After the last three bankruptcies in a row and falling to fifth place, the Adler Mannheim have released master coach Pavel Gross from the German Ice Hockey League and brought his predecessor Bill Stewart back.
The Canadian, who will be head coach at the club for the third time, will be supported by former German internationals Marcel Goc and Jochen Hecht.
“We are in a phase of the season where the playoffs are imminent and the team should be on the way to playing their best ice hockey. Unfortunately, the trend went in the wrong direction,” said club boss Daniel Hopp: “That’s why we’re going to I’ve decided that the team needs a new impetus, a breath of fresh air in the final spurt and in the final round.”
The German-Czech Gross switched from the Grizzlies Wolfsburg to the Adler in 2018 and led the team directly to the championship. Mannheim finished the aborted 2019/20 season in second place, a year later they lost to Wolfsburg in the semifinals.
Mannheim, eight-time champions, went down on Sunday at the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven (0:4), two days earlier the Adler had also lost at home against the North Germans without their own goal (0:2).
Stewart, nicknamed “Kill Bill”, initially takes over until the end of the season. The 64-year-old won the championship with the club in 2001, Stewart was coach again from December 2017 to summer 2018, after which Gross came. Returnee Stewart is behind the gang for the first time on Wednesday against bottom Krefeld Pinguine. Former NHL pros Goc and Hecht are serving as assistant coaches.