Harold Kreis becomes national coach, Alexander Sulzer assistant coach
This Monday the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund (DEB) introduced the two new national coaches of the men's national ice hockey team at a press conference in Munich. Harold Kreis becomes the new full-time national coach. The 64-year-old will take over the position after the conclusion of the current PENNY DEL season Schwenninger Wild Wings.
In addition, the DEB the position of assistant coach with Alexander Sulzer. The 38-year-old will be available to the men's national team during all measures and will form the permanent national coaching team together with Harold Kreis. The two will receive a three-year contract.
DEB-President Dr. Peter Merten: “With Harold Kreis and Alexander Sulzer, we have managed to create a coaching team for the DEB to win. The two of them have the potential to permanently lead our very well-positioned men's national team into the top eight nations in the world. We look forward to a successful and goal-oriented collaboration.”
DEB-Vice President Andreas Niederberger: “We are looking forward to the strong, joint coaching team with Harold Kreis and Alexander Sulzer. We combine great experience and expertise, innovative approaches and the individual strengths of both of them. We took great care in the selection and decision. It was also important to us that we promote German coaching talent even more in the future. They both fit the requirements profile we have created ideally.”
DEB-Sports director Christian Künast: "In the first step, we created the national coach's requirements profile and, after consultation with the various committees, went on to select candidates. During the process, it became clear that we saw the team solution as the ideal constellation and we worked towards it accordingly. Harold Kreis and Alexander Sulzer were on the shortlist from the very beginning. We are all the more pleased that we can officially introduce them both today."
Harold Kreis, future DEB-National coach: “I am honored to be able to take on this responsible role and approach the task with humility and enthusiasm. Together with Alexander, I want to continue the successful path that the national team has recently taken and of course develop it further together with the players. I'm already looking forward to working with him DEB and the entire national team staff.”
Assistant coach Alexander Sulzer: “It is a great honor for me to be able to work as an assistant coach for the national team. I'm really looking forward to working as a team with Harold and the players. For me, it is a great task in my young coaching career to bring German ice hockey even further forward and to develop myself personally in the process.”
The new national coaches
Harold Kreis (January 19, 1959 in Winnipeg, Canada)
- 180 games for the German national team
- Member of the Germany Ice Hockey Hall of Fame
- Participation in the Olympic Games (1984, 1988) and eight World Championships
- 19 seasons for the MERC or the Adler Mannheim active as a defender
- German champion in 1980 and 1997 with Mannheim
- From 1997 to 2000 he worked as an assistant coach for the Eagles for three years
- In the 2000/01 season in the same position with the Kölner Haien
- He then coached EC Bad Nauheim in the 2nd Bundesliga
- At the World Cup Division I assistant coach of the Dutch national team,
- From 2002 in the Swiss National League A as an assistant and youth coach at HC Davos
- Summer 2005 head coach of EHC Chur in the Swiss National League B.
- From March 10, 2006 head coach of HC Lugano in the Swiss National League A
- Swiss champion with HC Lugano in 2006
- 2006 to 2008 Head Coach ZSC Lions in the Swiss National League A
- Swiss champions with the ZSC Lions 2008
- From 2008 head coach DEG Metro Stars (runner-up 2009)
- 2010 to 2014 head coach Adler Mannheim (runner-up 2011)
- Assistant coach of the German national team from 2010 to 2012
- 2014 to 2018 head coach at EV Zug in the National League A
- Returned as head coach for the 2018/19 season Düsseldorfer EG
- On November 5, 2021, Kreis played his 500th DEL game as a coach
- Head coach of the since the 2022/23 season Schwenninger Wild Wings
Alexander Sulzer (May 30, 1984 in Kaufbeuren)
- North American career: 131 NHL games for the Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers, Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabers in the National Hockey League (NHL) at the defenseman position
- Over 451 games in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) for the Hamburg Freezers, DEG Metro Stars and Kölner Haie
- A World Championships in 2005 and 2007 and 2010, Division I World Championship in 2006 as well as the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and 2010 in Vancouver
- 64 international matches, four World Cups and two Olympic participations
- Season 2021/22 assistant coach DEL2 Eisspiraten Crimmitschau DEL2
- Assistant coach at the since 2022 Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven (PENNY DEL)