Dieter Hegen

Dieter "Didi" Hegen (b. April 29th 1962 in Kaufbeuren, Bayern, Germany) is a retired professional forward and head coach who spent his whole career playing in Germany.

Playing career
Already as a seventeen years old, it was clear that Dieter Hegen would become one of the greatest German players of all times. Young Hegen in his first season scored 60 goals and added 64 assists for 124 points in only 42 games with ESV Kaufbeuren's 2.Liga Süd affiliate. More than ready for the elite level, Hegen joined the senior squad in the elite 1.Bundesliga. He didn't look out of place the slightest bit, scoring 54 goals and totalling 89 points in 43 games. The strong play of the rookie player attracted the attention of North American scouts; the Montreal Canadiens drafted him 46th overall in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft. Hegen, however, never played in the National Hockey League.

Sfter having spent his six first career seasons with Kaufbeuren, Hegen joined Kölner EC. In his first season in Cologne, Hegen became German champion for the first time; he would get his second the very next season. Along with teammate Gerd Truntschka, he would form there one of the most devastating duo in German hockey. In 1989, both Hegen and Truntschka moved together to Düsseldorf EG, where they joined an already powerful team with players such as Peter John Lee, Chris Valentine, Uli Hiemer, Mike Schmidt and goaltender Helmut de Raaf. The result was easy to guess: Hegen and his teammates won three straight German championships from 1990 to 1992.

The terrific duo of Hegen and Truntschka wouldn't stop terrorizing the elite level of Germany at this point, and the powerful pair again moved to a new team together, this time joining EC Hedos München. In their first year there, they failed to win a championship, for DEG was still too strong a powerhouse for the league. But the next season, the Munich side was unstoppable: Hegen clinched a six German championship with Hedos, who defeated DEG in the finals.

1994-95 marked the first time for a long time that Hegen wasn't paired with Truntschka; the latter had decided retiring following that last championship with Munich. Hegen stayed there, as the team was being renamed München Mad Dogs. The team, however, was short lived - it went bankrupt early in the season. Hegen returned to Düsseldorf where he spent the remainder of the season and the next three. While there, he went on to win his seventh and last championship as a player.

Hegen would finish his career with two pretty disappointing seasons with Star Bulls Rosenheim and, from 2000 to 2002, with his first club, ESV Kaufbeuren. He retired from playing in 2002.

International career
Additionally to his highly successful 1.Bundesliga/Deutsche Eishockey Liga tenure, Hegen was also an essential member of his national team. In career, he played 106 World Championship games for the West German National Team and the German National Team, scoring 39 times and adding 21 assists. He also participated in five Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992, 1994 and 1998), playing a total of 33 games and scoring 16 times, with 7 assists.

Coaching career
In 2002, Hegen decided to try something new: he took on the head coach role of EV Duisburg, then in the 2.Bundesliga. He led the Foxes to promotion to DEL in 2005 - that win turned out to be his eight league championship in career, his first as a coach. He was dismissed in 2007 despite a successful record with Duisburg, to be replaced by Peter Draisaitl. However, Draisaitl was fired in January 2008 (despite a very succesful record), leaving the bench to Karel Lang. He too wouldn't last very long, and Didi Hegen was re-hired on September 16th 2008 as head coach of EV Duisburg.

Awards and achievements

 * Seven times German champion: twice with the Kölner Haie (1987, 1988); four times with DEG MEtro Stars (1990, 1991, 1992, 1996) and once with EC Hedos München (1994).
 * Second all-time goal scorer of the 1.Bundesliga/DEL (behind Erich Kühnhackl)
 * Named seven times to the all-star teams of the league
 * Three times league top scorer (1981, 1989, 1992)

References and external links

 * This article is essentially a translation of the article on Dieter Hegen on the German Wikipedia