With Andreas Kristler, a real long-running league favorite is ending his career. In total, the East Tyrolean played over 800 games at the highest level and became champion twice.
Season 2006/07 and the then 16-year-old Andreas Kristler made his debut in the Erste Bank Ice Hockey League. He was supposed to play for Villacher SV until the end of the 2011 season and gain his first important experience.
Successful years on the Salzach
Between 2011 and 2017, the Lienz native stormed for EC Red Bull Salzburg and celebrated two championship titles with the Mozarstadt team. He played 246 games this season for Salzburg before they parted ways at the end of the 2016/17 season.
Found a home in Linz
Kristler has been storming for the Black Wings Linz since 2017 and was able to record his highest point-scoring seasons in the Upper Austrian team’s uniform. In 2018/19 and 2023/24 he had 27 scorer points each. 2018/19 was also his highest-scoring year, when he netted 14 times.
As the East Tyrolean now faces the “Upper Austrian news” announced that he will end his career after no less than 20 seasons. Although he had thought about continuing his playing career after the end of the season, but in the end nothing came of it: “There were a few conversations and nothing concrete came of it. So we made the decision with the family that I would end my career.”
With some distance, Kristler can now look back on good times in the steel city: “I had a great time in Linz, nine years. And I enjoyed every single moment. I can only thank all the fans, supervisors, the club, the president. Everyone who works for the club. This club is simply unique. It makes me very proud that I was able to play here for nine years.” With 349 games played, Kristler ranks 10th in the BWL’s internal ranking, which is led by head coach Phil Lukas with no fewer than 780 games. In his 20 years in the league, Kristler played 743 games and scored 299 points.
Professional future completely open
What happens next after your career is completely open. According to Kristler’s own statements, he has been interested in real estate in recent years, and involvement in ice hockey is not out of the question: “But let’s see where the journey takes us. I can’t say anything really concrete yet.”
Image: GEPA pictures/David Geieregger
“), i.text = “window._taboola = window._taboola || ();_taboola.push({mode:’alternating-thumbnails-a’, container:’taboola-below-article-thumbnails’, placement:’below-article’, target_type: ‘mix’});”, n.appendChild(l), n.appendChild(i), e(n, t) } Array.prototype.filter || (Array.prototype.filter = function(e, t) { if (“function” != typeof e) throw TypeError(); let n = (); for (let l = 0, i = this.length >>> 0; l < i; l += 1) if (l in this) { let r = this(l); e.call(t, r, l, this) && n.push(r) } return n }), window.insertAfter = e, window.getElementByXPath = t, window.injectWidgetByXpath = function e(l) { let i = t(l) ||. document.getElementById("tbdefault"); i && n(i) }, window.injectWidgetByMarker = function e
