Record player with Olympic silver
German ice hockey icon ends her career
April 26, 2024, 11:57 a.m
Dennis Endras has had great success in his career: the goalie won the championship twice with the Adler Mannheim and he impressed with the national team at the 2018 Olympic Games, winning silver. Now his career is ending. But he remains involved in sport.
After more than 600 games and many top saves in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL), long-time national goalkeeper Dennis Endras has ended his career. The 38-year-old, the 2018 Olympic silver medalist as the third goalie for the national team, was twice champion with Adler Mannheim. In his last two seasons, Endras played for the Augsburg Panthers and remains with the almost relegated team. Endras takes over the position of goalkeeping coach.
“It was always my biggest dream to become a professional ice hockey player. I was very lucky to live this dream with all its moments,” said Endras, who was named the best player at the 2010 World Cup and has more games without conceding a goal in the DEL than anyone else. He is “infinitely grateful for every experience. Thank you AEV for the courageous decision to give a young German goalie the chance. Thank you Mannheim, who believed in me for such a long time and stuck with me all these years.”
Endras made his DEL debut for Augsburg in 2004, and in 2010 the Allgäu native led the Panthers to runner-up status. That same year, Endras received an NHL contract with the Minnesota Wild, but did not play a game for the club. We returned to the DEL in Mannheim via Helsingfors IFK/Finland, and Endras won the title with the Adler in 2015 and 2019. In 2022 the goalie went back to Augsburg.
Returnee Larry Mitchell, the Panthers’ sports director since the previous week, made Endras number one as coach in Augsburg in 2008. “Dennis was an excellent goalkeeper and certainly one of the most influential personalities in DEL history,” said the German-Canadian. “It was very important to me that Dennis remained as our goalkeeping coach.” Endras wants to approach his new task “just as purposefully and professionally as my active career.”