Olympia
Erich Kühnhackl is Germany’s ice hockey player of the 20th century. He was born in ČSR and still keeps in touch with Czech players
February 4, 2022 – Interview: Klaus Hanisch, cover photo: Erich Kühnhackl (right), Center EV Landshut, season 1988/89 © Auge=mit, CC BY-SA 4.0
PZ: You yourself took part in three Olympic Games. Because of the time difference, the Olympic ice hockey tournament in Beijing will also be held in the middle of the night or in the early morning. Do you still follow the games?
Erich Kühnhackl: Of course. It doesn’t matter to me if these games come a little earlier or later. If you like watching it, watch it anytime.
This time there are no professionals from the NHL because a lot of catch-up games have to be played there at the same time due to the corona pandemic. Is it a big disadvantage for the German team that their overseas players are missing?
These pros play over there because of their class. Therefore it would certainly not be wrong if they were also present at the Olympic Games. But many good professionals also play in their own league or in other European countries. So I don’t think any nation has an advantage or disadvantage from the NHL not releasing players.
Your son is at the Olympics. Tom is now playing in Sweden following two Stanley Cup titles in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins. That sounds like a step backwards.
I don’t see too much difference between the leagues in Sweden and North America. I watched a few games in the Swedish league, they play very good ice hockey there. When you play in a new league, you always have to work extra hard to assert yourself. It’s the same with Tom. So it’s not a step backwards or a disadvantage for me that he’s playing there now. On the contrary.
He was badly injured in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. How fit is he once more?
Tom does his sport 100 percent and always tries to give 100 percent. That’s why he wants to be one hundred percent fit. He has learned a lot over the course of his career and has become more experienced. And he certainly wouldn’t play in Sweden if he wasn’t fit.
Have you been in contact with him, how much is he looking forward to the Olympics?
We skype or talk on the phone more often during the week. It’s logical that he’s happy. After all, the Olympics are something extraordinary.
Is he possibly afraid of Corona at the Olympics? A number of German players just dropped out during the European Handball Championship.
I don’t know if you can call it fear. But everyone who is allowed to play there will certainly be incredibly careful so that nothing happens and they don’t get infected.
What chances does Tom see for the German team at the Olympics?
We talk regarding a lot of things, but we didn’t talk regarding that beforehand.
At the latest, winning the bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck made you a legend yourself as a player. In 1997 you were inducted into the “Hall of Fame” of the World Federation IIHF and in 2016 into the Hall of Fame of German Sports, in 2000 you were named Ice Hockey Player of the Century. What did Tom learn from you?
That is hard to say. It was important that he learned to love the sport early on and soon wanted to play it himself. He has always tried to learn a lot so that he can achieve great things. I don’t know if I was necessarily his role model either.
You were known for your expansive strides on the ice while keeping your opponents at arm’s length. That and your body length of 1.96 meters also earned you the nicknames “Tall” and “Sledded Wardrobe”. Did Tom inherit that robustness and assertiveness from you?
Everyone has to have it these days, it’s a basic requirement in order to be able to assert oneself for a long time and at all. No matter what league. And Tom has played in a number of leagues since he was a kid.
It was always said that the NHL never appealed to you. In light of your son’s Stanley Cup triumphs, aren’t you a little bit sorry you didn’t try it there?
That’s difficult to judge in hindsight. Maybe I should have tried it. The following applies to my family: I didn’t do it, that’s why his son did it!
You were born in Citice (Zieditz), near Sokolov (Falkenau) on the German-Czech border. Do you still follow ice hockey in the Czech Republic?
Yes I’ll do it. The Czech Republic isn’t far away and I’m still in contact with players I used to be on the ice with. We used to see each other more often, at international matches or at world championships and the Olympic Games. They also came to Germany sometimes. One of them lives in Karlovy Vary and runs a hotel, I used to go there sometimes. And while I was there, of course, I also visited others. During the corona pandemic, I call some of them or we write to each other.
Her parents stayed following the war, and the family only left the country following the Prague Spring of 1968. In April 2004, Der Spiegel wrote that you had a very hard time in Č(S)SR, also because of your German name. What problems did you encounter there?
That had to do with the fact that there were still a few German speakers like my parents living in the area where I was born, and things weren’t easy for them following the war. But in the club and in ice hockey, the people were fully behind me. Overall, this was somewhat exaggerated. It wasn’t that bad there.
Do you still have relatives in the Czech Republic?
There are still aunts and uncles there. I visited them from time to time, as did friends I went to school with, and were often invited by them and went there. However, I haven’t been there for a while, Corona has made it more difficult now.
They took part in ten world championships, including 1978 in Prague. Wasn’t it strange for you to be back in the country you left ten years earlier? Or was it just a special incentive?
Every international match is a special incentive for an athlete. And even more, of course, the Olympic Games or a World Cup. And of course this tournament in Prague meant a lot to me, having previously grown up in Czechoslovakia.
You were the best scorer at this World Cup tournament, as you were later at the 1984 Olympics.
I wanted to show what I might do in Prague.
They played for EV Landshut for 16 years and won the championships in 1970 and 1983, plus two titles in 1977 and 1979 in three years at the Cologne EC. Now clubs in Germany are called Grizzlies, Ice Tigers or Penguins. How do you assess the change since you were active in ice hockey in Germany?
I see that positively. The game has developed rapidly and with it the general conditions. This applies to almost every area. Of course also for commercialization. Even small things are affected. And with that, the level of ice hockey has increased incredibly. It doesn’t matter whether a club has that name or something else. It is important that there is any development at all.
The Erich Kühnhackl Foundation was established in September 2001. Its purpose is to support talented young German players and clubs that do good youth work and thus fulfill an important social task in society with money and donations in kind. How do you take stock following 20 years?
I am very satisfied with the work of my foundation. I am happy that we might help in so many things. For example, there were young players who needed equipment and others who needed direct financial help. A lot has come together in recent years, for individual players as well as for entire teams. I am also very happy that I have found so many fellow campaigners for the foundation. My family, many friends and acquaintances have supported me in this. Not only I, but also they did campaigns and looked for sponsors so that we always had money and might help.
Finally, to the Olympics: The Czech Republic has the supposedly easier group in Beijing with Denmark, OAR and Switzerland in the preliminary round. Germany plays once morest Canada, the USA and hosts China. Four years ago, the German team sensationally won silver at the Olympics. What chances does the team have for you this time in the tournament?
The team has chances because ice hockey has developed well in Germany. You can see that in the younger generation compared to before, where a lot of money and time has been invested. The level of the players is high, if the team is lucky they can do well. For me, the quarter-finals are possible, maybe even more. You can be surprised.
