In less than 50 days it's time.

Not only does the summer break, which is often perceived as an agonizingly long time in ice hockey, end then, but also more than a decade of waiting: 4549 days after their last game against Ingolstadt, the Löwen Frankfurt meet the top team from Wolfsburg in the top division.

And actually you don't need any numbers to make it clear how close the big goal is now: The ice is back in the hall on Ratsweg, the lions have each presented an orange, black and white jersey, and the station that broadcasts German ice hockey -Liga (DEL) no longer lists the lions on its website under Frankfurt Lions, the name of the previous club, as was the case at the beginning of July.

Big to see everywhere: the DEL logo.

Ready to go.

David Lindenfeld

volunteer.

  • Follow I follow

The players arrive at the weekend and preparation begins on Monday.

There are seven friendlies in which Frankfurt will face five or, depending on the course of a tournament, six DEL teams in order to get used to the style and pace of the new league.

Sports director Franz-David Fritzmeier emphasizes how happy he is that many players and the new coach Gerry Flemming (from his time as assistant coach in Berlin) already know the league.

Little adjustment time and hardly any teething troubles – this is what a good start would look like.

The past few years have focused on playing the best hockey in April when the playoffs begin.

"Now we know we have to be ready from the start."

Those responsible for the club emphasize that the champion of 2004 is about staying in the class.

"We're playing in an elite league against billionaires like Anschutz, Hopp and Red Bull," said managing partner Stefan Krämer recently in the DEL podcast and explained what the financial superiority of the sponsors in the teams from Berlin, Mannheim and Munich meant for the Löwen follows: "We know that we have to invest our money better than others."

Smart decisions are necessary.

One of them was Dominik Bokk.

Fritzmeier has known the striker for a long time, he says the contact was never broken.

The 22-year-old forward, who was selected in the first round of the North American National Hockey League (NHL) draft in 2018, is on loan from the Carolina Hurricans, an NHL team.

Bokk could arguably have made more money elsewhere but chose Frankfurt where he has better prospects of playing an important role in the team.

What applies to Bokk also applies to others: the lions are an opportunity for many.

"The team wants to prove themselves, the coach wants to prove themselves, everyone wants to prove themselves.

That's our bargaining chip," says Fritzmeier.

"There will be no one-man show"

It is important "to start with a lot of energy and to transport the euphoria of the ascent.

We also want to keep the winning spirit in the dressing room.” The newcomers should feel that from the start.

The team is now almost complete.

Initially, only the commitment of a foreign center forward for the first row is planned.

He would be the eighth contingent player of nine to play and eleven total to be licensed per team.

"We've been working on a player for a long time.

He also really wants to come, but there is still no final agreement,” says the sporting director.

If he changes, the squad would be well positioned according to Fritzmeier's ideas - with the option of being able to react again at any time.

The team structure is balanced.

With Bokk and Magnus Eisenmenger, two of the three U-23 players who have to be used to play with the full strength of the team already have DEL experience.

The fourth row, whatever it will look like, can also have hopes for some Ice Age.

This can be an advantage over the competition.

"There will be no one-man show," says Fritzmeier: "The basis is the team." And they are pursuing the goal that the club has made the motto for the season: "We came to stay."