And that should now be the first league?

Not all Frankfurt ice hockey fans were immediately enthusiastic when the new schedule was published.

Friday to Wolfsburg (7.30 p.m. live on Magenta Sport), Sunday against Bremerhaven (2 p.m.) - not the most illustrious names that the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) has to offer.

But both clubs still have a development ahead of the Frankfurters.

The financial situation of the lions is by no means bad, but one thing is still missing from Frankfurt: a main sponsor.

In Wolfsburg this is, no surprise, the car manufacturer Volkswagen.

The lions are already going their own way when it comes to acquisition, the main sponsorship position has been divided.

The co-main sponsor in the form of an erotic company based in Biebertal in Hesse has already been found.

interest of the fans

There is still no company logo on the chest of the Löwenprofis, the most expensive advertising space on the shirt.

The effects that a powerful main sponsor can have on ice hockey can be seen in Wolfsburg.

Since they were promoted to the DEL in 2007, the Grizzlys have reached at least the play-off semi-finals nine times - and are therefore regularly among the top four clubs in Germany.

"If Mannheim, Munich or Berlin don't become champions, it will be Wolfsburg," predicts Frankfurt's sporting director Franz-David Fritzmeier.

What the Wolfsburg do not have in as large a number as the Frankfurt is the interest of the spectators.

On average, 3,572 supporters attended the first division play-offs of Wolfsburg, in Frankfurt there were already 4,865 in the second division - the final was even sold out.

Viewer attendance will drop if the club slides into a sporting crisis.

But there are hardly any signs of this.

A conscious preparation with games against many first division teams was planned in order to get the team used to the higher tempo and the speed of action.

Converted into points, the lions got seven from the last three friendlies against Bietigheim, Schwenningen and Cologne.

That's a more than solid yield.

The last test match last Sunday against the second division club Dresden is a warning example.

It was 0:4 at the end of the botched dress rehearsal.

"If we don't play with great commitment, then we're not good enough," says Fritzmeier clearly about the game.

A day later, new striker Carter Rowney was introduced.

However, this transfer was not a hectic reaction to the bad Dresden game, because Fritzmeier had been looking for a suitable attacker for the center position since the start of the preparations.

Last season, Rowney was on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Good athletic development

His experience and playing strength will do the lions good, who revealed some problems with their efficiency in front of the opposing goal in the preparation.

"He's very down to earth.

And meets exactly the criteria we were looking for," says sports director Franz-David Fritzmeier.

So he is sure that Carter Rowney will fit into the team without a hitch.

It's the signings of players like Reece Scarlett, Dominik Bokk, Magnus Eisenmenger and now Rowney that aim to steel the second division team for the first division.

A development in the squad that was urgently needed to have a chance of staying in the premier league.

Six years earlier, the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven had to take this development after they got the DEL license from the insolvent Hamburg Freezers.

There was no sporting rise and fall at that time.

The team finished their first season in tenth place.

Participation in the playoffs was secured.

Qualifying for the play-offs has now become a sporting standard that Bremerhaven meets every year.

They even competed in the Champions Hockey League (CHL) last season.

A sporting development like in Bremerhaven and a main sponsor like Wolfsburg have: That would make the DEL adventure a success story for the lions.

The squad is ready for the first two matchdays and there are no injuries.

Ticket sales show that all supporters have now reconciled themselves to the game pairings on the first weekend: Several hundred fans from Frankfurt are expected in Wolfsburg, and the first home game will also be very well attended.