WEISSWASSER, Germany - A high-tempo style of play and a link-up between two former arch-rivals in the Eastern half of the country has benefited a legendary German outpost with an unfading passion for hockey dating back over 85 years.

 
A rousing D-Y-N-A-M-O is spelled out in unison between the public announcer and the supporters, as the blue and yellow uniformed players of Lausitzer Fuchse is welcomed out on home ice at the Eisarena Weisswasser.

Over a quarter of a century has elapsed since the team skated as "Dynamo Weisswasser", but its legacy very much lives on as the most successful hockey club on German soil continues its David versus Goliath fight.

"Hearing the chants for Dynamo during our matches, tells you all there is to know about its significance in the club's history," said the team's Finnish head coach Hannu Jarvenpaa, who in his first season in charge of Lausitzer Fuchse from
Weisswasser has played an integral part in lifting the youngest team of the division into a play-off berth in DEL2, the second-level of German ice hockey.

Having finished sixth during the regular season and currently locking horns with reigning champions Kassel Huskies at the quarter-final stages of the DEL2 playoffs, Lausitzer Fuchse's free-flowing style of attacking hockey has been a breath of fresh air this season, with head coach Jarvenpaa winning the DEL2 Manager of the year award presented to him in front of the home supporters on 17 March. 

Tucked in among a contrasting landscape of picturesque lakes and brown open cast coal mines near the Polish border, Weisswasser has seen its population dwindle and its trophy galore hit a permanently dry patch since the 1989/90 season when they celebrated their 25th league title during the last season for hockey in GDR, German Democratic Republic or colloquially called East Germany.

Since the Berlin wall was torn down in 1989, ice hockey has experienced a precarious roller-coster ride in Weisswasser. Ahead of this season Jarvenpaa, who most recently spent seven seasons coaching on the continent in the EBEL-league, was handpicked as the man to to lead Lausitzer Fuchse into the future, an appointment he called "a great honour."

"Ever since being a youngster and playing for Karpat in Oulu, events outside of Finland's border have interested me," said Jarvenpaa. "Back then I've got the hockey scores from Finnish newspapers and it was very easy to remember the East German league with its two teams from Berlin and Weisswasser." 

"When I made my World Championship debut for Finland in Prague 1985 it was in a 4-4 draw with East Germany. I remember thinking afterwards that Berlin is Berlin, but why Weisswasser?," said Jarvenpaa who still has a VHS cassette from that debut game at home which he dusted off and watched ahead of stepping into his new role.

During a bygone era between 1949 and 1990 when the Iron Curtain divided Germany, a political decision in the Eastern half hampered the development of hockey in the GDR. Without potential to yield prestige in terms of medals at an international stage, funding was drastically cut from the top and as of 1970 and during the ensuing twenty years, two Dynamo clubs, Berlin and Weisswasser competed against each other in its domestic championship.

Despite a limited pool of players, GDR still managed to punch well above their weight at the international stage. At the 1983 World Championships in West Germany, the East German players arrived with only ten competitive matches in their legs but still managed to finish a creditable sixth.

While Dynamo Berlin soon after Germany's reunification morphed into Eisbaren and has since become record champions of Germany's top flight, DEL with seven titles, adjusting to the new times became an arduous challenge for provincial Weisswasser who up until 1990 played their home games outdoor in what was once was the most modern artificial ice stadium on the continent, but following the fall of the Berlin Wall became hopelessly outdated for its visitors from the West.

Since 2002 the team from Weisswasser is called Lausitzer Fuchse, literally translated to Lusatian Foxes and paying homage to their historical region. As pieces of the Berlin wall are now being sold as souvenirs for almost as long as the wall itself once divided the German population, Lausitzer Fuchse announced ahead of this season a link-up with its former antagonist, Eisbären Berlin, which is seen a new exciting chapter which can push ahead the overall hockey development in Germany's Eastern part.

"We are on the right track to establish ourselves in DEL2 and in terms of exchanging ideas and players with a team from a very high level, this cooperation between two teams from the former East is very important for us," said Dirk Rohrbach, GM of Lausitzer Fuchse.

With Weisswasser's population currently at around 17,000, its small catchment area and limited financial clout makes a return to the top division an unrealistic prospect. But while lifting trophies might have become part of a bygone era, its passion and vocal support appears to be in never-ending supply. In January last year, 8,000 fans - almost half of Weissweisser's population - were among the 31,853 attending the first ever DEL2 Winter Classics against Saxony-rivals Eislowen Dresden played at Dresden's main football stadium.

WIth hockey in Weisswasser having celebrated its 85th anniversary this season, the club's GM Rohrbach is keen to emphasize Lausitzer Fuchse's important role within the community to help brighten up people's lives in a region which experienced drastic changes of late. 

Out on the ice, the players appeared to have answered the call. While last year saw them play for survival in DEL2, they have since got a long way under Jarvenpaa's tutelage. As their quarter-final series against Kassel Huskies continues this week, Jarvenpaa keeps a cool head on the task ahead with a mantra that has served him well during his years as a hockey coach.

"They say that you are only as good as your last game, and unfortunately that is correct," said Jarvenpaa.

HENRIK MANNINEN