South beats North

Created: 04/14/2022 13:33

By: Patrick Hilmes

Take care: Norman Martens (l.) And the Hamburgers should sorely miss Sam Verelst, their second best scorer.

© imago/regiopictures

The ice hockey Oberliga club SC Riessersee has presented its first entry for the coming season.

Sam Verelst is moving from the Crocodiles Hamburg to the traditional club from Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen –

Imagine an ice hockey player choosing his new club using a quartet, a card game.

Compare the previous employer with the potential future employer.

In the case of Sam Verelst, it should go like this: North against South – trick Oberbayern.

Big city feeling against nature - stitch lakes and mountains.

Founding year 1990 against 1920 – engraving tradition.

You could continue this little game, but the result would not change, since the most important points have been decided.

Means: Verelst leaves the Crocodiles Hamburg and joins the SC Riessersee.

His own quartet card would say: Sam Verelst, 31 years old, born in Antwerp, nationality Belgian/German, 1.81 metres, 83 kilograms, winger.

Trained with the Phantoms Antwerp, later Düsseldorfer EG.

18 games in the DEL, 126 in the 2nd Bundesliga and DEL 2, 297 in the Oberliga.

Previous clubs: Füchse Duisburg (29 games/23 points), Selber Wölfe (29/20) and Crocodiles Hamburg (48/57).

And now SC Riessersee stands behind it.

Foundation for change laid ten years ago

But how did it come about that the Belgian with a German passport, who apart from his one year in Selb - the championship year - only played in the north and west of the Federal Republic, is now drawn to the heart of Bavaria?

The cornerstone for the change was laid almost ten years ago.

At that time, the young Verelst ran for the Fischtown Pinguins, at that time a competitor in league two of the SCR.

On the way to the away game, when Bremerhaven had long since left the white sausage equator behind and Verelst saw the Werdenfelser Land, it was all over for him.

"I was blown away." It wasn't to be the only time that Fischtown got on the bus and started the long journey south.

The attacker, who describes himself as an agile all-rounder, kept having the same thought in his head:

Verelst wants to be part of the Riessersee Project 2024

But the 31-year-old didn't end his two-year contract with Hamburg ahead of time just to enjoy the scenery and climb the mountains - and because his girlfriend is starting a job in Munich.

Rather, he plans to help the SCR to realize its project 2024 to move up to the DEL 2 again.

"I want to be a part of it." He likes the professional structures at the white-blues, the Olympic ice sports center, the vision of the club, the tradition and also the coach.

Pat Cortina, whose vita is as long as the journey from Hamburg to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Whose running-intensive system suits Verelst so well, whose running strength is one of his best attributes.

All this convinced him.

Coach Pat Cortina is convinced of the new striker

And vice versa?

His professional approach to sport, can be a role model for young talents, is versatile, has proven his qualities in the premier league: Cortina lists all these points when describing Verelst.

"He can play on the left as well as on the right and will help us with his skills in the most varied of game situations," the SCR coach is certain.

But before he devotes himself to the new season with Riessersee, Verelst is still on duty for his home country.

With the Belgian national team, he travels to Iceland next Sunday, where the Division IIB World Championship is coming up.

The opponents are Georgia, Mexico, Bulgaria and Iceland.

The goal: "Gold plus promotion to Division IIA," emphasizes Verelst.

He then spends his free time in summer in Hamburg and with his family in Antwerp, where he also organizes ice hockey camps, before moving to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

By then at the latest, his attention will be on the SCR.

The fans can then look forward to a player who is "less of the loudspeaker", who needs "some time to thaw out", but who invests his energy fully in his playing style.

The data on the quartet card promises a lot.