Philipp Pinter is taking over as interim coach at the Graz99ers for his fired friend Harry Lange. For now he just wants to change the mindset.
The 40-year-old, who has been in office since the previous season, wanted to persuade President Jerich not to expel his friend Harry Lange, but he couldn’t be dissuaded. The decisive factor was the defeat in Linz, which fixed Shawn St.Amant, of all people, who they wanted to bring in in the summer, and which gave Jerich a déjà vu of the playoff exit from the previous season.
“We have already played tactically attractive and modern ice hockey – that will not change,” said sports director and now head coach Pinter to the “Kronen Zeitung”. He wants to start in the minds of the players.
“The team is good. We’re not in a bad position in the table, we’ve scored points in eleven out of twelve games. You have to approach it more psychologically and mentally,” said Pinter, who has already had many personal conversations with the players. Now it takes “heart and passion. The players have to make sacrifices, even do the dirty work on the ice.”
The Pioneers Vorarlberg should already be feeling this today. The Styrians want to finally get rid of their big shortcoming, the exploitation of opportunities, and appear more efficient. Will the change of coach be the game changer? In any case, it will be interesting to see which coaching talent with top international format Jerich will pull out of the hat.
Image: HCI / PAPA Productions
