HA Magazine was quiet for too long, so I decided to get something interesting for our audience to read about... Who could be one of the best managers ever in this game without an interview specially with him? After a quick look in section "Hall of fame" there were no doubts - it has to be Penguin who is right at the top of the list. So I asked him for an interview!
Hello, Penguin... this is your first HAM interview, even though you have won World League (twice) and have been in that number 1 spot in Hall Of Fame for some time (after overtaking Zonar)... isnīt that injustice? :)
First of all, thanxs for your request and second sorry for my bad English... My public relations arenīt the best, so why should somebody ask me for an interview?! A couple of seasons ago, there was a French Manager, I donīt remember his name (sorry), who asked for an interview to the French community. SO it`s nice that you want to know something about me and my team to share it with the HA-community. Winning two WL titles was a great success for me. I think it will never happen again.
Do you know how many prizes in your career you have won, do you follow it?
One moment please, I have to look... no, I donīt care about how much I have won, every season is a new season, titles are history and count nearly nothing when a season is over. You have to look forward, to win again, to repeat your performance.
After 4 straight playoff victories in Germany I.1, last season you were "only" second, losing your position to Slapshot Darmstadt. What happened?
DerBomber, manager of Slapshot, was always one step behind me and it was only a question of time when he will win his first title. But hey, he is a good manager and he was/is always on the good side. If I had to chose the one who stops me, he would be the one. I think in this season I can strike back, the start of the season was quite good, so we will see...
Do you have your favorite rival opponent through these 19 seasons?
The rivals from the start of HA stopped playing in season 5 or 6 after they realized that their short term strategy is running out of success. Than Slapshot promoted and became my favorite rival. There were always great matches all years long and the most time my team had the better luck. But he was always fair as runner-up.
Are you lucky with your youth pulls? From your roster 4 have played in league games this season, looks like an average result. In example, I have 13 players, but maybe 4 is enough for team in your level.
You will never be lucky with your youth pulls. Its always hard to implement young guys in a team who wants to collect titles, so only the hot prospects can get a chance. If I take a look on "Raised in your team", I see 20+ players who have an AI 190+ . All these players and I donīt need any foreign player.
Talking about great youth pulls - how did you come to leading Germanyīs NT again? Who was the guilty one to relegate you to second division, and how you decided to run in elections? :)
Who was guilty is a nice question. I think the US-roulette the engine played in this season doenst benefit us. Everything went wrong for Germany. This relegation was the biggest loss in HA for me so far. There was no question for me to try to promote and lead NT Germany back to the top teams.
Looking at your roster again, I have to ask - what is your attitude against new unrestricted free agents system? Will it change your teams strategy some ways?
I donīt like the FA-system at all, but it is part of the game all years long. HA should be a game what we can play together. Thanks to the FA-system it is a game we play against each other. The result is what happens with Pawel, i.e., I didnīt bid on FA in the past, maybe I have to do so in the future, donīt know what will happen. The new system will force player changes, so maybe I have to work with this kind of transfers, but I donīt like it.
Tell me - what should I do, to build a team like yours? :)
Turn the clock back to November in 2003 and start playing HA.
So you think itīs practically impossible for new team to build World League playoff team? In few discussions its usually called "gap between the rich and the poor teams which is getting bigger and bigger" - do you believe in such status between teams?
Not impossible, but you need a lot of luck and time. Getting talented players is a lottery, not only your own youth pulls, also players you will buy. We have actually season 19. If you start now, you can fight for WL titles maybe in season 40. Maybe faster if you start in a small country.
Sure, there is a gap beetwen rich and poor teams, but I think the new FA-system is one step to reduce this gap.
What would your advice for a new team be like - what should be a first thing to do when you start playing? I have heard rumors itīs buying a good goalie :) And how was your start?
Don`t know what I have to advice to new managers...read the rules, build stadium periphery as long as your money allows it, buying a goalie isn`t the worst advise, but it`s also expensive... my start was fine... it was the beginning of HA, I startet in league I, so it wasnt as hard as it is now to start with your team.
I donīt have to be an expert to tell what your favorite hockey team is... so why Penguins? And - why this sudden change to teamname "Alaska"?
It goes back to the early 1990s, Penguins won the Stanley Cup two times, EA Sports starts his great NHL series (with 3 floppy disks) and I start playing with the Penguins and won even more Stanley Cups. The reason for change my teamname to Alaska is due to Canadian-Ollie (Augsburg Thunder, German III.2). He said to me I have to show my colors, to add a location to my teamname, like Augsburg Penguins (my living town) or Zerbst Penguins (my native town). Only Penguins is so meaningless like "Alaska". So thanks him for this idea :P
And finally, first impressions about new HA design?
New desgin looks good, but old design was fine for me too. Lets see what Icko will change in the future...
Thanks for your time, Penguin, but I wish you to win WL at least once again :)
Thank you, good luck for you and your team to reach your targets
We made some small changes in design of HAM, some fonts were changed, page is little bit wider and we have little bit more advertisment areas. And the biggest change is some SEO ambitions :-)
