The Winter Game in Frankfurt’s football stadium offers a US-style show, spectacular images and a few reasons to smile. The Lions’ derby victory against Adler Mannheim is almost irrelevant.
It became very clear very early on Saturday that this evening in Frankfurt’s Waldstadion would not be an ordinary sports evening. At exactly 4 p.m., two hours before the start of the game, a big band standing in the fan block with a total of 200 musicians and dancers sang “Smells like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana and encouraged the numerous fans in attendance to sing along. Fireworks and pyro show included in front of (not from) the stands, the completely over-the-top speakers turned up to full volume. Welcome to the Winter Game of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL).
Michael Schulte, Vega and Bosca in the opening act
The DEL open-air spectacle, which has now become a tradition and was held in Hesse for the first time in its sixth edition, offered long before the first face-off and that Derby between the ice hockey arch-rivals Löwen Frankfurt and Adler Mannheim exceptional entertainment. Where Eintracht Frankfurt usually fights for points on a more or less green football pitch, this time other things were in the foreground. In the middle: sports. First and foremost for a very long time: show.
Surrounding the painstakingly constructed ice surface were six huge screens, two stages and numerous constantly flashing spotlights. The preliminary program, which was warmly accompanied by the audience but not always applauded ecstatically, included an ice football game with Eintracht legends such as Uwe Bindewald, Thomas Zampach and Charly Körbel. The fourth-place winner of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, Michael Schulte, played a mini-concert, and the Frankfurt rappers Vega and Bosca also did the honors and paid a musical bow to their hometown. Winter in Frankfurt. Winter Game in the Waldstadion.
“I have experienced over 1,000 professional games. But this one today will always remain in my memory,” said Mannheim coach Dallas Eakins in the pre-game interview. Frankfurt’s trainer Tom Rowe, who was the fashion eye-catcher of the evening with his hat, added: “The entertainment couldn’t be better.” Mind you: Ice hockey was only played later.
Probably the fanciest bank in Frankfurt.
The fans like it
The meticulously planned prelude was garnished by booming bass and consistently frenetic, but not always well-informed stadium announcers. The fact that the names of the Frankfurt players were first recited during the loudly announced reading of Mannheim’s line-up was just as much a part of the evening as the rules information presented by an erotic shop for everyone “who may be playing ice hockey for the first time today”. Note: Players wear a helmet to protect themselves. Each team has six players. And the puck has to go into the goal.
Little jokes on the sidelines that didn’t detract from the experience itself, as the reactions in the stands proved: The total of 45,110 ice hockey fans, who are generally among the purists of sports fans, attended all the events known from the USA. Elements with humor and even played along in a friendly way with the dance cam and the noise meter. And after bath salt legend Henni Nachtsheim had refreshingly honestly admitted that he didn’t want to answer any questions about ice hockey, but wished everyone a lot of fun, we could get started. Sparklers on command, derby time.
The documentary about the game on hr television
The Winter Game makes the hearts of ice hockey fans beat faster. The hr-sport honors the spectacle with its own documentation. “Hot on Ice – When the Frankfurt Waldstadion becomes an ice hockey arena” can be seen on Sunday, January 5th not only on HR television (9:45 p.m.), but also in the ARD media library and on YouTube.
Lions and eagles are initially harmless
In purely sporting terms, the ice hockey clubs from the cities of Frankfurt and Mannheim, which are friends in football but enemies in ice hockey, were initially unable to increase the entertainment value. Both teams showed from the start that this duel was anything but friendly and decided against a testing phase.
After a first, smaller fight after less than two minutes and the surprising realization that the view of the action was really good despite the distance, the first third only delivered exactly two things worth mentioning: In the opening minutes the clock stopped for about two minutes, In the final phase a disc jumped out of its anchorage.
Lots of hands, quick ending: the disc played along again.
Fortunately, the technician and the ice attendant quickly found a solution to both problems, and a short time later, Löwen professional Daniel Wirt was able to provide the first real highlight. The defender took advantage of the first chance in the second third and shot his team into the lead and towards the derby victory with a successful attempt from distance.
The previously visually impressive but acoustically expandable backdrop boiled over for the first time. “The size of the arena made me nervous. But it was actually quieter than I thought, the fans are just a lot further away,” said goalscorer Wirt. Such a hall roof in the dilapidated, but equally endearing and always very loud ice rink also has advantages.
Lions turn up the heat
And it is precisely this roof that would have blown away in the last third if the event had been held on Bornheimer Ratsweg. Because: Thanks to Cameron Brace, Dennis Lobach, Maksim Matushkin and Linus Fröberg, the Lions, who were suddenly playing like crazy, actually scored four more goals and not only got mascot Trevor dancing. Two holes in the ice, which were patched with the help of a watering can and a fire extinguisher, and a goal from Mannheim didn’t change anything about the well-deserved, but particularly surprising, 5-1 derby victory. “Today was one of the greatest evenings of my career,” said Wirt.
And after the final siren? In fact, only sport came to the fore. The Mannheimers, who received a lecture from the fans, crept into the catacombs. The lions, who had waddled into their fan corner on ice skates, turned up the music in the dressing room and continued the party that had begun hours before. “I congratulate the Lions and the DEL on this evening. That was perfect,” summarized Mannheim coach Eakins. A spectacular show and a derby victory as an encore. Frankfurt ice hockey heart, what more could you want?
