Release from 28.04.2021

Salzburg and Villach announce extension

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EC Red Bull Salzburg was able to extend the contract with Dominique Heinrich. The routinier goes into his 14th season for the Red Bulls. While Filip Varejcka moves to the professional team of EHC Red Bull Munich, Paul Stapelfeldt gets another chance to prevail at EC Red Bull Salzburg. Also the EC Grand Immo VSV could bind with Renars Krastenbergs a crack for the coming season. The Latvian international played 13 games for Villach last season and scored nine points.

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EC Red Bull Salzburg and Dominique Heinrich extend their cooperation and continue to hunt for titles together. The 30-year-old defender has been with Salzburg since the 2007/08 season and is currently the Red Bulls' longest serving player.

At the age of 17, Dominique Heinrich came to Salzburg from EHC Team Vienna in the winter of 2007 and finished the season with the Red Bulls' farm team in the Austrian National League, the second-highest division at the time. But already in the following season, 2008/09, the native of Vienna played most of the season in the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga and since then it is hard to imagine Salzburg's professional squad without him. In the 2016/17 season, Heinrich tried his luck in the SHL with Örebro HK, but returned to the Red Bulls during the season.

Initially a forward, Heinrich was later converted to a defenseman and has made a career out of that position. His accomplishments with the Red Bulls include four championship titles (Erste Bank Eishockey Liga) as well as reaching the semifinals of the Champions Hockey League (2018/19). In total, Heinrich has already played over 700 league games, in addition to appearances in the Champions Hockey League, SHL and with the Austrian national team.

Dominique Heinrich: "I am happy that I can continue my career with the Red Bulls. I want to celebrate success with the Salzburg team again and am highly motivated to do my part. I feel fit and want to play for a few more years and hopefully I can win another title with the Red Bulls soon."

Currently, the defender, who also served as assistant captain the last two seasons, is the Red Bulls' longest serving professional with 13 seasons completed. Only one player has accumulated more professional years in Salzburg; Matthias Trattnig, who ended his career two years ago, wore the Red Bulls jersey for 14 years.

EC GRAND Immo VSV pulls option on Krastenbergs
The 22-year-old Latvian team player Renars Krastenbergs, who came directly from Dinamo Riga from the KHL to the Blue-Whites only at the beginning of February, should have convinced head coach Rob Daum. The EC GRAND Immo VSV has pulled the contract option and signed the goal-hungry young forward also for the coming season."

Gerald Rauchenwald, Sports Director of EC GRAND Immo VSV: "With Renars Krastenbergs we have made a very good grip. He is a young, skating and technically strong forward, who is also correspondingly goal dangerous. In addition, as a Latvian national player, he already has a lot of experience. We are convinced that Renars will continue to improve in the coming season and give us a lot of pleasure."

Krastenbergs began his field hockey career in his native Latvia with SK Riga. In 2015, he moved to North America, where he had a very successful two years scoring in the OHL for the Oshawa Generals (62 points, including 30 goals in 124 games). Due to his strong performances, he was then brought to the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). And there, too, he proved to be extremely accurate for the Wheeling Nailers, the second farm team of the Pittsburgh Penguins - 74 points in 114 games, including 32 goals. Last year, the Latvian national team player also played for Dinamo Riga in the KHL. For EC Grand Immo VSV, the young, goal-hungry forward scored a total of nine points in 13 games last season, including four goals.

Renars Krastenbergs has also gained a lot of international experience - he has been a permanent member of the Latvian national ice hockey team since 2017 and has scored six goals in eleven games for his country. He is currently preparing for the World Championship in his home country with the Latvian national team.