Dresdner Eislöwen part ways with coach Niklas Sundblad

The Dresdner Eislöwen have reacted to their sporting misery and relieved coach Niklas Sundblad of his duties with immediate effect. This was announced by the promoted team in the German Ice Hockey League. Sports director Matthias Roos is also no longer responsible for the sporting aspects of the team, which is bottom of the table. Roos will continue to support the club in administrative tasks for the time being, while sporting responsibility will be realigned, the statement said.

Niklas Sundblad came to the Elbe in January 2024, celebrated the DEL2 championship title with the Dresdeners last season and led the team to promotion. The experienced Swedish coach and his players sparked great euphoria at the club.

The 52-year-old, who won German championship titles as a player and coach, put together a team with many older, experienced players together with sports director Matthias Roos in the summer. However, the euphoria quickly gave way to disillusionment. The team has shown itself to be unfit for the first division in several areas and has just three wins and nine points to its name in 23 games to date.

Blamic defeat forces action

Recently, both players have repeatedly come in for criticism in the team's environment, with the embarrassing 6:1 home defeat in the basement duel against the penultimate-placed Iserlohn Roosters on Wednesday being the straw that broke the camel's back.

Managing Director Maik Walsdorf explains: "In recent weeks, we have consciously placed our trust in the people involved on and off the ice, because we don't believe quick fixes are the way to go. We wanted to turn things around together. However, various readjustments in recent weeks have not had the effect we had hoped for. The result, but above all the team's performance in yesterday's game against our direct rivals in the relegation battle, ultimately made it clear and underlined that we have to act."

For the two games at the weekend in Ingolstadt and against Munich, the current assistant coach Petteri Kilpivaara will act as interim head coach. He will be supported by Jukka Ollila, head coach of the U20 team.