LAUSANNE, Switzerland - The German national team hasn't been the steadiest in recent years. But after a good ninth-place at the 2007 Worlds, and positive results in this season's exhibition tournaments, head coach Uwe Krupp hopes to continue the positive trend in the long-term, looks for changes in the domestic league DEL.

The towering Cologne-native is well-known in the hockey world. In 1983, legendary coach Scotty Bowman discovered Krupp, who was drafted in the 11th round by the Buffalo Sabres. Three years later, Krupp's NHL career began with the Sabres. He totalled 810 games in the NHL, scoring 75 goals and adding 235 assists, becoming an icon as the only German-born Stanley Cup winner with Colorado in 1996 and Detroit in 2002. He also represented Germany at the 1998 Olympics, the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and in two World Championships. In 2002, soon after his second Stanley Cup triumph, Krupp's career ended due to several injuries.

After his retirement, Krupp soon found his calling, behind the bench as a coach. Krupp started as an assistant coach for the German junior national team before he became - the same season - the men's assistant coach at the 2005 Worlds in Austria. It was in Austria that Germany had to swallow the bitter pill of relegation after five straight years of being among the top ten. Seven months later, Poss resigned and Krupp became Germany's head coach. He earned 10th place at the 2006 Olympics, easily won the 2006 Division I and led Germany to a strong comeback at the 2007 Worlds in Moscow with the ninth-place finish including a surprising 2-0 triumph over the Czech Republic.

Despite harsh criticism, Krupp didn't name many veteran players to the roster and, instead, built his team with young prospects. Since Krupp is also an assistant coach with the U20 team, he stays well-informed about the development of his top prospects. Just like his football counterpart Jurgen Klinsmann, Krupp is married to an American and living in the USA, which helps to avoid the German tabloids.

This season's Deutschland Cup and Skoda Cup showed that the Germans are on the right path. Krupp's team finished ahead of Slovakia, Demark and France in the events. Just one team continues to foil the Germans; archrival Switzerland which Germany hasn't defeated since 2004. The Swiss own an 8-1-0 record including two wins this season.

"I think that France is on our level, but teams like Switzerland and Slovakia are still far away," Krupp told IIHF.com after the a 2-0 loss against the Swiss last weekend at the Skoda Cup. "It's difficult for us to win against them. We would need luck and mistakes by the opponent."

Most Germans would call this an understatement and have higher expectations - like the quarterfinals. "Usually, guys who don't have a clue create unreasonable expectations," said Krupp. "Like last year, we'll have to fight hard to get established in the top division."

To make German hockey more competitive in the long term, Krupp wants to see some changes in the league. "The DEL regular season is two weeks longer than some other leagues, fewer rounds would be good and maybe somewhere along the way this will happen."

Another hot issue are the league's loose import restrictions compared to other European leagues. The DEL, which separated from the German association in the '90s, allows 11 import players. The association asked for a massive reduction in favour of young native players and was not completely ignored with a reduction to 10 imports next season.

"Switzerland's league exemplifies that it is possible to play with only four imports without losing quality," says Krupp. However, Krupp is happy about the DEL's commitment to junior players after the league mandated earlier this season that clubs must develop a certain number of young players and must have junior teams with full-time coaches. Says Krupp of the emphasis on junior players, "that's the right way, because to decrease the number of imports, we have to bring in more of our own talent."

Notebook:

• Two DEL clubs decided about coaches for next season. Adler Mannheim re-signed Dave King, who arrived last December, while the DEG MetroStars signed German-Canadian Harold Kreis, who is currently head coach of the ZSC Lions in Switzerland.
• The German top league will go into the playoffs with the four-man officiating system. Two referees and two linesmen will call DEL games starting on March 7.
• Wolfsburg wants to get rid of its bottom team image. The team signed German national team forwards Sebastian Furchner and Kai Hospelt from Kolner Haie to multi-year contracts for next season.
• Switzerland defenceman Goran Bezina lost the tip of his nose at the Skoda Cup game against Slovakia after being checked into the boards. Luckily, the lost part of his organ was found on the ice and was sewn back on in the hospital.
• The Organising Committee of the 2009 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland (Berne and Zurich-Kloten) presented its mascot in Lausanne - a happy cow that has yet to be named.

MARTIN MERK