Thomas Popiesch

Thomas Popiesch
Date of birth	July 21, 1965
place of birth	Berlin , GDR
size	183 cm
position	striker
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
1990-1991	EV Duisburg
1991-1993	Krefeld penguins
1993-1994	EHC Essen-West
1994-1995	Nuremberg Ice Tigers
1995-1997	Frankfurt Lions
1997-1999	Grefrather EC
1999-2000	TSV Erding
2000-2002	EV Duisburg
2002-2006	Mosquitoes eat

Thomas Popiesch (born July 21, 1965 in Berlin , GDR ) is a former German ice hockey player and current trainer who is currently active in the DEL Fishtown Pinguins .

Career as a player

Popiesch started his career in the youth of SC Dynamo Berlin . In 1982, at the age of 17, he wanted to flee to West Germany via Czechoslovakia . The attempt to escape failed and Popiesch was sentenced to four years imprisonment in the Stasi prison in Bautzen after being arrested in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen . An attempt by his parents to buy their son through relatives in Düsseldorf failed because he was trained as a top athlete. After serving his sentence, he only played ice hockey for the leisure team of Spartakus Berlin . In the GDR best determination in 1988, he was the tournament's top scorer with 18 goals from three games. Financially he kept himself afloat with car repairs and jewelry sales.

In spring 1989, like many of his fellow countrymen, he fled to the Federal Republic of Germany via the Hungarian border , which has now been opened . There he trained himself according to the old training plans from his time at Dynamo Berlin and soon received his first contract in professional ice hockey. Stations in his playing career were EV Duisburg , EHC Essen West , Nürnberg Ice Tigers , Krefeld Pinguine and Frankfurt Lions . After the 2005/06 season he ended his active career with the Mosquitos Essen.

Career as a coach

Thomas Popiesch
Coaching stations
2006-2009	Lusatian foxes
2009-2016	Dresden Ice Lions
since 2016	Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven

The Lausitzer Foxes in the 2. Bundesliga was a short "guest" at the EC Ratingen the second coach station for Thomas Popiesch. In the playdown games against the Saxon rivals Dresdner Eislöwen , the East Saxons were able to prevail in the best-of-seven series with 4: 2 and thus keep the class. In the 2008/09 season he achieved his greatest success so far: With the Füchsen he surprisingly advanced to the playoff semifinals. In the quarter-finals, the Heilbronner Falken were initially defeated, while his team lost the series against the eventual champions SC Bietigheim-Bissingen .

In April 2009, Thomas Popiesch announced his resignation from the Lausitz team and accepted an offer from the Dresdner Eislöwen . The decision was made mainly because Popiesch saw better prospects in Dresden. On New Year's Eve 2015, despite a contract that ran until 2017, he was given a leave of absence due to continued unsuccessfulness, and there should have been strong differences within the team. In his more than seven years as a coach, Popiesch always played in the second-highest German league with the operating company, which is often in a difficult financial situation. The most successful season was the 2010/11 season , in which he reached 6th place in the main round with the Eislöwen and made it to the play-off semi-finals.

In January 2016 he took over from Benoît Doucet as a trainer at the Bremerhaven- based Fischtown Pinguins , which were also active in the DEL2 . For the 2016/17 season, the Bremerhaven-based company received a license for the German Ice Hockey League , so Popiesch was the head coach of a DEL representative for the first time in his career.

Achievements and Awards

Trainer:

• 2018 DEL Trainer of the Year

swell

• MDR Sachsenspiegel from March 14, 2007, recorded on youtube.de
• A lot of work for Popiesch , Lausitzer Rundschau from November 22, 2006
• Popiesch's long road to success , ndr.de from October 17, 2016
• Cheers in Bremerhaven: Thomas Popiesch is DEL Trainer of the Year , Nord24 from March 10, 2018.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ escd-ev.de, Thomas Popiesch on "Altlöwen" ice cream ...
2. ↑ Th. Popiesch released from duties. Dresdner Eislöwen, December 31, 2015, accessed on December 31, 2015 . 
3. ↑ Eislöwen parted ways with trainer Popiesch ( memento of the original from January 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Morgenpost , December 31, 2015, accessed January 4, 2016 
4. ↑ Thomas Popiesch - new trainer at the Fischtown Pinguins , Weser Kurier , January 26, 2016, accessed on January 27, 2016
5. ↑ Fischtown Pinguins: Bremerhaven receives 14th DEL license for the 2016/17 season. (No longer available online.) In: www.fischtown-pinguins.de. Archived from the original on July 2, 2016 ; Retrieved July 7, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Thomas Popiesch at eurohockey.com