Raffl and Hughes on milestones and shared moments

“John Hughes and I have become very good friends. We had the opportunity to play together for a long time. We knew exactly what we needed to do to complement each other,” says Thomas Raffl, who played together with John Hughes in Salzburg from 2014 to 2021 before Hughes moved to Villach, Raffl's hometown. The native Canadian is now in his fourth season in a row and sixth season overall at VSV and has set another milestone with 900 games. Only four players, including Raffl with 931 games, have more appearances in the league. In addition, Hughes is the most successful scorer in the history of the ICE Hockey League with 1051 points. Raffl, who reached the 700-point mark on Tuesday, is in third place in the all-time rankings.

“Milestones are nice, but especially when your career is over and you look back,” explain both players. “For now, however, it's important to stay focused and always look for ways to improve. The goals remain short,” Raffl emphasizes. “We want to put ourselves in a good position over the long season to win the championship at the end.”

In the interview, both players were also asked what makes the other player so special. Raffl emphasized the special skills of his friend Hughes: “He does things that you can't learn - like finding the open spaces. Playing with him was very easy for me because he always knew where I was. He also always brought energy to the game.” Hughes, for his part, appreciates Raffl's leadership qualities: “He always took on a leadership role on the ice, just by doing his job. His commitment is incredible and he wants to win every game.” Hughes has particularly fond memories of the championship win in his first year in Salzburg: “That was definitely an unforgettable moment.”

Although Hughes and Raffl have been playing in different teams for years now, they remain in close contact. Hughes now lives permanently in Villach, Raffl's home town, and dreams of becoming champion with VSV: “Being part of a club as rich in tradition as VSV means a lot to me. There are hardly any clubs that are a hundred years old - VSV is perhaps the only one I can think of in hockey. Winning a championship here would be something very special.”

At 36, John Hughes knows that the end of his career is getting closer and closer, but he doesn't want to think about that just yet. “I'll take each game and year as it comes. As long as my body feels good, I want to keep going. There's no other profession I can imagine for myself,” explains Hughes. “As long as I get to play hockey and help my team, I want to play as many games as I can at the highest level and hopefully win a championship.”

Thomas Raffl, already 38 years old, also does not want to think about retiring yet and sees himself as “young at heart” in the young Salzburg team. “You always have to work hard to keep up with the young players,” Raffl concludes.

Both players are back in action today, Friday. John Hughes will face Steinbach Black Wings Linz at home with Villach (7:15 pm). Thomas Raffl and Salzburg play at league leader HCB Südtirol Alperia (7:45 pm). Watch both games in the livestream on www.live.ice.hockey.