Helmut de Raaf was there too.

And Dieter Hegen, whom everyone here just calls “Didi”.

That was on Saturday, when the old ice rink on Brehmstraße experienced another great evening.

Semi-finals of the U-17 championship between Düsseldorfer EG and Kölner Junghaien, hundreds of fans came to cheer on the young ice hockey players.

It was a bit like back in the 90s when de Raaf held pucks in the back and Hegen shot them into the goal in front.

Alt beer song, sparklers, red and yellow knit sweaters and in the end a victory for DEG.

She lost the final against Mannheim the next day, but hardly anyone was on the ground because of it.

A few kilometers up the Rhine, you can also look back on a successful season.

Not only did the Cologne U-17s make it to the semi-finals, the U-20s also played their first final game in Berlin, which they lost after extra time.

The second game of the series will take place in Cologne on Saturday.

The hall has long been sold out.

No master from the Rhineland for 20 years

Those who are only rudimentarily involved with ice hockey will now see this as standard.

Cologne and Düsseldorf play for titles?

What else?

The reality is different - at least for the professionals.

The Rhineland has not provided an ice hockey champion for 20 years, in 2021 the play-offs took place completely without the Rhenish teams for the first time since their introduction in 1980/81, and the Krefeld penguins also watched as the rest of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) looked around contested the championship.

And this year it doesn't look much better for the NRW clubs.

Krefeld is last, the Iserlohn Roosters are third from last, and the Kölner Haie are also out of the play-off places shortly before the end of the main round.

Only in Düsseldorf is there a good mood - although the DEG was considered a problem child before the first season since 2006, in which the DEL is again looking for a sporty relegation team.

One has to assume that "we cannot keep some top performers," said managing director Harald Wirtz in the summer when he announced a rigorous austerity course.

They have to do that every few years in Düsseldorf until a new sponsor is found.

This time, however, no one was found, so DEG was considered a relegation candidate.

But after 26 wins from 52 games, she is in midfield.

That's thanks to veteran coach Harold Kreis, who told his team from the start that talk wasn't the key.

And that's due to manager Niki Mondt, who, because of the tight budget, looked around in the lower leagues in particular or brought in players who had no future elsewhere - and who still landed various bull's-eyes.

Penguins go to court

Otherwise there is little to laugh about in the West.

Until a few weeks ago, even the people of Cologne were in danger of relegation.

There was only one win in 15 games.

After a 4:7 in Nuremberg, coach Uwe Krupp had enough: his team played "under all sow".

"I'm pissed off, I'm fed up." After that, the sharks won again, they should be out of the worst of it.

In contrast to Iserlohn and Krefeld.

The Sauerlanders had started with big goals, but were then hit hard by Corona.

There are also high-performing players who are injured and others who lack consistency.

Luckily there are the Krefeld Penguins - the chaos club of the past few years.

Worries about existence, public mud fights, striking players, series of defeats.

Even now the KEV is at the bottom.

From a sporting point of view, the descent can hardly be prevented.

So CEO Sergey Saveljev tries it through the courts.

"We will argue that it was an unfair competition," he announced in the "Eishockey News".

"It's about: who has better connections to the state, to the health authorities?" said Sveljev, accusing the competition of having tricked the authorities, for example before a game against a top team, despite fewer corona cases, the whole squad must be in quarantine.

Some games are no longer made up, which is why the point average decides.

DEL boss Gernot Tripcke reacted calmly, each team was free to go to court.

So the ice hockey season could drag on again in the west.

But not like before, when the NRW clubs made it to the final and then stood on the town hall balconies.

This time, the decisive game could take place in a courtroom.