Welcome, new and returning players, to the 2026–27 season. First practice: Sunday 27 September, 08:00–09:30 at Zweibrücken Ice Rink

KMC Eagles Hockey

All results

History

Military ice hockey in Zweibrücken goes back to 1953. The KMC Eagles carry that tradition forward.

1953 – 1960: RCAF 3 Wing Flyers

Military ice hockey in Zweibrücken began with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Flying Officer Peter Cunningham founded the first Air Division hockey team in 1953, with early home games played in Munich and later Mannheim. Cunningham died in a flying accident in 1954; the arena that opened at 3 Wing in January 1956 was named after him. The RCAF Flyers Europe played in the first German league and against the national teams of Canada, the United States, Germany and Italy before the pool of players dried up in 1960 and the 3 Wing Flyers took over.

1979 – 1993: CANUSA, USA Ambassadors and the Warriors

After most Canadian personnel left, the American military took over the base and its rink. A combined American-Canadian side played as CANUSA from 1979, then as the USA Ambassadors from 1980 to 1982, facing Canadian base teams at Lahr and Baden-Baden, German and French clubs, and the Luxembourg and Belgian national teams. From 1988 the team was known as the Warriors, joined the German league in 1989, and was promoted from the Landesliga to the Regionalliga. When the Canadians left Zweibrücken in 1991 the programme slowed to a small core of players from Ramstein and Kaiserslautern.

2001 – 2004: Ramstein Rams to KMC Eagles

In 2001 the team became the Ramstein Rams, playing pickup and friendly games around Germany. In 2004, under Tom Duggan, it was renamed the KMC Eagles to represent the whole Kaiserslautern Military Community, and joined the newly formed Die Players Liga (DPL).

2005 – 2012: Building the family

Todd Poynter took over as president in 2005 and recruited aggressively: forty-seven new players turned up to the first practice. The Eagles won the DPL cup in the league's second year and added a second team, the KMC Adlers, in 2007. 2009 was a banner year under player-coach Brian O'Connor, with the DPL championship, the Harder Cup, the Prague New Year tournament and the club's first USAFE Armed Forces championship. Eric Helgeson became president in spring 2012. That season Eagles I climbed from fourth seed to win the Division I DPL title 10–7 over Heddesheim.

Retired numbers

  • #68 Todd Poynter, retired at the start of the 2012–13 season in recognition of nearly a decade of leadership, together with Paulette Poynter.
  • #28 Scott “Scotty” Zwiers, retired on 20 April 2013. DPL champion 2009 and 2012, USAFE champion 2009–2012, two-time USAFE MVP.

2013 onward

When USAFE lost funding for the 2013 Garmisch tournament, the club raised about $9,000 in two weeks, organised the ice and officials, and won its fifth straight Armed Forces Europe title. The tournament continues as the Armed Forces Alpine Classic, which the Eagles have won in 2015, 2016, 2022, 2023 and 2024. In 2024 the club added another Division I DPL championship in Eppelheim. Today the club's teams play in the DPL, in friendly games and in tournaments across five European countries.

Have a correction or a story to add? Contact the club.