German ice hockey is mourning the death of long-time national team player and coach Markus Egen, who passed away yesterday at the age of 93.
The native of Fussen was a member of the German Hockey Hall of Fame as a long-time player and head coach of West Germany.
Egen spent his entire club career as a forward with EV Fussen where he was involved in 13 of the club’s 16 national championships.
A late-bloomer on the international stage, he represented the Federal Republic of Germany in 99 international games scoring 72 goals including three Olympic Winter Games and four World Championships between 1952 and 1960. He was the captain and scoring leader of the 1959 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship with nine goals and four points and won World Championship silver in 1953.
But it was the 1954 Worlds that he described as his best to Allgauer Zeitung. In Stockholm he was third in goal scoring with ten markers. “Just before Russia’s Bobrov,” he added.
He was among the best forwards in Germany and could even have tried it in the NHL. But he preferred to play as amateur player back home.
“I once had an offer from Toronto. A man from Fussen who lived there recommended me. But I declined. I didn’t want to leave Fussen and my family and I developed already my business in Fussen,” he told Eishockey News three years ago and also mentioned earlier interest from Montreal.
“We practised every day. We played for the love for ice hockey, there was no money. Later some players received 20 or 30 mark. But I never received anything. I had a private sponsor, a local company that helped me with my business. That’s why I didn’t need money. I also never wore a helmet, even not later when almost everybody else did.”
“It makes me sad because I have personally honoured and respected Markus a lot. His advice and his special, direct humour have always been a welcome enrichment,” said German Ice Hockey Association President and IIHF Council member Franz Reindl. “In Markus Egen German ice hockey lost an outstanding and distinguished personality, both from the sports and human perspective.”
Egen remained connected to ice hockey even when he stopped coaching in the ‘80s. Known as one of the first German players to have a slightly curved stick blade, he later produced hockey sticks himself beside running a sports store.
The native of Fussen was a member of the German Hockey Hall of Fame as a long-time player and head coach of West Germany.
Egen spent his entire club career as a forward with EV Fussen where he was involved in 13 of the club’s 16 national championships.
A late-bloomer on the international stage, he represented the Federal Republic of Germany in 99 international games scoring 72 goals including three Olympic Winter Games and four World Championships between 1952 and 1960. He was the captain and scoring leader of the 1959 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship with nine goals and four points and won World Championship silver in 1953.
But it was the 1954 Worlds that he described as his best to Allgauer Zeitung. In Stockholm he was third in goal scoring with ten markers. “Just before Russia’s Bobrov,” he added.
He was among the best forwards in Germany and could even have tried it in the NHL. But he preferred to play as amateur player back home.
“I once had an offer from Toronto. A man from Fussen who lived there recommended me. But I declined. I didn’t want to leave Fussen and my family and I developed already my business in Fussen,” he told Eishockey News three years ago and also mentioned earlier interest from Montreal.
“We practised every day. We played for the love for ice hockey, there was no money. Later some players received 20 or 30 mark. But I never received anything. I had a private sponsor, a local company that helped me with my business. That’s why I didn’t need money. I also never wore a helmet, even not later when almost everybody else did.”
“It makes me sad because I have personally honoured and respected Markus a lot. His advice and his special, direct humour have always been a welcome enrichment,” said German Ice Hockey Association President and IIHF Council member Franz Reindl. “In Markus Egen German ice hockey lost an outstanding and distinguished personality, both from the sports and human perspective.”
Egen remained connected to ice hockey even when he stopped coaching in the ‘80s. Known as one of the first German players to have a slightly curved stick blade, he later produced hockey sticks himself beside running a sports store.