River Rats Extend Checking Line

Created: 08/03/2022, 14:05

By: Thomas Wenzel

The hard-fighting Daniel Bursch (middle) is already in his tenth season with the Geretsrieder River Rats: the regular right winger has extended his contract with the Bavarian ice hockey league.

© Hans Lippert

The River Rats, Bavarian league ice hockey team from Geretsried, are also planning next season with Daniel Bursch, Stephan Englbrecht and Josef Reiter.

Since moving from TEV Miesbach to the River Rats in 2017, Englbrecht has been an integral part of the defensive department.

The 27-year-old defender, who is entering his sixth season with the Bayern division, is considered to be very conscientious and extremely reliable.

"Stephan brings a harmonious combination of robust duel behavior on the defensive and an eye for the perfect offensive game," explains the ESC spokesman.

Born in Tölz and trained at EC Bad Tölz, he played all 36 games last season.

He recorded six goals and nine assists.

The 60 penalty minutes he received prove that he can also go about his business in a robust manner.

Stephan Englbrecht, reliable defense specialist © River Rats

Even if the puck virtuosos rarely appear in the third block of an ice hockey team, this formation is nevertheless indispensable: The so-called "checking line" is often more defensively oriented and helps colleagues from rows one and two to take a breather, but is also for that one or the other important goal well.

Three typical representatives of this species have now extended their contracts at ESC Geretsried - defender Stephan Englbrecht and strikers Josef Reiter and Daniel Bursch.

"We are glad that we have secured the services of other valuable service providers," emphasizes press spokesman Tom Kinzel.

Bursch, the veteran of the River Rats

Daniel Bursch (27) is now a veteran of the River Rats team.

The physically strong attacker took his first steps in what was then the ice hockey school of TuS Geretsried and is now in his tenth season in the first team.

"In addition to a strong shooting technique, Daniel also acts as an excellent preparer," emphasizes Tom Kinzel.

Last season, the right winger scored 26 points in 32 appearances, but only had to serve eight penalty minutes.

Josef Reiter, lively left winger © hl

Josef Reiter will also inspire the Geretsried fans again in the coming season.

"In addition to tireless commitment and the will to fight, Josef also has a high playful pace," explains the ESC spokesman.

In attack, the 24-year-old repeatedly opens up space and creates promising goal opportunities - both for himself and for his teammates.

Due to injury and illness, the native of Tölz was only on the ice in 23 games in the past Bayernliga round of points.

Nevertheless, the statistics of the left winger can be seen with eight goals and ten assists with 16 penalty minutes.

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Strikers Horvath and May have also extended with the River Rats.