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Interview with Robin Breitbach
Written by: Oliver Janz on 05/16/2002 
The 20-year-old German defender Robin Breitbach from HC Ambri-Piotta of the Swiss Nationalliga A answered some questions regarding the past, the present and the future.
Click here for his profile with the updated stats.Hockey's Future: How was the move from Zürich to Ambri in Tessin?
Robin Breitbach: Everything worked out with no problems at all. The move from a 1 and 1/2 room apartment is quite simple.
HF: Do you live alone or with teammates?
RB: I currently live alone, but in a house with my playoff defense partner, Ivan Gazzaroli. My girlfriend will also move to Tessin shortly.
HF: You're getting closer and closer to the Italian border. Which language do you use to talk? German, French, Italian?
RB: Right now still German, French and English with John Fritsche, for example. I'll start an Italian course soon.
HF: Before the move, you had played six playoff games for your new team. What is your first impression of your new team?
RB: I was positively impressed at how well I was accepted. On and off the ice. The team spirit is excellent. With a bit more luck we could have reached the semi final. We should make it next season.
HF: You did not have the real big breakthrough in Kloten. The danger that juniors like Severin Blindenbacher (Phoenix Draft Pick) would overtake your spot in the club ranking was increasing. Was this a reason for your move to HC Ambri-Piotta?
RB: As for the first part of the question: I already think I made the breakthrough as a regular player as a 19 year old in Kloten. Severin is a good defender and also a good friend. We played nearly the entire season on a line, and complimented each other very well. He is more the playmaking defender, I am the physical player.
We both received two year contract offers from Kloten. I decided to leave Kloten after intensive discussions with several advisors. My decision to go to Ambri is primarily a decision for my development. Especially because there is a new coach with new ideas after a three year tenure by coach Jursinov. I firmly believe that a change to the Czech hockey system of my new coach Rostislav Cada will work out well.
HF: You won the Swiss junior championship in 1999 and you made the jump into the Swiss Nationalliga A. What impressions do you have about your time in Kloten?
RB: My time there was fantastic. I already played completely unexpectedly most of the season for the Elite Juniors and we were the runners up for the championship. I played my first testmatch as a 16 year old and my first game in the Nationalliga A was at the age of 17. Then, there was a first break in my career. At the U18-WJC 2000 in Switzerland, I got sick with Pfeiffer gland fever, but that was diagnosed after the tournament. Therefore, I played under my abilities at the WJC. Also, I had to fight about a half year with the problems of my weakened immune system. Thus, I earned a spot in the team very late in the 2000/2001 season.
Retrospectively, I am infinitely grateful to the coaches Mirek Hybler (now the chief of the youth program in Bern), Jaro Horacek (now the chief of the youth program in Langnau) and naturally Vladimir Jursinov for their work with and on me. I still have many friends in Kloten after my move. The only disappointment was that Jursinov took my change to Ambri pretty personally. After it was published that I had signed an agreement with Ambri, he didn't play me anymore. That's the reason why I went to Ambri at the beginning of the playoffs.
HF: How did it come to be that you, as an original 'Hamburger Jung' (boy from the city Hamburg), went from Germany to Switzerland at such very young age? Was it because of your father's job?
RB: Yes. My father began to work as a research chemist for Lonza in Visp, Switzerland in 1988.
HF: One should assume that you like fish above all other meals, but you indicated T-Bone-Steak as your favorite meal. Is it your secret wish to become an American Football player or why did you chose this rather untypical meal for a hockey player?
RB: If I'm in Hamburg, I gladly and frequently eat fish. In Switzerland, it's a long way from the sea to the sales market and fish tastes best when it's completely fresh. Besides, steaks can and should hang for a while. Otherwise, I keep playing hockey with or without steak.
HF: Your contract with Ambri runs until 2004. Would you like to remain longer in Switzerland - if necessary, even if you need to obtain Swiss citizenship? Or could you be lured to the German Hockey League at some point, particularly, since Finnish investor Harry Harkimo plans on installing a DEL team in your native Hamburg.
RB: I'd have to give up German citizenship to get the Swiss citizenship. That doesn't come into question at this point. No decision has been made as to what will happen after 2004. Naturally, the DEL is always a possibility and especially in Hamburg. I still love that city. As for now, I am completely concentrating on my new team and I want to achieve as much as possible with it.
