Red Bull Salzburg striker Thomas Raffl before his 800th league game
© Sports report
EC Red Bull Salzburg captain Thomas Raffl will play his 800th league game on Sunday. He is the 13th player to receive this honor becomes part. Before his anniversary game, we asked the 35-year-old for an interview.
Thomas Raffl started out at his home club in Villach: after the tall striker had played in all junior classes in blue and white, he made his debut on September 26, 2003 in the “Adler” home game against VEU Feldkirch. The 4-1 victory was the kick-off for Raffl’s illustrious career, which in addition to four league championships also included engagements in Sweden’s top division and with the NHL franchise Winnipeg Jets – he then played exclusively for the Manitoba Moose farm team. Since the 2016/17 season, the current Austrian national player has been playing for the current leaders of the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League EC Red Bull Salzburg, for whom the youngest scorer scored his 500th point in the 2:3 defeat after a shootout in Dornbirn – and is now setting another milestone with its 800th league game (Sunday, February 13 from 4.30 p.m. in the live stream).
For Thomas Raffl, the fact that this anniversary is free is not a matter of course, as he assures: “Of course it is a venerable award. But in order to reach this number of games, a few factors have to play a role. You have to keep fit and stay injury-free, those are big hurdles.” He appears in at least 29 matches in each of his seasons.
First professional years in Villach
He made his league debut in the 2003/04 season with Villach and remained loyal to the Carinthians for five seasons. “Of course you always have very nice memories of that, although I try not to indulge in memories. You are only as good as you are today. Nevertheless: It was great years in Villach. Greg Holst was our coach my first season. He challenged us young players a lot, but that helped us a lot in our development.” His first league goal was not long in coming. On December 23, 2003 he scored the third goal of the game in Villach’s 5-4 home win over Graz – he now has 276. The first goal was “extremely special”, but “I’m happy about every goal and thank God we still have some added”. Raffl also won his first title with Villach (2006), later followed by three more with Salzburg (2011, 2015 and 2016). The 35-year-old doesn’t allow comparisons: “Every title was nice – and different. That’s what’s special. There are no years dying are the same. There is no championship title the same. The only thing that is always the same is the difficult path to get there.”
13th in the all-time ranking
In almost 22 years of league history, only twelve players have managed to play more games than Thomas Raffl. Thomas Koch (KAC) is the absolute leader with 1140 games since the league was founded in the summer of 2000. With Philippe Lakos (942/VIC), Daniel Oberkolfer (883/G99) and Mario Altmann (832/G99), three other active players are ahead of him in the ranking. When asked how he thinks they would describe him, he said, “I hope they see me as a guy who’s always ready to give his all on the ice, plays for the team and is always having fun is.” In such a long career, one would like to believe that there is one special moment – but not with Thomas Raffl: “I don’t have any memories of a special game, maybe more of a final series that we then won. But the people who won the game were remembered specifically – and those memories will last forever!”
36 years young
The short-term goal for Thomas Raffl and EC Red Bull Salzburg is to win the 2022 championship. “An improvement in every game up to the playoffs, good preparation and giving your best every day” should finally bring the superior leader of the table the title. “It’s a long way and we want to arrange the steps very small and then go step by step.” In the summer Thomas Raffl will be 36 years young – perhaps decorated with a fifth championship title. But the striker is far from thinking about the end of his career: “Of course, in recent years you’ve noticed that your age is no longer average for the league. I’ve always felt the same for years though, couldn’t tell any difference when I was 24 or 25. I’ve always been lucky not to be injured or to have had any serious surgery. I also invest a lot in the summer and in training so that I can provide the prerequisites for staying fit.” Hopefully so that I can then reach the milestone.
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02/12/2022