After a disappointing start to their DEL season and finishing last in the Champions Hockey League's Group A, Kölner Haie released general manager Lance Nethery, head coach Uwe Krupp and his assistants. Nicklas Sundblad takes over.
By Robert Heppekausen
COLOGNE - Only five weeks into his new job as team president, Peter Schönberger had to release head coach Uwe Krupp along with assistant coaches Brian McCutcheon and Ron Pasco and general manager Lance Nethery. The big sweep in the athletics department of Kölner Haie was the follow-up to series of discussions between the team's investors, who were not satisfied with the long-term development of the club.
Although it may seem as if Wednesday's loss in Košice and finishing on the bottom of Group A was the last straw after a bad start with six losses in eight DEL games, Schönberger denied it. "This isn’t about having lost a few games recently. It's about having looked at the situation over a longer timeframe and our impression was that we had to change something and with Niklas Sundblad and his assistant [Franz Fritzmeier], we have a very good alternative."
Expectations are high for new head coach Sundblad as he surely knows, having played in Cologne for two years during his career and being a member of the championship team in 2002. He was also an assistant coach in Cologne for four years and even had a short stint as head coach after Bill Stewart got released in 2010. Now he’s back and is happy about it. He has recent success in the top German league, coaching ERC Ingolstadt to the title last season with a victory over Köln in the finals.
"This is Kölner Haie, one of the biggest teams in Europe," Sundblad said. "The target here is always the championship. But we have to be realistic, right now we are in 13th place [of 14] in the league and have a long climb ahead of us. We have to get into the playoffs and then take it from there. Long-term we want the championship but we have to set short-term goals first and start winning some hockey games."
Schönberger added, "We have two goals here. The first one is to put the club on a stable foundation so it is perfect and professional in every aspect. The second one is on-ice success and that means a championship. That’s it."
In the eyes of the investors, Krupp and the athletic department weren't up to that anymore. After being runners up twice, they apparently felt the team wasn't going in the right direction and so a change was made. Krupp reportedly received the news Thursday afternoon as he was travelling with the team back to Cologne from Košice and said good-bye to his players afterward.
Krupp told local newspaper Kölner Stadtanzeiger, "I want to thank everybody for all the support I received here in Cologne during the last three years. Everbody from the fans to the media supported me. I felt welcome since day one. It has been a privilege for me to have worked with this team. Kölner Haie are the club I grew up with. This chapter is closing now."