Dusseldorfer EG 5th year German-born goaltender Mathias Niederberger(35) signs on for a third season with hometown team.
He was initially loaned from fellow DEL squad Eisbaren Berlin for the 2015/2016 campaign and earned goalie of the year award in 42 games with a 2.27 GAA and .930 SV%.
The 5’11” 170 lbs. only played 11 games for his former team and was even allowed to play 5 games for Dredsner Eislowen of DEL2.
After playing the start of his junior hockey in his country, he moved on for a pair of years in the OHL with Barrie Colts looking to break into the NHL.
In 2013/2014 he signed a deal with Los Angeles Kings‘ affiliate Manchester Monarchs but was mostly sidelined by injury able to appear in only 6 AHL and 9 ECHL games on reassignment with Ontario Reign.
Despite the physical setback, he actually did ok but decided to head back to Germany to continue his career.
At only 24-years old he still has plenty of time in the cage ahead of him and the only question that really remains to be answered is will he stay or head out to pursue higher league adventures as he gets older and quite possibly even better.