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Only one victory is missing for the title

2021-05-06T00:05:34.999Z


The Erdinger ice hockey professional Valentin Busch is on the way to his first German championship with the Wolfsburg Grizzlys. The 23-year-old will be interviewed shortly before the second final game against the Eisbären Berlin.


The Erdinger ice hockey professional Valentin Busch is on the way to his first German championship with the Wolfsburg Grizzlys.

The 23-year-old will be interviewed shortly before the second final game against the Eisbären Berlin.

Erding / Wolfsburg - Valentin Busch reaches for the German ice hockey crown.

The 23-year-old Langengeislinger is in the playoff final for the German championship with the Wolfsburg Grizzlys.

The Lower Saxony have thrown Bremerhaven in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals top favorite Mannheim out of the race.

At the start of the final best-of-three series, the Grizzlys managed a 3-2 win after extra time at the Berlin Eisbären in a highly dramatic game.

Tonight at 7.30 p.m., game two is on the program in Wolfsburg.

If the grizzlies win, they are German champions - for the first time in the club's history.

And it would also be the first title for Vale Busch.

Mr Busch, you and the grizzlies are in the final.

It hadn't looked like that at all during the point round.

Right.

We were even out of the playoff places in between, and we had a series when we lost eight out of ten games.

The season was a constant up and down.

But then we made it into the playoffs in the final spurt, and now everyone is just in a good mood.

Did that good mood make the difference then?

In my opinion, yes.

Everyone here is highly motivated and we are a committed team, which of course also includes trainer Pat Cortina and the entire staff.

If you make a mistake, there is no shit, you get built up.

All of this is brutally motivating.

That gives us all a real boost.

Do you notice a difference between the points round and playoffs on the ice?

Oh yes, and how.

For me it’s the first time that it’s a real playoff.

The difference is brutal.

Now the whole body is being played, and actually it's a miracle that with this constant physical contact there aren't 20 fights in every game (laughs).

You played your way back into the team after your Corona break and your injury, but "only" in the fourth row.

It does not matter.

I am happy to be there and have my ice ages.

Only if it gets tight at the end does he reduce it to three rows, but I can live with that.

It would be nonsense if the coach were to change the established ranks at this crucial phase of the season.

Obviously you feel comfortable in the role of the outsider and now you have a real run.

It is often the case that the teams that just barely qualify for the playoffs suddenly have a run.

It was the same with my brother Sebastian at EV Landshut in the DNL.

Landshut were the last to slip into the playoffs, and in the end they became German champions.

The first game was lost in Mannheim, after which, to everyone's surprise, you shot the series with two wins.

Usually when you lose the first game in the series the mood is bad.

It was different with us.

After that, everyone motivated the other, and despite the defeat at the beginning, we believed that we would make it to the final.

Which you did too.

And then you won the first final game in Berlin, with a goal from Julian Melchiori after 18 minutes in extra time.

When Julian met, we were all on the ice and just cheered.

That was pure goosebumps.

Just a great feeling.

Now you are only one victory away from the championship.

Yes, our dream of the title is getting closer and two on the team deserve it in particular.

On the one hand Jeff Likens, for whom his time in Germany ends after the season.

Of course he would like to say goodbye with the title.

And then there is the 39-year-old Sebastian Furchner.

He is now in the final for the sixth time, twice with Cologne and now for the fourth time with Wolfsburg, and has not yet won any.

For him in particular, I would be brutally happy if it finally worked out.

For you it would also be your first title.

Yes, and to win a title at the age of 23, that would of course be something very special.

But it's not there yet.

We have to win one more time.

What's the grizzly route like tonight?

With us everyone will play as if it was the last game of their career.

Of course, Berlin will come with all its might.

But if we play like we did last, I think we have a very good chance.

The interview was conducted by Wolfgang Krzizok

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-05-06

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