Martin Cingel Interview

Why did you choose to play hockey?

My mother wanted me and my brother to play hockey because we were very inpolite at home and when we came home after training, we were very tired and silent. Playing hockey was a sort of "punishment" for us.

In Slovakia you played in Dubnica, Puchov and Martin. Which club was the best one?

Definetaly Martin in season 2001/02. In that season I scored 19 goals, played 4 matches for the Slovak national team and had the Gold helmet for the most productive player in my team. I also played also in the slovak extraliga All-Stars game.

Had you a lot of good offers from other clubs after that season?

Yes I had a lot of good offers from teams in the Slovak Extraliga.

How did you get to British league?
I was in Britain around 1999/2000 but when I returned back to Slovakia I believed that a lot things had changed and I wanted to play again in my home country. But after the 01/02 season I was very disapointed with many things that went on and I only wanted was to return back to Britain. I only needed to pick up my telephone and call there.

Can you compare the conditions in Slovak extraliga and British Elite league?

I will try to compare the incomparable. The first thing I have to mention is that for Slovaks it is hard to believe that sports like darts, billiard, curling or dog races can be more popular than hockey. Popularity of hockey in Slovakia is huge in comparison to Britain. In the British newspapers it is impossible to find anything about hockey. The conditions in Elite League are varying. The club is run mostly only by two people who try to keep the club in a positive way because if the club is not run well it goes bankrupt like all the other firms in the world. The club has also to pay rent for the stadium which is a little bit different from back home.

Can you tell us what is your sallary? How are payed the players in Britain? Are there big differences between domestic and foreing players?

I dont want to talk about specific numbers of my salary but I can tell you that it is like the salary of the better players in the Slovak extraliga. The best paid player in the British League is paid every bit as much as the best 20 players in Slovak extraliga. Foreigners are paid much betterin the UK but some domestic players are also very well paid

Can you compare Elite League and Slovak Extraliga also by the quality of hockey?

Some people in Slovakia think that it is very easy to play here for import players but this is not true. 90% of players here are from USA and Canada and there are also some former NHL players like Theo Fleury 3 years ago and that means that the game is very physical with hard hits. The British league also a lot of good hockey fights, we don't see that as much in Slovakia. Each club in the EIHL can sign up to 10 foreign players and the teams mostly play with 3 attacking and 2 deffensive lines.Tthis league is not easy to play also because we play nearly every weekend with games back to back on saturday and sunday.

How are the hockey fans in Britain?

The average attedance is 2000 people. but when there is an attractive match like between Sheffield and Nottingham you might see about 7000 in the stadium, maybe a sell out. Each club also has its own fanclub and the biggest ones like in Belfast, Sheffield and Nottingham can bring up to about 1000 people to games

And what about the Scotish club Edinburgh Capitals which you play for?

The Capitals are one of the youngest clubs in Elite League. The club has been around for only 10 years and the owner is Scott Neil is a former player of British national team. The average attedance here is about 1000 people. Two years ago you were the biggest star of the Caps. What about this year? The season before this one was not bad although I was very sad that we didnt get into play-off. I was the best scorer and also the most productive player also with Andrej Rajcak. I owe thanks to my great teammates for that season. Before that season, our GM asked me if I knew some good players who could play for the Caps. So after a few telephone calls we had a Czecho-Slovak line with Lúža-Kowalczyk, Cingel-Rajcak-Slak (Slak-Slovenian player). And for this season the coach brought good former NHL players like Colin Hemingway (St. Louis Blues) and Mike Stutzel (Pheonix Coyotes)

How do you see your hockey future? what ambitions do you have?

I am 32 years old but I still like playing hockey very much! I want to play as long as possible and my dream is to be succesful with my club Edinburgh Capitals because the fans really deserve it. How did you adjust to life in Scotland? I knew a bit about Britain because I already had been there. I hadnt any problems with language, but Scotish accent was very hard to understand for a while (laughter). Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities in the world So my family loved it. The only thing which we didnt like were ther rainy winters.The people are very friendly here and I have also a lot of good friends here now.

Have you ever wanted to go back to Slovakia?

Of course. Everyone who goes to live or to work in a foreign country experiences these situations. The Scottish accent was very difficult to understand to begin with but with the help of my family and friends I got through it and Iam now very settled in Scotland.

Do you watch Slovak Extraliga? Could you give us the teams which will place on the first 3 places this year?

I keep in touch with some of my former teammates so I know what is going on back home. I also watch it through internet, mostly on hokejportal.sk. I am interesterd in MHC Martin and I am very happy that they are so succesful this year.The first 3 teams will be 1. Slovan Bratislava 2. Dukla Trencin 3. MHC Martin

Check to the head would like to thanks Milan Ftorek for translating the interview from Slovak into English for us