It's been 40 years since SC Riessersee became German ice hockey champions for the tenth time.
The Tagblatt is devoting a four-part series to this last title of the White-Blue series.
In part one, Franz Reindl looks back on the entire 1980/1981 season, in which the three P's - pass scandals, playoffs and mind games - played very decisive roles.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen -
The expectations were not special.
Nobody spoke of the title at SC Riessersee before the season.
The big ones - Berliner SC, Düsseldorfer EG, Mannheimer ERC, Kölner EC - were bigger, too big for the SCR.
“There was big money behind that,” emphasizes Franz Reindl.
The Riesserseer Buam all came from the region.
Plus the two contingent players Vladimir Dzurilla (Czech Republic) and Doug Gibson (Canada).
Then there was Ernst Höfner from Augsburg, “but we practically naturalized him”.
In addition, the SCR had lost too important players after the preseason.
“Bob Murray, Martin Wild, Murray Heatley - there were a few grenades there,” recalls Reindl.
The remaining team full of locals was topped up with seven players from their own offspring and was aiming for sixth place.
Dzurilla and the doctor
It was precisely within this framework that the white-blue initially leveled off.
Between fifth and seventh place.
But gradually something developed, the team grew together.
“These were individual pieces of the mosaic, they then fit together perfectly.” Dzurilla formed the basis, the cornerstone.
The exceptional goalie who was ahead of his time.
The epitome of desperation for various strikers.
Reindl once said of the Czech: "If he's having a good day, you don't have to run back when you counterattack." The doctor, Jano Starsi, swung the baton at the side.
“One of the best trainers I've ever had.” Strategist and gentleman at the same time.
“Not a swear word, he was noble.” Starsi not only had the essential ice hockey thinking.
He also knew how important regeneration was, and divided up the ice ages, precisely tailored to each individual.
The first playoffs of German ice hockey
After 22 match days, the SCR was suddenly where no one and he himself had not seen him: in first place.
The key experience for Reindl.
Now he knew: more is possible, everything is possible.
“That was such an outstanding bunch.” The duel of the rest of the main round was called: SCR against Cologne.
In the end, Garmisch-Partenkirchen won - first place with a nine point lead.
Normally the championship celebration would have followed.
But this season everything was different.
For the first time in the history of German ice hockey, the German playoff champions were determined.
Not everyone could get used to this new format, especially the fans thought it was unfair.
Tenor: Actually, the SCR is already a master!
“But it's only fair if you win in the end.” Reindl and his teammates took the playoffs as extra motivation and just wanted to show everyone again.
The pressure was completely different, none of them knew knockout games.
But that also applied to all teams.
Forgery of passports turns everything upside down
But before it started, the league was shaken by two scandals.
Passports had been forged in Landshut and Duisburg.
Foreign players had accrued as Germans.
No club was allowed to field more than two contingent players.
The consequence: Landshut deducted two points, Duisburg even 17. These counters are transferred to the accounts of the other teams.
The table looked completely different.
Then the playoffs started in best-of-three mode.
Riessersee met Kaufbeuren and had no problems with the Allgäuers - 8: 3, 4: 3.
Everything was arranged for the semi-final duel with Mannheim.
The SCR had home rights, 6,000 tickets had already been sold for the first game, and 15 buses were reserved in Mannheim for the journey to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
But the engines did not start.
Forged passports also came to light in Cologne.
The Rhinelander lost 22 points, were thrown out of the playoffs and all quarter-finals were canceled.
Everything at the beginning.
The SCR was already in the semi-finals!
The Riesserseer had to swallow, but booked it again under the item extra motivation.
“We said to ourselves: They can forge what they want, we are better.
We'll do it on the ice, the others in the back room.
We don't need any trickery. "
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Often asked about the 80/81 season: Franz Reindl, formerly top scorer of the SCR, today DEB President.
© DPA / Tobias Hase
Today the President of the German Ice Hockey Federation no longer has such problems.
"Luckily.
Today the clubs work much more solidly.
At that time, some payment methods were, let's say, not entirely compliant with the rules, ”he says with a smile.
But a lot was different back then, the world as well as ice hacking.
For this we had to use the means that Jano did not want to see, but which have roots with us. "
Franz Reindl
Quarter-finals number two was also survived without damage, EV Füssen was promoted 6: 4 and 3: 1 from the playoffs.
In the semifinals, the Berliner SC then waited.
The main round fourth, who was still considered a hot championship contender.
“That was an outstanding, extraordinary team.” How do you beat such a team?
How can the small SCR defeat the big capital city club?
"For this we had to use the means that Jano did not want to see, but which have roots in us." That means: The gentleman style gave way, it got dirty, tougher.
As in part in training, although training is not the right word in this case.
Every Tuesday the Riesserseer played their own Stanley Cup.
The individual blocks competed against each other.
It was about points, money, honor and the replica NHL trophy in mini format.
The games were led by the club's own referees.
They needed it too, because "it was getting more and more toxic".
The prestige was almost as high as in the league games.
"It pushed us and welded us together."
The problem with the pretzels
But how did the coach react to the dirtier style of play?
“He overlooked it because it led to success.” The SCR won 5: 3 in game one at home against Berlin.
This was followed by a 3: 4 in the atmospheric capital stadium.
One reason for the bankruptcy: “We couldn't see the opposing goal because of the smoke.” Back at home, the players preferred to hide at home.
“The whole place was a hot bubble.” Strolling through the pedestrian zone in peace?
Not possible.
Get a pretzel at the bakery?
Depended on the previous game.
“If you lost, you wouldn't have gotten any pretzels,” Reindl says with a laugh.
After the third semi-final game that was no longer a problem.
The SCR won 4-2 at home and knocked out Berlin.
Beware of the policeman
The little mind games of the white-blue team were also decisive in all of these knockout duels.
They started before the respective game.
The pucks were placed in buckets for the two teams.
In the Olympic Ice Sports Center, however, the away team's container was never as full as that of the SCR.
"At the time, Peter Gailer always" fairly "distributed them."
On top of that.
In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, as a guest player, it is better not to cross the center line before the start of the game.
Otherwise you were quickly on the ice or found yourself in a fight.
Background: At the SCR, a "Policeman", as Reindl calls him, controlled the red line.
In the 80/81 season it was Gerhard Schaaf - early 20s, 1.91 meters tall, almost 100 kilograms.
In some games he even had broader shoulders than before.
The reason: Schaaf partly wore a football breastplate and a football helmet.
“He made the mighty man there.” When someone crossed the red line - for example, when there were no more pucks in their own half - Schaaf grabbed the player.
“You can't get warmed up anymore.” Today such mind games are unimaginable.
“That's a good thing, that was over the border.
I'm glad the sport has developed the way it is today. ”But back then you did everything to somehow gain a mental advantage.
Cohesion is the key
But that's not the only reason why the SCR reached the final in 1981.
The main reason was cohesion.
No bad word with one another, no resentment, no jealousy, no grumbling when something doesn't work.
“Everyone has fulfilled their role 100 percent.” Reindl describes this season as the peak of his career.
The summit of the playoffs followed ...
So it goes on
Part two of the series, which will be released on March 18, is all about the first final game between SC Riessersee and the Düsseldorfer EG.
Max Fink, SCR's second goalie at the time, looks back.