PART1 | Alex Egger: “When I still played the bus driver”

Alexander Egger, how often do you think back to the moments after Game 7 in Salzburg?

Alexander Egger: This doesn't happen nearly as often as it did in the week after the triumph. Everything was upside down for days and there was hardly any other topic in my life. That has subsided. However, people still talk to me about the championship title every day, and then the memories are automatically refreshed.

Let's take a look back a little further: What distinguishes the Alexander Egger from 1998 from the current one? Back then I was a young boy who had just moved from EV Bozen to HCB in Serie A. I really had to grit my teeth to hold my own among the big boys. After that came a phase of stagnation in which I was perhaps a bit arrogant and was content with the current situation. Only later, when I was already captain and had the necessary experience, did I take another big step forward. The Egger of the last few years has learned to put aside his own stubbornness, lead a team and constantly develop himself.

“Could have switched to EBEL earlier” If you had taken this development earlier, the door to an even higher league would probably have been open to you... That was never my ambition. Before HC Bozen joined the EBEL, I had the opportunity to move to Innsbruck or Székesfehérvár, but I preferred to stay in my familiar surroundings. That was always important to me as a player. I have to say that the three years in which I was under contract with Ritten helped me enormously. There I first had to prove myself as a native of Bolzano and learned to take responsibility.

A picture from 2001: Alexander Egger (r.), then still employed as a center, celebrates after a goal. © Pattis

Would you have thought at that time that you would later play in the packed ice wave again and win two EBEL titles? I really would never have imagined that. As a child, I went to home games on Romstrasse and experienced the first years in the ice wave. Those were impressive moments. When I finally made it to Serie A, we suddenly played in an empty stadium, even away from home there were often only a few hundred spectators in the stands. You ask yourself: Is that all now? I am incredibly grateful that I was able to experience this great upswing in Bolzano and be part of this phenomenon. We have awakened a sleeping giant here.

“Hjalmarsson was the best” Which of your former teammates did you learn the most from? Deron Quint, who came to Bolzano straight from the NHL in 2004, impressed me the most. I really learned a lot from him. The best, however, was Niklas Hjalmarsson, with whom I was able to play on the same line for several weeks during the NHL lockout. That was a huge honor for me. I particularly remember Sergei Vostrikov and Igor Maslennikov as strikers. The way they harmonized with their technology was absolutely crazy. As a young player, your jaw drops at first.

Who was the best striker you faced on the ice? I could name many, from a Henrik Zetterberg to a Yevgeni Malkin to a Pavel Datsyuk. When you have to play against players of this caliber, you have an uneasy feeling. However, I always considered it a privilege. As an Italian national player, I had the chance to compete with the absolute superstars at world championships. This is the dream of many other ice hockey players who are far better than me, but don't have the opportunity to play for a national team.

Can you tell us an anecdote from your life as an ice hockey player? I could fill entire books with everything I experienced in Bolzano (laughs). For us older players, the many oddities eventually became a habit, but the foreigners often had to rub their eyes in disbelief. We then had to explain to them that the conditions here were completely different a short time ago.

What did you give them as an example? Like the times when I played the bus driver at away games. Back then we still drove around in old minibuses. I often had to get behind the wheel and drive my teammates home from the far corners of northern Italy at night while they made themselves comfortable on the back benches between the hockey bags and slept.

Im Part 2 In the big SportNews interview, Alexander Egger reveals what his everyday life looks like without ice hockey and what position he would like to hold at HCB in the future.

ICE Regular Season ICE	SP	TV	P
1. Klagenfurt	47	183:101	102
2. Fehervar	46	146:126	89
3. Salzburg	46	142:107	87
4. HCB South Tyrol	46	137:125	76
5. Linz	46	146:116	75
6. Villach	46	155:136	74
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PART1 | Alex Egger: “When I still played the bus driver”

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