A first-class dream destination | Sports

The Frankfurt Lions have started preparing for the ice hockey season. New coach Bo Subr has big plans, but the first Test lost Sunday 2:8.

The goal was not particularly amazing, and it was achieved only during training. After the puck maneuvered the ball over the red line, Dylan Frock gave a small cheer, a satisfied smile on his face for a moment: Scoring is always fun, even in a practice game that covers only a third of the field. Five against five, in the attack zone, on goal. Lions kick off: Wruck, the top scorer who came from Heilbronner Falken, and the new teammates have been going snowboard at home at Ratsweg in Frankfurt since this week, with guidance from Bo Subr. New also and for the time being at least very impressed with his team.

“There’s a good, positive vibe,” Soubry says. “Men work really hard, but they seem to enjoy everything, too.” This helps, after all, there is still a certain distance to go before things get really serious. Löwen’s joint preparation will take six weeks until the new season of German second-tier ice hockey begins, on October 1 with a guest appearance at EHC Freiburg. Subr and his family’s first big task is: “To find each other as a group,” said the coach.

Practically speaking, he interrupts if there is a reason to do so, and instructs, for example about one’s positions or general room layout through the hall, in between repeatedly asking the whole team to come to the tactics board. Sporting director Franz-David Fritzmer, who is after the coach who previously worked with Dutchman Tilburg Trappers who competed in the Bundesliga, brought Frankfurt – to a differently formed team after last season’s quarter-finals from DEL-2 and the rise he initially missed, About half of it consists of old and new lions.

Fitness in the foreground

The commitments of famous players like Wruck have already raised expectations, but the road to a top-tier dream destination is long and sometimes unpredictable. “There are a lot of different characters that may have played in different ways,” Subr explains. “Now it’s all about getting everyone on the same page.”

He himself prepared well for his new team, had several discussions with Fritzmere, assistant coach Jan Barta and goalkeeper and video coach Valtteri Salo. “It makes it easier when you join a working organization,” says the 41-year-old Czech who works in North America. He has watched a lot of videos, for the Lion matches from the previous round and of course also for the singles players, he told himself about each one. “It’s easier these days than it was 20 years ago, you open your laptop and you have the videos there,” he says with a laugh.

This week there was one nice surprise or another to get to know each other in person. “Some have made good strides and improved over the summer,” Sober noted. Summer training for those staying in Frankfurt and returning early, which was possible for the first time on the ice of Darmstadt, seems to have paid off, as has off-ice training with sports coach David Dobell.

Starting the right preparations for the new season, everyone is now in Frankfurt, including the North American faction with Wruck and Co. Only two are yet to be done: New goalkeeper Jake Hildebrand of the USA will join only next week. And the newcomer, Patrick Bozas, who was already planned as a major player, is said to have canceled the Lions in a short time, according to rumors.

Coach Subr already has a good staffed team available regardless of individuals. Today, Sunday, the first test match took place against the Danish first division club Aalborg Pirates in Cologne, where the Lions lost 8-2 after advancing 2-0. In the first stage of preparation, the focus is on physical fitness. “It’s going to be a tough two weeks,” Beau Super announced. However, the finer details are also important. “If we go on the ice now, we want to do it the way we want to play,” he says. So that bad habits do not arise.

His thoughts on ice hockey, in short: “Get the puck as much as you can. If you don’t have the puck, get it back as fast as you can with the necessary aggressiveness and hard work.” And last but not least: “Score more than the opponent,” Poe Super concludes, laughing. This won’t be completely unimportant by October at the latest.