Tilburg Trappers

Tilburg's ice hockey club spent a decade in the German Oberliga after concluding the Dutch Eredivisie no longer stretched them, a decision the club made in 2015. The professional side still plays in Germany; an amateur branch carries the Trappers name back into the Dutch league at home.

That move followed a run few Dutch clubs can match. The domestic haul came in two distinct waves.

The clearest measure of what the Trappers could do when the level allowed it came during the 2012–13 NHL lockout, when Dale Weise turned out for the club and scored 22 goals in 19 games, a spell that earned him the nickname 'Dutch Gretzky' among the Tilburg support.

Domestic rivalry these days runs against Eindhoven, a fixture known locally as the Brabant Derby, or more plainly as 'buren ruzie' — the neighbour's quarrel. It replaced an older, sharper antagonism with the Amsterdam Tigers from the years both clubs chased the same Eredivisie title.