“Today I would hardly have a chance”

class=”sc-3778e872-0 cKDKQr”>

No matter where you are with him on this rainy morning in the Tissot Arena in Biel. Hardly a minute goes by without someone greeting or waving to Olivier Anken. And once he was even asked to pose for a selfie. “That didn’t exist in my time,” says the 66-year-old with a broad grin.

His time, that was from 1976 to 1994, when Anken kept goal for EHC Biel for 18 years and, as an outstanding champion goalie, led the Seeländer to their only three titles to date in 1978, 1981 and 1983. They are their hero of when in Biel never forget, its popularity is still great.

Anken was never one for the spotlight, but he has to admit: “If some young people still know me, it makes me a little proud.” Anken is actually not a Bieler at all. “Oli has become a Bieler,” says his former teammate Köbi Kölliker (69). The extraordinary goalkeeper grew up in the canton of Vaud, played for Morges in the NLB at the age of 15 (!) and quickly aroused the interest of bigger clubs.

Other clubs fizzled out

One day, when Anken was 19, his father called him to his office. When he arrived, he saw a Jaguar with Bern plates parked in front of the house. “I knew then it could only be the people of Biel,” he recalls. It was the legendary Biel president Willy Gassmann, who died in 1992, who personally took matters into his own hands. Die Ankens was convinced that Olivier should move to Biel. And competitor Kloten can be rejected.

Already in his first year, young Anken triumphed in Biel – and got stuck. “On paper I’m from Vaud, but in my heart I’m from Biel,” he says. Anken remained loyal to the club until his resignation and was repeatedly rejected by others. Even when times in Biel were no longer so rosy after the master years and the Gassmann era. “I have always felt comfortable here and saw no reason to change. Even in the difficult years, I thought it was important to rebuild something,” he says. In the season after Anken’s retirement, Biel was relegated to the NLB.

Being a professional was too boring for him

At the beginning of his career, during the time of President Gassmann, there were no contract negotiations in the traditional sense. “He just sent me to his office, told me the amount I would receive for the next season, asked if I agreed and that was it,” Anken tells another nice anecdote.

Because of the Olympic Games in Calgary (Ka), he was only a top athlete for one season: “I wanted to focus on that.” Furthermore, he has always worked alongside his hockey career in Biel and with the national team, at least part-time. First as a tinsmith and plumber, later as a precision mechanic, he also founded a hockey shop in Biel and worked for 23 years in various positions in a cement factory. “I was always happy to have my head somewhere else. Hockey was mainly a hobby for me and I got bored quickly.”

Too small for today’s goalkeeper world

The 153-time national player is not at all jealous of the current goalkeeper generation and their chances. “Today, with my height of 1.66 meters, I would hardly have a chance to play in the National League anyway,” he says. Today’s top goalkeepers are all much taller, “when they’re on their knees, they’re as tall as I am standing.” When asked which current goalie from the National League Anken can best be compared to, his buddy Kölliker still has an answer: “He comes closest to Harri Säteri. He was just as calm, agile and fast.” When Anken hears this, he is stunned and says, moved but also ashamed: “But he is an Olympic and world champion.”

Above all, the Finn is in the gate of his EHCB. Anken has already met him personally and is one of his admirers: “The calmness he exudes is impressive. Almost everything can collapse in front of him and he does not react.” In the event of a Biel championship title in the playoff final against Servette, Anken von Säteri would be denied the exclusivity of the only Biel championship goalkeeper. “He is very welcome to to do that,” says Anken, adding with a wink: “But I will always be the first Biel master keeper.”

Fit again after health problems

Anken will be in the stadium at Biel’s home games against Geneva and fingers crossed for Säteri and Co. His chair is behind the goal, “so I still have the goalkeeper’s perspective,” says Anken with a grin. He is not always as calm in his chair as he used to be in goal: “I suffer inside, especially when a defender is wrong.”

Feeling the energy of Anken is beautiful. Because he was dealing with some health turbulence in recent years and sometimes couldn’t go to the stadium anymore. In the meantime, however, things are going well again with the icon from Biel. Anken has been retired for just over a year now, which he enjoys immensely. Now he hopes that his retirement will be even better with his fourth championship title in Biel.

Source : Blick