DEL coup with a bitter end?
Unstoppable “penguins” waddle away ridicule and criticism
January 17, 2024, 7:16 p.m
The Fischtown Pinguins are shaking up the DEL with their own way. While the competition mainly relies on players from North America, Slovenians and Danes shine in Bremerhaven. The coach has created something special, but will probably leave the club.
Mocked for their English name and criticized as “Deutschmacher”: For a long time, the Fischtown Pinguins were not really taken seriously in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). But now no one makes fun of the people of Bremerhaven anymore. The outsider from the north, who is bucking the trend in several ways, sits enthroned above all the industry giants at the top of the table.
“At the moment the sun is shining from all our buttons,” says manager Alfred Prey: “But the weather here in the north is very changeable, it can quickly become stormy.” The most points, the second most goals, the best defense, the strongest power play, only once without points in the last 15 games, two long winning streaks over eight and nine games – Bremerhaven is currently the measure of all things.
“Definitely on the cards in the title race”
The well-known – and significantly more wealthy – competition now has the 2016 newcomer “definitely on the bill in the title race,” as defender Jonathon Blum from champions Red Bull Munich put it. On the North Sea coast, however, people don’t want to talk about the DEL Silver Cup at all. “You can also make fun of yourself,” says Prey. And coach Thomas Popiesch adds: “Nobody has ever won the championship in January.”
The 58-year-old, who has been with the Pinguins for eight years and is the DEL head coach with the longest tenure, is one of the guarantors of success. While elsewhere foreign head coaches usually work and get significantly less time, Popiesch has been able to continually build a team that does not correspond to the usual DEL model.
Slovenes and Danes in key positions
While 75 percent of import players across the league come from North America, Bremerhaven relies on Slovenians and Danes in key positions. The “Karawanken Express” with Jan Urbas, Ziga Jeglic, who lead the scorers list, and Miha Verlic have been the showpiece of the offense for years, and the defenders Phillip Bruggisser and Nicholas B. Jensen are among the best in their profession.
There are also naturalized players who sometimes caused criticism. “We were always accused of being the German makers,” says Prey, “but everything happened completely legally.” In the meantime, three players, goalkeeper Maximilian Franzreb and defenders Nicolas Appendino and Lukas Kälble, have made it into the extended circle of the national team.
“A person without arrogance”
“We cannot supply ourselves with our budget on the North American market,” explains Prey. The manager doesn’t want to reveal whether the budget in Bremerhaven is actually that small, only: “We’re not necessarily in the top or middle third of the league.” In terms of sport, however, the North Germans have established themselves at the top this season. Thanks to Popiesch, whom Prey praises highly: “A person without arrogance or vanity, who sometimes seems a bit grumpy, but always goes his own way.”
The Berlin native doesn’t have the typical German ice hockey biography: Popiesch grew up in the GDR sports system, spent four years in the Stasi prison in Bautzen after a failed escape attempt, played mainly in the lower leagues after the fall of the Berlin Wall, established himself as a second division coach before joining Bremerhaven’s DEL entry was one of only five German head coaches currently.
Before Popiesch probably moves to Krefeld in the DEL2 in the summer and Prey leaves after more than 30 years, the big coup could succeed. For Prey, “the semifinals would be a dream.” And the title? “To talk about it,” says Popiesch, “would be presumptuous.”