Get off the ice

Created: 01/19/2022, 19:29

By: Patrick Hilmes

Hanging heads: The SC Riessersee players only train individually for the time being.

Only on Friday will the PCR test results show how to proceed.

©Andreas Mayr

Now SC Riessersee has also been hit hard: The top division ice hockey club has reported three corona cases and is canceling weekend games.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen –

Basically, it was only a matter of time.

The corona virus has been raging in the ice hockey Oberliga Süd for weeks, the game plan has only been available as a fragmented version for weeks, for weeks sport has been in the background and the pandemic has come to the fore.

Now it has also hit SC Riessersee - and rightly so.

Three employees, including two players, became infected.

All three people were there in Höchstadt on Sunday

The traditional club from Garmisch-Partenkirchen reported last Thursday that a player had tested positive for Covid-19. However, since he had not had any contact with the team for 48 hours beforehand, there were no consequences for the team. That's different now. Because all three people traveled to Höchstadt on Sunday. At this point everything was still fine, all quick tests were negative. That changed on Monday. During the routine check, a rapid test was positive. As a result, all team members underwent a PCR test on Tuesday. The result: three positive results. Those affected are in isolation at home. A player is currently showing no signs of infection,the affected person from the environment of the team only light - both have already received the third vaccination. The second actor, on the other hand, shows symptoms.

"We can't just carry on as if nothing happened"

Pana Christakakis, SCR Managing Director

Most of the team is already boosted, so they don't have to go into quarantine and can train and play.

But next weekend, the SCR will not fight for points in the Oberliga.

"We can't just carry on as if nothing happened," emphasizes Managing Director Pana Christakakis.

In addition, two other players complained of corona-specific symptoms in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

On Wednesday they went again to the PCR test.

Next PCR test series on Friday

Due to the incubation period, this is due again on Friday for all previously negative team members.

Until then, there will be no team training on the ice, all players will complete individual units.

"We want to break the chain of infection if it can still be broken," says Christakakis.

Therefore, in consultation with the German Ice Hockey Federation and HC Landsberg, the catch-up game scheduled for next Sunday was canceled.

"We have to be careful and don't want to take any unnecessary risks for our employees and their families."

Will the pre-playoffs be scrapped?

Since the white-blues are not an isolated case in the Oberliga Süd - currently only six-playable teams - time is slowly running out to get all the games of the main round through by the deadline of March 6th.

One solution could be to scrap the pre-playoffs.

This would free up an extra weekend for catch-up games.

So far, according to Christakakis, this topic has only popped up once on the sidelines of a video conference between the DEB and the clubs, but has not been dealt with in detail.

But the Riessersee managing director also knows: "Slowly things are getting tight."