Lienz Turtles start the ice hockey season with full optimism!

Lienz Turtles start the ice hockey season with full optimism!

The new Lienz Turtles, known as the EH Turtles, are entering the ice hockey season with a lot of optimism. On December 6th, the new club was presented in the converted signal box at Lienz train station, with President Daniel Mair, chairman Charly Kashofer and coach Lukas Bernsteiner among those present. “Our goal is clear: We want to get to the final,” explained Bernsteiner, who will coach the fighting team in the Carinthian Lower League West in the future. Here the Turtles compete against well-known opponents such as the farm teams from Prägraten and Virgen, as well as against strong opponents such as Oberdrauburg, which Bernsteiner sees as one of the biggest challenges dolomitenstadt.at reported.

Start of the season and first challenges

The season starts on December 14th with an away game at EC ÖAV Obergailtal, followed by a big party at the Lienz Disco Joy, where the Turtles can hopefully celebrate their first win. The club, which was originally founded as a hobby club, has now become more professional and would like to actively shape the ice hockey scene in East Tyrol. “Now we are a real club and play in the lower league,” says Mair tt.com reported.

Despite the success, there are challenges: the ice skating rink on Tiroler Straße leaves a lot to be desired in terms of use for the more than a hundred children who want to ice skate. The Turtles have invested around 18,000 euros in equipment in recent years to get children involved in the sport. It remains to be seen whether the proposed new skating rink will become a reality now that the city has acquired land for construction. “We don’t need a hall, a roof would be enough,” says Kashofer, to improve the training conditions.