Iserlohn Roosters The Iserlohn Roosters are a professional ice hockey team based in Iserlohn , North - Rhine - Westphalia . They are members of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga since 2000 and play their home games at the Eissporthalle Iserlohn which is also known as " Eissporthalle am Seilersee " . Playing nine years in the DEL the team made the playoffs once . The Roosters are widely regarded for their fans and having one of the best atmospheres at home games in Europe despite having just a capacity for 4967 spectators . History . The history of ice hockey in Iserlohn began in the neighbouring town of Hemer . In a district of Hemer called Deilinghofen Canadian soldiers were deloyed . They came to the town after the end of the Korean War in 1953 and soon built an arena - first without a roof . The teenagers in Deilinhofen were interested in this strange kind of sport and wanted to play it , too . They played on streets or frozen ponds and were allowed to play in the arena in 1957 for the first time . Recognizing the joy of the teenagers they got first changing coaches , later with Charles McCuaig a steady trainer . After a long preparation time the first game against a Canadian youth team from Soest was on 8 March 1958 in front of 120 people . Deilinghofen played well , but lost 2 - 6 . The equipment was borrowed by the soldiers . After that game , the matches were more steady and with more bystanders , so the arena had to get a roof in 1958 . EC Deilinghofen ( 1959 – 1980 ) . The next goal was reached on 28 February 1959 . The EC Deilinghofen was founded in a small tavern . At that time there were only 49 hockey clubs in Germany , only 8 in North - Rhine - Westphalia . In 1959 a team from Deilinghofen started in a junior league and reached the second place . A year later they took part in the German championship and reached place five . In the second season 1960 – 61 they became first in North Rhine - Westphalia , and the second best team in the country . They only lost against EV Füssen . When they came back to Hemer , thousands of fans celebrated the team and coach Charles McCuaig . The famous newspaper Die Welt wrote a large article about " The Canadians from Sauerland " . Five ECD players were nominated for the German national team . Because the players got too old , the team played in a regular league in the 1961 – 62 season . With Victor Leury as new coach . Deilinghofen lost only one point that season in a scandalous game in Hanover . Later newspapers wrote about a " " Schlacht vom Pferdeturm " " ( Battle of Pferdeturm , Pferdeturm is the name of Hanover ' s arena ) . After this match the teams and fans of Deilinghofen and " RESG Hannover " were arch - enemies for decades . In this season and in two after this Deilinghofen became champion of the north of Germany , but they lost games against the champions of the south and so missed the moving up . In the 1964 – 65 season they were called " Unaufsteigbar " ( not able to moving up ) . The local brewery and a new mode helped the team to move up to the Oberliga . But the first Oberliga season was not as successful as the years before , so fewer people than before came to watch . In this season the team had three different coaches and in the next season 1965 – 66 , a German became head coach for the first time : Horst Kubik . In the following years the Aufstiegsrunde ( something like playoffs ) were reached , but from a financial standpoint the season was bad . In 1971 the Canadian soldiers were disengaged and the new British soldiers were not interested in the arena , so the team had to search for a new one . Local politics wanted to have an arena in Iserlohn . After the agreement of Iserlohn ' s town council the " Eissporthalle am Seilersee " was built by a company from Krefeld near the border to Hemer . In the 1976 – 77 season Deilinghofen was two places behind Kaufbeuren in the new " Zweite Bundesliga " . But Kaufbeuren waived the promotion and the ECD got the chance to play in Germany ' s best hockey league for the first time , 6 , 776 days after its foundation . In the first season Deilinghofen got only 16 points , but stayed with luck in the Bundesliga . ECD Iserlohn ( 1980 – 1987 ) . In 1980 the club was renamed ECD Iserlohn , because the arena was there for years . In the following season the team was relegated for the first time in its history . Two years later it moved up again . And the next years were the best and most successful seasons in the club ' s history . In 1986 the ECD reached the semi - final in the playoffs with stars like Jaroslav Pouzar and Martti Jarkko . These two players are fondly remembered by many fans today . But these players also cost a lot . So the president Heinz Weifenbach looked for help in Libya . Muammar al - Gaddafi wanted to pay money . The team only had to advertise for his " Green Book " . On 4 December 1987 they did . It was one of the biggest scandals in the history of hockey . A few days later the ECD Iserlohn was strapped . ECD Sauerland ( 1988 – 1994 ) . The next season the ECD Sauerland was founded . They started playing in the " Oberliga " , although Weifenbach wanted to begin in the Bundesliga . The club had the same , big financial problems as its predecessors . The 1991 – 92 season was a catastrophe , so the fans were frightened to miss the license . The ECD got the license , but went bankrupt a few days after the end of season . ECD Sauerland Iserlohn Penguins ( 1994 ) . Only one day later , on 9 April 1994 , the ECD Sauerland Iserlohn Penguins was founded , but the pewee players didn ' t contract in , so the club hadn ' t a chance to survive . Iserlohner EC ( 1994 – 2000 ) . The Iserlohner EC was founded on 20 April in the same year . The new committee wanted to avoid financial adventures . After one season the team moved up to the second best league . The following two years were more difficult , but new players during the season revived the club . In 1997 a new coach came to Iserlohn : Greg Poss . After three successful years , the club could move up again , because they bought the license of Rosenheim . The arena in Deilinghofen was torn down in 1999 , 40 years after the foundation of the ECD . Many people from Deilinghofen protested against this . Iserlohn Roosters ( since 2000 ) . Iserlohner EC since became a professional team in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga , and adopted the name Iserlohn Roosters . IEC founded a GmbH ( limied company ) for the team which administrates the finances and the organisation . The GmbH has been named Iserlohn Roosters GmbH . All junior teams were still under the control of the IEC . The Roosters had the lowest budget of all DEL - teams and the media often referred them as a underdog . In their first two seasons the Roosters placed 15 . and 12 . In the 2002 – 03 season playoffs were missed . The Roosters collected two points too less , although the German champion of this year , the Krefeld Pinguine , were beaten 8 - 1 at the last day of play . For the next season Poss left the club and went on to coach the Nürnberg Ice Tigers , Iserlohn ' s new coach was Dave Whistle , after nine games Doug Mason was his successor . In the lockout season 2004 – 05 Mike York and John - Michael Liles came to Iserlohn and helped to reach place eleven despite still the smallest budget in the league . York signed with Iserlohn after his old college friend Bryan Adams , who was the captain of the Roosters , talks to him . Brian Gionta also signed , but leaves without having played because his wife´s pregnancy . 12 players left the club in the summer of 2005 . But the Roosters were able to make some great activities on the transfer market , the biggest in signing former DEL - topscorer Brad Purdie and former NHL - player Mark Greig for two years . Nevertheless they got just the eleventh place again despite having the best powerplay in the league . In March 2006 , Mason left Iserlohn and signed with the Kölner Haie . Geoff Ward came to Iserlohn and coached the Team . The final rank was eleventh against and he leaves Iserlohn during the summer 2007 to be an assistant coach for the NHL team of the Boston Bruins . After defeating DEG Metro Stars 5 : 1 in the opening game of the season 2006 - 07 the Roosters had catched the first place for one week for the first time in their DEL - time . For the season 2007 - 08 the new coach of the Roosters was Rick Adduono . The Roosters improved the team with Norm Maracle , Bob Wren and other good signings . After the fith game they got a playoff rank and were able to keep it . The offence made the biggest impact . Robert Hock and Michael Wolf started to dominate the league as native players , breaking the dominance of North American players . Finally Wolf was the top goal scorer and Hock became league topscorer . The third man in their line was either Tyler Beechey , who was first signed on a try - out . contract , or Brad Tapper . Also the line with Jimmy Roy , Pat Kavanagh and Ryan Ready helped to reach the playoffs in a way nobody could have expected . But in the quarterfinals they were defeated by the Frankfurt Lions in game 7 . For the next season the Roosters signed former New York Islanders coach Steve Stirling . The team failed to continue the way they had the year before and Stirling got fired in February after the team got out of the playoffs ranks . In the summer many players voiced critics to Stirlings work . The assistant coach Ulrich Liebsch became the new head coach . Many key players left the team . Due to the financial crisis the Roosters announce to look for young talented players and don´t focuss on veterans for the season 2009 - 10 . DEL - seasons . " Note : GP = Games played , W = Wins , L = Losses , OTW = Overtime Wins , OTL = Overtime Losses , Pts = Points , GF = Goals for , GA = Goals against , PIM = Penalties in minutes " Team individual records . These are the top - ten players in six categories in team history since joining the DEL in 2000 . . Figures are updated after each completed DEL regular season .