HF: After you played for Germany's Under-18 and Under-20 teams, you were invited two times to the 'Future Roster' of the German national team. When do you figure to have a serious chance to make the jump into the team and wear the German dress during a world championship, for example?
RB: That is a thing which has been kind of unfortunate for me. Last year, national coach Hans Zach visited the playoff semi final in Zürich (Kloten against the Zürcher Lions) and I got invited to the team for the first time after that game. On the next day during the training session, a puck hit me at the neck and broke my larynx. Mortal danger - two days intensive care unit was the result. Thus the season was terminated for me and the invitation to the DEB training camp hasn't come into question.
Fortunately, I didn't receive any permanent damage from this accident. In this year, I received the invitation and this came completely unexpectedly. We hadn't any training in Ambri for about three weeks. As a result, I wasn't settled on my feet during the first two days of training camp in Rosenheim, Germany. However, I felt quite good in the days that followed. Naturally, I will work on it and I think I will get a chance under better circumstances, and I will then use that chance when it comes.
HF: Who is your hockey role model - a German or a Swiss player?
RB: Neither. Alexei Yashin of the NY Islanders. I had the pleasure to train with him nearly the whole season (during Yashin's yearlong dispute with the Senators). He impressed me as a player on the ice and as a mad-man beside it.
HF: Some claim that Swiss junior players don't quite have the talent to take the big step into the National Hockey League. According to Hans Zach (coach of team Germany), they are psychologically missing "that necessary bite and the determination displayed by the Germans", otherwise we'd see many more Swiss players in the NHL. Especially Michel Riesen, who was already called the "Swiss miss", is a good example of this theory. What's your take on this mentality?
RB: In the season preview 2001/2002, I was compared to Berti Vogts (former national coach of the German soccer team) in his active time as a soccer player. I think that says enough. (Vogts was known as a player who constantly bit at the ankles.)
HF: You are roughly 6-5 and you bring 218 pounds to the table. In addition to that, your shoes are size 10 1/2. This info would lead us to believe that your strengths are to be found in physical play. What do you think your strengths are and what do you have to work on?
RB: I love the physical play and the one-on-one situations. I think, there aren't that many forwards in the Swiss League who like it to play against me one-on-one. Furthermore, I think another strength is that I can read the play well and I have rather strong nerves. Due to my body size, I have to primarily improve my mobility and my stick handling to be more effective in the offense.
HF: Do you remember what your best check was?
RB: There are so many....in the meantime I have become well known for my checking in the Swiss League.
HF: Again back to the topic NHL. You weren't drafted the last two years. Your chances aren't well for this year's entry draft either. You seem to be talented, but not talented enough. That has been the prognosis thus far. How do you personally see your potential for the future and what are the goals you are setting?
RB: In order to get a chance to be drafted, you have to play internationally. Otherwise you are out of the scouts' eyes. Like my former coach Jursinov, I believe that I have the potential to play in the NHL at some point down the road. I will work on that being my goal in any case and I will give it everything.
HF: Kloten is currently the center of Swiss hockey talent. How far can players such as Patrik Bärtschi or Romano Lemm go in their hockey career?
RB: Both guys are really very bright talents, who I think are capable of getting quite a bit done in their careers. Especially Romano after his sensational comeback after his heavy accident, which would have meant nearly the end of his career. The Swiss national team should become the topic for them very soon.
HF: You have played with the best German prospects in the junior national teams and you already faced most of the top talents from Switzerland. How would you judge the level and what is your comparison between Germany and Switzerland?
RB: In my opinion, the technical and the skating development is better in Switzerland. Contrary to the most DEL teams, the work with the young players is naturally written in very large letters in Swiss teams. Especially in Kloten, Bern and Langnau. The average level is clearly higher in Switzerland. The players who have made the jump into the DEL despite tough circumstances are on at least the same level as the best Swiss players, like for example, my former teammates Ehrhoff, Schubert or Seidenberg.
HF: Do you miss any things that are typically German in Switzerland?
RB: Motorways without speed limits.
HF: The final question: We should make note of the name Robin Breitbach, because ...
RB: ... it's an obligation for each hockey fan to know all German national team players.