ERC Ingolstadt (''Eishockey-und-Rollschuh club'', ) is a German professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

club that plays in the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called Penny (supermarket), PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga) (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a professional ice hockey league in Germany and the highest division in German i ...

(DEL). Commonly known as the Panthers, the team plays its home games at the Saturn Arena in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

History

ERC Ingolstadt was promoted to the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

after three consecutive years of playing in the championship finals of Germany's second-tier hockey league, the 2.Bundesliga. During the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, Ingolstadt signed

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) players

Marco Sturm Marco Johann Sturm (born September 8, 1978) is a German professional ice hockey coach and former player who is the List of NHL head coaches, head coach for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). As a Forward (ice hockey), forward, ...

, Andy McDonald, Jamie Langenbrunner and Aaron Ward. Other well-known NHL alumni include goaltender Jimmy Waite, Yves Sarault, Patric Hörnqvist and Jason Holland. In the 2008–09 season, the team took part in the famous Spengler Cup. ERC Ingolstadt won its first and only DEL championship in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

as an overwhelming underdog entering the playoffs. After finishing in ninth place in the regular season, the Panthers knocked out the three-time defending league champions

Eisbären Berlin The Eisbären Berlin (; English: ''Berlin Polar Bears'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Berlin, Germany. The team competes in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the highest level of play in professional German ice hockey, and is also ...

in overtime of the final game of the playoff qualification round. In the first round of the playoffs, the team of head coach Niklas Sundblad then shocked second-seeded Krefeld Pinguine in five games and then eliminated

Hamburg Freezers The Hamburg Freezers were a professional men's ice hockey club from Hamburg, Germany that played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The club announced its withdrawal from the DEL and ceased operations on 24 May 2016 when Anschutz Entertainment Group, ...

, who had finished the regular season in first place, in six games. In the championship final, Ingolstadt defeated Kölner Haie in seven games, with goaltender Timo Pielmeier recording a 27-save shutout in Game 7. By virtue of winning the DEL championship, ERC Ingolstadt was invited to play in the 2014–15 Champions Hockey League.

Season records

Players

Current roster

Honors

Champions

Championship:

* 2.Bundesliga Championship: 2001

References

External links

* Ice hockey teams in Germany Sport in Ingolstadt Ice hockey clubs established in 1964 1964 establishments in West Germany Ice hockey teams in Bavaria {{Europe-icehockey-team-stub