No longer Canada 1c: Roosters are increasingly relying on young, German talent

It is no coincidence that the Iserlohn Roosters signed three 17-year-old talents within just a few days. While Yannick Proske is moving from Adler Mannheim’s offspring to Seilersee, Finn Becker and Nils Elten are already active in their own offspring with the Young Roosters.

“It speaks for our work in the recent past that Yannick Proske, a top talent of his year, has decided to continue his career with us,” explains manager Christian Hommel.

Last year, Hommel implemented his philosophy in the Sauerland squad. No longer Canada 1c with naturalized foreigners, but giving young German up-and-coming players a chance to get a taste of DEL air. Neal Samanski, Erik Buschmann and Tim Fleischer could already fight for a regular place in the Roosters squad. Proske, Elten and Becker are now pursuing this goal.

Finn Becker and Nils Elten went through the complete youth training with the Young Roosters and recommended themselves there for the step into the professional area. “You recommended yourself for this opportunity through your performance in our junior teams. Both showed an incredible amount of potential and received excellent training from us. We were also impressed by their character development, which is why we trust them to take this step, ”explains Christian Hommel, sporting director of the Iserlohn Roosters.

After the first joint sessions with the professionals, the two youngsters are highly motivated: “The preparation is very intensive and it’s going well. I think that the first test matches have shown that there is a lot of potential in the team,” says Elten, who works for the Test match in Cologne for the first time for the Roosters was on the ice and was also used in the other games.

“It’s not a sprint, but a marathon,” urges coach Jason O’Leary to be patient enough not to overwhelm the talents. “Nils played under 17 last year and had to assert himself against a two-time Stanley Cup winner against Cologne,” says the coach, pointing out the huge difference between Elten and Zach Sill. “I still think he did a good job. He is calm with the target and has good positional play. He just needs consistency in his performance now. “

Yannik Proske also made his debut against Cologne and was also able to convince his coach. “In terms of running and technical skills, he is very good for his age. Now he has to get used to our system step by step and to the much higher speed in the DEL. “
Proske was initially trained in the offspring of ES Weißwasser and made the leap into the DNL team of the Mannheimers via the U17 of ESC Dresden. Proske was already an important part of the Mannheim DNL squad than last year and scored 24 times in 33 games. Before the current season had to be interrupted due to the corona pandemic, the striker had scored four goals and prepared two more goals – in just five games. In addition, he has been through all of the DEB’s youth selection teams and most recently led the U16s on the ice as assistant captain.

“The suspension of the DNL season gave us the short-term opportunity to enable Yannick to make the jump to the DEL with the Roosters,” explains Christian Hommel. The contact between the sports director of the Iserlohner and the striker has existed for a long time and results from Hommel’s activity as a youth coach. “We noticed him in games against our youngsters and also in the U-national teams and we followed his career very closely. It speaks for our work in the recent past that Yannick Proske, a top talent of his year, has decided to continue his career with us, ”explains Hommel.

Finn Becker will hold the position of fourth goalkeeper and continue to play for the U20. “Above all, he needs match practice. With us in training he has the opportunity to learn a lot from our goalkeepers, who all have a different style, ”says O’Leary, who is sure that Becker is on the right track.

Defender Elten and goalkeeper Becker will complete the entire preparation with the professional Roosters team. Elten will also be given a sponsorship license for the cooperation partner Herner EV in the major league, for which he has already been on the ice six times in the current season and provided an assist.

“These three personal details show that it is possible to recommend yourself to our DEL team here in Iserlohn and to make the leap into the professional field”, Hommel states.

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