Release from 29.10.2024

Ethan Szypula: ”I am feeling good, I had a good start to the season”

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Rittner Buam SkyAlps center Ethan Szypula is currently the top scorer in the Alps Hockey League with 21 points, together with Jure Sotlar (HKC). The 27-year-old is also one of eight players who have already scored a hat trick this season. In this interview, the Canadian talks about the importance of a hat trick, the reasons for his strong form and the most important factors for mastering an intensive week - like the current one with three games - in the best possible way.

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With 21 points, Ethan Szypula is currently one of two top scorers in the league. The Canadian has also scored at least one point in every game so far. When asked whether he had expected such a strong start to the season, he explains: “In the summer, I worked hard on and off the ice. Just having played in the league last year gave me a better understanding of how things go and maybe even a bit of an advantage.” Despite his personal successes, he emphasizes the strength of the team and in particular his line partners Diego Cuglietta and Alan Lobis: “We have this chemistry that really helps us play well as a unit. I just feel like I put the work in, and it’s nice to see some results from that effort.“

He even scored a hat-trick in the game against the Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan. This makes Szypula one of eight players to have scored three goals in one game this season. His teammate Eric Hjorth and Bruno Idzan (SIS), Vlastimil Dostalek (SIS), Philip Putnik (EKZ), Sebastian Christiansen (KEC), Matic Podlipnik (KEC) and Danil Tsarkovskyi (HKC) are the other seven players. Scoring a hat-trick is a great thing for him: “It’s fun, you know, scoring goals is fun. For me personally, it’s nice because it doesn’t always happen. It shows that the hard work pays off.”

Last season, the center scored 67 points. For him, it was the best scoring season of his career. The 27-year-old answers whether he is optimistic about surpassing this mark this season as follows: “Coming into this season I felt like having some confidence. Every player wants to improve every year. I am feeling good, I had a good start to the season. We as a team had a solid start too, so hopefully we kinda keep rolling, getting some wins and on top of that it helps everyone else’s individual success.”

When asked about the performance of the entire team, Ethan Szypula is also convinced that Ritten can build on last season's good performance: “The season we had last year, that’s kind of the standard. We have a really solid lineup, top to bottom and the goaltending as well.“ Although the team has lost a few games unfortunately, it has shown great character by fighting back time and again. The team is constantly working to improve: “Each week we want to improve, and we work on things through having meetings, through talking as well as practices.”

Looking ahead to the coming week, in which Ritten have three games within six days, he emphasizes the importance of recovery and proper preparation: “They are all tough games and I feel like in this league every game is tough. So for us it’s just working on making sure that we recover from games as well as doing the right things off the ice to be prepared.” Despite the challenge, Ethan Szypula is confident and formulates clear goals: “We want to have three wins for sure. Again, it’s hockey, it’s a fast-paced game, mistakes happen, but at the end of the day we want to make sure that we are still getting on top and finish each game with three points.” 

The Rittner Buam SkyAlps, who are fifth in the table, start the busy week on Tuesday away at SIJ Acroni Jesenice (19:00). This is followed by a home game against EC Bregenzerwald on Friday (18:00). Finally, the “Buam” will play at the Red Bull Hockey Juniors on Sunday (19:15). As usual, all games are available in the livestream on www.valcome.tv.

Copyright: Max Pattis