02/09/2012 - From the 17th til the 19th February the "Der Club an der Alster" will host the "Schlegel EuroHockey Indoor Clup Cup 2012". As the German indoor champion the mens team of "Der Club an der Alster" will welcome the seven best clubteams of Europe at Rothenbaum. The Alsterans will meet the Swiss champion Luzerner HC, the spanish winner Egara Terrassa as well as the Swedish champion Partille SC during the group stage. Even though the preparation wasn't easy for coach Joachim Mahn and his team "Der Club an der Alster" are willing to win the cup.
Since 19th of December the team hasn't played any indoor league matches. Mahn:"The only thing we could do is to play ourselves because in Hamburg we couldn't find an opponent for a scrimmage. That's why it is very difficult to estimate how well we are prepared for this challenge."
At least all the key players are available for coach Mahn, who won the 2011 indoor and outdoor championship with Alster. Against the Austrian champion there were two tests last weekend because the Vienneses were glad to make the trip to Hamburg so they could get to know the hall already. "Der Club an der Alster" was able to win these tests with 12:4 and 12:6.
"The atmosphere in the team is outstanding", says Sebastian Biederlack, Alsters two times world champion and olympic gold medalist of 2008. "To play this European championship in front of the own fans is a reward for what arose from the two titles last year. The team learned a lot from that. Personally I am very excited to play this tournament - at home - with 30 years of age. My motivation to play hockey is still huge because I have fun playing!"
But even the routinier of Alster doesn't know that much about the opponents at the EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup. A surely interesting aspect is that the Swiss opponents from Luzern are coached by Christian Stengler, a former natinal player and HTHC-coach. The team from Gothenburg is new to the highest division of European hockey, but it is almost equal to the Swedish national team, which was able to get into the A-division of the indoor European Championships just recently - so no easy team to play.

Attraktives Drumherum
With its partners "Der Club an der Alster" creates a colorful framework program. With the Citroen car dealership Schlegel there is a partner that helps to organize this framework program. In addition to the presentation of the new Citroen models in front of the hall Schlegel will also design the honorary guest section and arranges some attractive lotterys around the tournament.
"We already accompanied the women european indoor championship in 2007 as main sponsor. I was fascinated by the perfection with which the Alster-women were operating as a unit", says Torsten Harms, executive director of the car dealership Schlegel. "And I also have the celebration of the title in good memory, which took place at the club house of "Der Club an der Alster". Ofcourse we hope that the mens team is able to play for the title, too!"
Besides Schlegel there is also a group of students of the "Europäischen Medien- und Business-Akademie" of Hamburg, including on of Alster's key players, Julian Hofmann-Jeckel, working for this tournament. As a student project they created the website of the Schlegel EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup 2012 and filled it with content as well as the flyers and posters.