ice Hockey
Bremerhaven coach Popiesch: Final against the past
Thomas Popiesch (M, above), coach of the Pinguins Bremerhaven, follows the game. photo
© Carmen Jaspersen/dpa
For the coach of the Fischtown Pinguins, the ice hockey finals have a special meaning for many reasons. Manager Alfred Prey raves about his coach.
For Bremerhaven’s manager Alfred Prey, the final victory would be in the German Ice hockey league against the Eisbären Berlin the “crowning of a career” for coach Thomas Popiesch. “It would be déjà vu, the kind you can only read in a novel,” said Prey in an interview with the German Press Agency.
The final series in the German Ice Hockey League begins in Bremerhaven in best-of-seven mode against the Eisbären Berlin on Wednesday (7:30 p.m./MagentaSport).
The successful coach of the Fischtown Pinguins encounters his past. “Berlin is his home,” said Prey. Popiesch spent his youth ice hockey at the previous club Dynamo Berlin. As a 17-year-old, he wanted to escape from what was then the GDR, but his attempt failed. He spent four years in the state security prison in Bautzen. After reunification, he was active in Duisburg, Krefeld, Frankfurt and Nuremberg, among other places.
He has been a coach in Bremerhaven since January 2016 and is now in the DEL final for the first time. “Nobody deserves the championship title as much as him,” emphasized Prey. “It was an outstanding coaching performance. The team was well prepared against every opponent.”
Manager Prey will take a back seat to the Penguins after the playoff final. His successor, Sebastian Furchner, is already in office. Popiesch is also expected to leave the club for Krefeld. The 58-year-old does not want to comment on the rumors that have been going on for months until after the end of the season.