Innsbruck's Lattner extended: Return to the playoffs in sight!

Von WOM

HC Tiwag Innsbruck has extended the contract with his captain Jan Lattner until the 2025/26 season. The club announced this on April 4, 2025. Lattner, who has been playing for Innsbruck since the 2019/20 season, has already played almost 300 games in the Win2day Ice Hockey League and is considered an important leader in the Head Coach Jordan Smotherman. Lattner, who is 33 years old and comes from the Czech Republic, now sees Tyrol as his second home. He expressed the wish to return to the playoffs with the team after the current season did not meet expectations.

In the past season, the Innsbruck fans enjoyed an almost perfect performance in the basic round, in which the team temporarily took first place. The return to the playoffs after five years was seen as a great success, even if the early departure is perceived as a shame because the team was strongly opened.

influential role of the captain

With Lattner at the top, the team plans to bring a good troop on the ice. The aim is to achieve constant improvements and give the fans a little after the last season began so promising. Head Coach Mitch O’Keefe praised Lattner's significant contribution to the best season in club history, while sports manager Max Steinacher Lattner's role as a leader and his influence on team success emphasized. Lattner will certainly do everything possible in his fifth season at Innsbruck to lead his team to success.

Lattner's commitment and reliability are also the reason for the joy of Coach Smotherman about his whereabouts in the club. Its fixed goal is clear: After the positive feedback from the fans and the strong course of last season, a place in the playoffs is to be targeted again in the coming season.

In the context of ice hockey in Germany, it turns out that ice hockey is one of the most popular sports behind football and handball. Current statistics show that the German Ice Hockey Confederation in 2024 had around 25,860 members and that the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) recorded a section of 7,162 per game in the 2023/24 season. The development of teams such as HC Innsbruck also increases the importance of sport.

With a view to the future of Austrian ice hockey and especially on the Innsbruck Haie, the resistance that Lattner brings into the team with his contract extension is a step in the right direction. The next season will show whether the team can achieve the goals set and whether they can go back to the footsteps of past successes.

Further information on the successes and statistics in ice hockey can be found on ice hockey100.de , while detailed news about HC Innsbruck on hockey-news.info and laola1.at