Keeping up with Jones in Cologne

COLOGNE, GERMANY --Ryan Jones reached a crossroads in his professional hockey career at the beginning of the 2014-15 campaign.
After spending the majority of five seasons with the Edmonton Oilers organization, he was signed to a professional tryout by the American Hockey League's Utica Comets but was released after six games.
Faced with the difficult question of "what now?" Jones took a leap of faith and signed for the remainder of the season with the Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks) of Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) in Germany.

Fast-forward four years and the former Oil Country fan favourite has become entrenched in the Cologne hockey community, starring as one of the team's top forwards and serving as the poster boy for their much-anticipated NHL Global Series Challenge game against his former squad on Wednesday.
"It's cool… I'm going to try to find a way to get up there, snip that down and take it home with me when this game's over with," he laughed, referring to the massive promotional banner hanging from 18,000-seat Lanxess Arena in Cologne showcasing him opposite hometown hero Leon Draisaitl.
After a four-year NCAA career with the Miami-Ohio Redhawks, Jones broke into the NHL with the Nashville Predators and was later claimed by the Oilers via waivers on March 3, 2010.
A new opportunity with a new organization proved fruitful for him over the next two seasons as he put up 35 goals and 58 total points, missing just four games combined in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Poised to continue to be a key contributor for the Oilers during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, Jones was dealt a tough blow on New Year's Eve when he suffered a serious eye injury during an informal skate in Minnesota.
Two surgeries later, Jones suited up for just 27 of the team's 48 games that season and couldn't quite regain the offensive groove he enjoyed during his first two years in blue and orange. He signed a one-year contract with the Oil for 2013-14 before the sides parted ways and he ultimately ended up in Cologne the following year.
It certainly wasn't how he wanted the NHL portion of his career to end, but he carries with him many fond memories from his Oilers tenure.
"The entire experience was something that I'll remember," Jones said. "That was the best hockey I've played. The organization was amazing, the fan support was amazing. Most of what I'll take out of there is the lifetime friends that I made on the team and the relationships that I built while I was there."

Dec. 2, 2011 holds a particularly special place in Jones' memory bank as he recorded his first and only NHL hat-trick that night during Edmonton's 6-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
"That's probably the pinnacle of my career right there," he said of his three goals in the third period. "That was something I'll never forget. I wish my kids would have been old enough to be in the arena that night… That was special."
Though Ryan and his wife Jamie weren't 100% sure a move to a foreign country was best for their family - which now includes two sons - he said they couldn't be happier with how the life-changing transition played out.
"The decision didn't get made lightly," Jones recalled. "There were a lot of conversations about where we were going to go next, if we were going to play hockey anymore. I got really, really lucky and I feel very fortunate to have landed here in a great organization in an amazing country."
Instagram from @ryan28jones: Best tradition in hockey!!!! Credit:@bildgeberei\_tiegelkamp
Jones, who's scored 61 goals and 106 total points in 178 DEL regular season games with the Sharks - now coached by Leon Draisaitl's father Peter - hopes Wednesday's Global Series Challenge game further boosts hockey's fledgling popularity in soccer-crazy Germany.
The national team's silver medal performance at the 2018 Winter Olympics was a game-changer for hockey in Germany, Jones said. He believes this week's sold-out NHL event can piggy-back on that momentum.
"A lot of fans know the NHL," he said. "They follow it, maybe on a not-so emotionally-attached basis. They don't have a team, but they'll follow Leon, so to have a team like the Oilers come here is huge. We're going to get a lot of fans in that arena that maybe otherwise would not have gone to see a hockey game. Hopefully we can make some lifetime fans out of those people."
The forward should be familiar with lifetime fans as he certainly created a few of his own during his time in Edmonton.