TSV Peißenberg tightens the thumbscrews against the ice hockey division

Created: 08/03/2022, 02:00 p.m

By: Bernhard Jepsen

The Peißenberg ice rink is to receive a new cabin wing.

©Andreas Mayr

On September 3rd, the Peißenberg ice rink is scheduled to go back into operation.

At least that's what the provisional schedule of TSV Peißenberg as a hall operator looks like.

However, the date is subject to conditions – and they affect the ice hockey division.

Peißenberg

– You can tell Stefan Rießenberger: The TSV President is under massive pressure.

On the one hand there is the ice hockey division, which wants to start ice training early after the summer break.

On the other hand, reason says something else: Rießenberger describes it as "madness" to start up the cooling compressors in the ice rink at the end of August.

In addition, in view of the energy crisis resulting from the Ukraine war and the appeals to save energy.

But TSV wants to see things through: the ice should be ready on September 3rd.

Rießenberger is acting against his inner convictions.

“The clubs must finally wake up.

Ice hockey has to become a winter sport again,” he calls for a general rethink in the ice hockey scene.

The early start of the season is an energetic farce: "It's better to play three to four weeks longer in spring.

The gravel under the ice is still frozen.” But the ice hockey clubs in the Bayernliga, in which the TSV “Miners” also play, voted at the most recent league conference for an early start to the season on October 2nd.

Incidentally, the “Miners” did not vote.

At least they did not actively participate in the conference.

"I was informed that part of the board of directors was suffering from health problems and that another part was busy preparing for the season at the same time," explains Rießenberger.

Rießenberger is upset that no one from the “Miners” leadership has advertised a later start to the season as part of the online conference: “I am very disappointed.

At a conference where such important decisions are made, a representative of the 'Miners' should have been present.” Rießenberger would have attended the meeting – if he had known the date.

According to Rießenberger, a representative of SC Forst informed him about it.

Rießenberger is annoyed that he was slowed down in his own mission by the lack of presence of the “Miners” at the league conference.

Actually, he wanted to write a letter to ice hockey clubs and municipalities that operate an ice rink.

The TSV President wanted to point out the energy problem and the difficult framework conditions in the wake of the Ukraine war and propose a later start to the season at the end of October.

"But that's done," explains the TSV President: "If your own club doesn't vote at the league conference, then I'll make a fool of myself with such a letter."

Rießenberger is in a quandary: in mid-September, the first competitive games begin in the youth field.

"If we don't open the ice rink, I'll be the bogeyman," says Rießenberger: "Then it's my fault if the children switch to other clubs and the 'Miners' don't have any sporting success because they don't train before the league games Internally, the board of directors of the main association has therefore decided on September 3rd as the opening date for the ice rink as a compromise solution.

But can TSV even afford the massively rising energy costs?

"Yes, with price adjustments and due to the excellent work of our stadium administration, which will ensure 100 percent occupancy, we can do that," believes Rießenberger.

In addition, one wants to save energy, among other things, by throttling the compressors and higher ice temperatures.

But the TSV President cannot predict how energy prices will develop.

In this respect, much remains vague.

In September and October, which were still relatively warm, TSV paid an average of 1,700 euros a month for gas consumption in previous years.

The municipal utilities have been sales partners since the spring.

According to Rießenberger, the municipal company cannot make medium or long-term tariff forecasts.

What if the gas tap is turned off?

"Then there's a shift in the shaft anyway," says Rießenberger.

The cooling is operated with electricity, but the drying system, which is essential for the durability of the laminated roof truss, runs on gas.

It was agreed in the TSV presidium that the main club should tighten the thumbscrews with regard to its ice hockey division.

According to Rießenberger, the ice preparation takes place on the condition that the "Miners" present a conclusive budget for the season.

"We at the main club have to make sure that things are going well financially - I expect the same from the ice hockey division," says Rießenberger.

The "Miners" have to take over the complete operating costs in the first week of opening of the ice rink in September.

They are also asked to pay for the costs of whitening the ice, and for additional ice times in the evening they have to pay an hourly rate of 120 euros.

To do this, the division needs funds that the main association wants to see reflected in the budget.