Hockey Night in Krefeld

This was a lovely weekend to see some hockey and since it’s not that great in the Netherlands, we headed to Krefeld in Germany to see the Pinguine play ERC Ingolstadt. 

Source: Eliteprospects ‘Logo Pinguine’

I think it’s a good oppertunity to say something about how awesome German sports fans actually are and the insane atmosphere in the Königspalast in Krefeld. It’s about an hours drive from where I live and well worth the ride. Funny enough, from Eindhoven on it’s about 70 kilometers straight on, take a turn and drive 7 more and then it’s like around the corner.  It’s a nice drive so enough time to chat.

I went down there with a friend and my long suffering girlfriend (just kidding, she likes the hockey too), taking enough time to get a good taste of what it’s like. German fans are well dedicated to the sport and ofcourse their beloved team. Normally they might just as well hang out in the old rink across the street to watch another team, but the amount of people already present during the warm-up is a sight of dedication.

It kinda sucked a bit that Ingolstadt scored two goals in the first period, which started to diminish the fevered chanting of the Krefeld fans. Tirelessly they keep chanting and shouting, during the whole game. During the game there’s also space for some activism, which has a lot to do with the future of the team. I must say I’m hard pressed to fully understand what’s happening, but it seems a political game has started to be involved. Signatures are collected and ofcourse I signed for the Pinguine. Let’s be fair, it’s good to have a funteam on driving distance. Comments with info would be much appreciated. 

Game in progress
Game in progress

So the game starts to be quite a downer, when Krefeld gets the third goal against. The team plays wobbly and confused at times, but gradually builds up to some momentum and scores a brilliant goal. Suddenly the crowd is roaring again, and the last ten minutes of the game feel super intense once more. It’s a shame that the Pinguine did’nt manage to get a goal in against the champion of the DEL. For us, it was still a great experience that we can talk about on our way home from Krefeld. Go Pinguine!

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