is at a record 15 percent. In the city center, many shops like Karstadt have closed. The emigration continues unabated. The population has fallen from 145,000 to just over 113,000. The once prosperous city, it seems, has seen its best years behind it.
And now this. The “Fischtown Pinguins”, as they spell themselves in not entirely correct English, had an incredible run in 2023/24. At the end of the regular season, the Bremerhaven team were at the top of the table ahead of their arch-rivals from Berlin. The top two teams qualified for the playoff round, in which the German champions will be determined in a maximum of seven games. At least four wins are needed to win the title.
The great times are a long time ago
The Penguins, who, according to managing director Hauke Hasselbring, consider themselves to be underdogs, won the first game 4-2. But the polar bears, who seemed a bit fresher, won the following two games. In the third game on Sunday, the league heavyweight from the Spree needed two overtimes and a playing time of almost 98 minutes to score the winning goal. This is also a novelty in the history of the German Ice Hockey League.
For Bremerhaven Mayor Melf Grantz, the Fischtown Pinguins and their fans are an excellent advertising medium for the city. The ice hockey team’s entry into the DEL final is one of the greatest moments in the city’s sporting history, says the SPD politician.
These great moments were 60 or more years ago. They are inextricably linked to TuS Bremerhaven 93. The 93 footballers competed in what was then the Oberliga Nord against well-known clubs such as HSV, Werder Bremen, St. Pauli, Holstein Kiel and Hannover 96. The game was played on Zollinlandplatz, which is located in the middle of the working-class district of Lehe. The area, affectionately called “ Zolli ” by its fans, has not been used for sports for a long time and is now an inner-city wasteland. The Bremerhaven footballers, who now operate as FC Bremerhaven, play in the association league.
The name Fischtown is also a throwback to the past. It was then that the nickname came about for the largest fishing port on the European continent, which employed 15,000 people. This is history like the shipyards that employed thousands of people. There is a university in Bremerhaven, the Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar Research and several spectacular museums in Fischtown. They were unable to completely replace the lost industrial jobs.
There is still reason for hope until Friday. But even if it isn’t enough to win the title, Mayor Grantz has some consolation for the people on the Lower Weser. “Failure in the DEL final wouldn’t be a broken leg, but just as much a reason to celebrate as winning the championship.”