Pond Hockey European Championships beat all records

The international tournament in the original form of ice hockey with teams from seven different nations will take place in a month on Friday, February 14th and Saturday, 15th February at the Ritten Arena.

Pond hockey has been played on Ritten for many decades. Generations of hockey players chased hard rubber discs in their free time, especially on the frozen Wolfsgrubner Lake. Five years ago, a group of friends organized their first tournament, which was held for the first time in January 2017 as an unofficial European Championship. Since then, the event has continuously developed under the banner of the puck. In just under a month, the fourth edition of the European Pond Hockey Championship will kick off at the famous Rittner Eisring. And it will be an edition of superlatives, because with 51 registered teams to date, the organizational team has broken the 50 mark for the first time.

“We will welcome between 350 and 360 players to Ritten in February. Many teams come from South Tyrol, but we also have participants from Germany, the Czech Republic, the USA, Canada, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Athletes who will spend the night at Ritten at least twice and sometimes also bring their families with them. For this reason alone, the tournament is of great importance for Ritten as a tourism destination,” emphasized Wolfgang Holzner, OC boss and president of the Ritten Tourism Association at the media event on Tuesday.

The huskies are the hunted Among the participants are the defending champions, the “Huskies”, a team with local ice hockey legends Roland Ramoser, Alexander Egger, Günther Hell and Christian Walcher. “I can’t say what our team will look like this year. I don't want to reveal any internals. As three-time winners, we will certainly be the hunted, as in previous years. Successfully defending your title will be very difficult. On the one hand, the level is increasing year after year, and on the other hand, we are not getting any younger,” explained Egger at the press conference.

Stefan Zisser, President of the National Committee of the Italian Ice Sports Association FISG and himself an active player at the Pond Hockey European Championships, did not agree with the comments of his former teammate at HC Bozen. “The Huskies are far too good, the other teams will just play for the places behind them,” said Zisser. “What makes me very happy is that a youth tournament is being held as part of the Pond Hockey European Championships. This year there will be around 80 young players taking part, and the tournament is expected to become even larger in the next few years. “Through tournaments like these, we have the opportunity to show the children what ice hockey is all about without them having to buy all the equipment and maybe we can attract one or two talents to our sport,” continued Zisser.

The fourth edition of the European Pond Hockey Championship on February 14th and 15th, 2020 can grow to a maximum of 64 teams - the organizing committee around Wolfgang Holzner has limited the field of participants to this number.

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Pond Hockey European Championships beat all records

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