Ice hockey: why national player Felix Schütz voluntarily joins the DEL2

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Felix Schütz, here still in the Straubing Tigers jersey

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Laegler / Eibner / imago images

Felix Schütz, 33, is one of the stars

The planned DEL start has been postponed for one month from mid-November.

That's why Schütz, like some colleagues from the national team, has joined a lower-class club.

The EV Landshut was last in the DEL2.

Despite the shotdown, the second professional league set November 6th as the start date - without spectators.

SPIEGEL:

Why do you voluntarily go to second division, Mr. Schütz?

Felix Schütz:

During the summer I drove from my place of residence in Erding in Upper Bavaria to Cologne once a week to go out on the ice with some other boys with the sharks.

Because you could already have guessed that the season wouldn't start in September, and I didn't want to be without ice practice for too long.

I was open to playing for a club in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, but there are too many players on the market.

Then I waited until the stadiums in Bavaria were opened, those were near Moosburg and Landshut.

The EV Landshut asked if I want to train with them.

We then quickly agreed that I would play there.

It's a win-win situation.

SPIEGEL:

But do you have to accept losses compared to your normal salary?

Felix Schütz:

Who does it not affect?

In football, too, the high salaries and horrific transfer fees will not be sustainable.

In the current situation, it's not about cashing in.

SPIEGEL:

Ice hockey was stopped in Germany in March, and quite a few DEL professionals have not played a game since then, and if they are on short-time work, they also have no ice training.

What do you lose in sporting quality as a result?

Schütz:

You should try to avoid downtime of four or five months.

Due to the natural conditions, we in Germany are already behind nations like Canada, the USA, Russia, the Northern Europeans, where you have the opportunity to train on ice all the time.

I want to play the years that remain to me at the highest level, and for that I need more than just going to the gym for six months.

SPIEGEL:

There are DEL players who even move into the third division, the Oberliga, or, like national player Marcel Brandt from Straubing, into the fifth division, the Landesliga.

What about the level below?

Schütz:

You can't say that there is no difference at all between DEL and DEL2.

But I am pleasantly surprised by the level.

We recently played with Landshut in Passau, for a top division club.

They weren't a bad opponent either, with a lot of young players and they make mistakes.

But for me it is a principle never to underestimate an opposing team.

We have often seen at the World Cup that teams from smaller nations weren't much worse than we were.

SPIEGEL:

Marcel Brandt plays for Dingolfing because it was his youth club.

Marcel Müller from the Kölner Haien is currently in Kassel, where he started with ice hockey, the Allgäu Patrick Reimer, like Müller and Sie silver medalist, bridges the time until he starts with Nuremberg in the DEL, in the DEL2 in Kaufbeuren.

Is nostalgia currently being lived out?

Schütz:

Patrick Reimer started as a professional in Kaufbeuren - like I did in Landshut fifteen years ago.

So you come to a club where you are not strangers and where you feel good.

None of us will earn the big money in DEL2.

It's about staying fit while having fun.

And after all, what the DEL2 does also finds its audience.

You can watch the games on the internet stream and I know people who do.

SPIEGEL:

 The DEL will play a cup tournament from November 11th, and league operations are due to start on December 18th.

Do you believe in it?

Felix Schütz:

I know that some clubs don't want to play under the current conditions.

A lot of time was lost to play a full season from December on, I can hardly imagine.

Maybe something shorter or a tournament with fewer clubs.

SPIEGEL:

 One of the players' criticisms of the DEL is that it is acting too hesitantly and has not worked out a concept over the summer.

Would you agree with that?

Felix Schütz

: We have known for months that a second wave of infections is coming, this is no hocus-pocus.

I would have liked to have retired to a workshop for a week in the summer: those responsible from the league and clubs, experts, Telekom as the rights holder and us players.

I don't believe in eternal growth, but we could have used the opportunities offered by the 5G standard and digitalization to prepare ice hockey in such a way that it is brought closer to TV fans.

In the event that spectators will not be allowed in the hall.

We players would certainly have adjusted our salaries.

SPIEGEL:

It is now clear: DEL2 has to start with a month full of ghost games.

Felix Schütz:

Some clubs have calculated that they will initially be allowed to play with 20 percent stadium occupancy and that state aid will suffice.

And they need their VIPs.

In the lockdown, that will certainly be difficult for some clubs in the DEL2.

SPIEGEL:

 The Germany Cup with the national team and the DEL2 start overlap.

You have even traveled to international matches from Russia and Sweden.

What has priority?

Felix Schütz:

National coach Toni Söderholm has nominated younger players, I think that's good.

But this time I would have canceled.

Even if I have a release clause in Landshut, that doesn't mean I'll be gone with the first offer.

I have a contract in Landshut and I play there now too, the start is important. 

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