ESC coach Roth: "We have to win our games through morale"

Created: 09/30/2022, 2:00 p.m

By: Thomas Wenzel

The Geretsrieder River Rats before the 2022/23 Bayernliga season: (front, from left) Johanna May, Ondrej Horvath, Florian Strobl, Klaus Berger, Martin Köhler, Martin Morczinietz, Benedikt May, Xaver Hochstraßer, Josef Reiter, Michael Harrer , Maximilian Freytag, (centre, from left) team doctor Dr.

Thomas Kauschke, team manager Alwin Albert, Paul Gania, Dominic Fuchs, Dominik Bursch, Bernhard Jorde, Matthias Hölzl, coach Stefan Roth, supervisor Helmut Hochstraßer, supervisor Helmut Hodolitsch, (back, from left) Felix Döring, Jakub Rezac, Luis Huber , Stephan Englbrecht, Hans Gerg, Daniel Merl, Jakob Heigl, Marek Haloda, Marco Peschek.

©ESC

Under their new coach Stefan Roth, the Geretsrieder River Rats are aiming for a place in the top eight again in the new Bayernliga season.

But to do this, the team almost always has to push themselves to their limits and have to be spared failures.

Geretsried – When Peter Holdschik took over the post of sporting director at ESC Geretsried a few years ago, he issued the slogan: "I want a lot of young people from Geretsried to play in the first team like before." Well, talents that have what it takes for the Bavarian league, despite diligent youth work in the Heinz-Schneider-Eisstadion, there is not exactly a dime a dozen.

Little by little, however, youngsters like Johanna May, Paul Gania and Xaver Hochstraßer have fought their way into the River Rats team over the past two seasons;

With Luis Huber and Matthias Hölzl, other U20 juniors are now moving up who should get their chance.

The makeover prescribed by the ESC vice has now also reached the post of coach.

After the experienced Rudi Sternkopf and Randy Neal, Stefan Roth (42) is a coach who is still at the beginning of his career.

Born in Peißenberg, he played for his hometown club and briefly for EC Peiting;

as a trainer in the men's area, he worked for two years each at the state league teams SC Forst and ESV Burgau.

Roth is also no stranger to dealing with young people, as he works full-time as a teacher at a middle school and has two sons who chase the puck themselves in Peißenberg.

"I'm a coach who speaks to the players on an equal footing," emphasizes the B license holder.

"That's the best way for them to understand my specifications."

Athletic coach supports summer training

And the new man on the gang has also brought some innovations with him.

Roth structured the summer training a little differently than his predecessors and, among other things, hired a trained athletics trainer in Sebastian Jocham, who previously worked for the footballers at TuS Geretsried for a number of years and has now specialized in ice hockey.

"It's about improving the athleticism and stability of the athletes with the help of utensils such as ligaments," emphasizes the head coach.

New tactic for a stable defense

There is also a new system on the ice that is intended to strengthen the defense.

"I didn't come up with that specifically for Geretsried, I've let it play with all my previous teams," explains Roth, who cites his former coaches in Peißenberg and Peiting, Randy Neal and Leos Sulak, as role models.

It is important for him "that my players always know what they have to do in which zone on the ice".

Regardless of the concept, creativity and flexibility are absolutely desirable.

His first Bayernliga station: the new ESC coach Stefan Roth (42).

© St

The trainer couldn't complain about a lack of staff during the preparation, as he had four blocks available almost continuously.

Fortunately, the team has remained almost completely together, because there was only one departure with Maximilian Hüsken (to TEV Miesbach).

In addition to the aforementioned local juniors, Hans Gerg and Felix Döring, a young Tölzer and a young Garmisch native, have also been able to prove themselves in recent weeks.

"For the league games we're going back to three blocks so that we can keep up the pace," clarifies Roth, whose team will have old rivals EA Schongau as guests at the start on Sunday, October 2nd.

Defender Rezac comes from the Czech Republic

He has already thought about who will compete with whom in which series.

"But in the end we always have to see who's available anyway," says the 42-year-old.

Because top scorer Ondrej Horvath has also had German citizenship since last year, the second contingent position in the team has become vacant alongside Czech defender Marek Haloda.

Actually, those responsible for the ESC would have liked to steer a young Canadian into the Heinz-Schneider-Eisstadion.

"But that's always a bit unclear in terms of their level of play and whether they want to make the leap to Europe.

In addition, such a transfer is not exactly cheap in terms of flight costs and accommodation,” says Peter Holdschik, who was personally in North America to sound out the market on site with the help of former TuS striker Steven Schaefer.

The games must be won on morale

"The work is solid in Geretsried", was also the first impression of Stefan Roth.

Of course there is still room for improvement, but in a small club that is always a question of capacity and the financial situation.

In any case, the newly renovated ice rink is a good prerequisite.

The trainer finds it positive that the face of the team has hardly changed.

“The team spirit is great,” praises the coach.

This is enormously important, "because many of our competitors will probably be better in terms of gameplay and we therefore have to win our games through morale."

That didn't work perfectly in the preparation.

"The defeat against Schongau was annoying," says Roth, but is satisfied with the record of two games won and two lost.

Of course, the declared goal is to make it into the top eight in the Bayernliga preliminary round and thus into the promotion round.

"But it won't be easy.

It won't be an easy game for us, nobody will give us anything and we have to hope that everything runs smoothly here and that all top performers are always on board," says the coach.

He himself classifies the experienced TEV Miesbach, the freshly upgraded EHC Königsbrunn and his home club TSV Peißenberg as favorites for the championship.

Perhaps a good mood in the stands could help the River Rats on their way to the big goal?

"It would definitely be great if the fans would give us a little more support," says Roth.

Energy prices are also talked about in the dressing room

What makes the 42-year-old thoughtful, apart from tactics, technology and personnel, is the near future of ice hockey.

"The rising energy costs are of course discussed everywhere, including here in the club and in the team," reports the coach.

He hopes that the ice athletes will receive the necessary support from the city of Geretsried despite the difficult situation.

"But of course you don't know what the big politicians will decide in this regard." And Roth doesn't think primarily of his River Rats, but of the young ice hockey players: "You saw that during the corona pandemic that it was not good to take away their sport from the children.”