Herford

The imos Eishalle Im Kleinen Felde holds 1,029 spectators standing. Herford has not always had a team to fill it. The Herforder EG that formed in 1980 reached the Oberliga by the late 1980s, folded in 1994, and was reborn as Herforder EC, which spent two seasons in the 2. Bundesliga before going bankrupt in December 2003. What plays under the Ice Dragons name now is Herforder EV, founded in 2004 to pick the club back up from nothing.

It did not start high. A season out of action, then the Landesliga NRW, the fifth tier, in 2005/06. From there the club worked its way back to the Oberliga Nord, and the Regionalliga West titles won along the way — in 1987 and 1991 under the old EG, then again in 2000, 2018 and 2019 under the EV — mark a climb rebuilt twice over rather than a run of dominance. An NRW-Liga title followed in 2015, with cup wins in 2014 and 2016.

Marius Garten captains the side now, and a cooperation agreement with the Kassel Huskies in the DEL2 gives the club a pipeline the amateur leagues alone would not provide. Black and red have stayed the colours through every re-founding.

The rink stands in Herford, a town whose hockey history has had to start over more than once — and each time, it has found its way back to Im Kleinen Felde.