The dog is laying in a comfortable spot on the floor, the cat is sneaking through the hallway from the bathroom, the kids are playing with some sort of girly playhouse as the mother is watching over them. All this time the husband is busy in the kitchen making sure everything is ready for breakfast, this is how a Saturday morning looks for the Vas family in Frankfurt Germany and the master of the house Márton Vas of the DEL2 team Löwen Frankfurt. This scene is a large contrast to his day job which not even 12 hours earlier he was chasing around and going toe to toe with Germans, Canadians and Americans, “Vasmarci” will be 35 on March 2nd and he already has one eye to the future, one of the ideal places in Europe for this happens to be the city where this branch of the Vas calls home. Frankfurt has one of the highest of standards of living in the world, this is the birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Henri Nestlé, across from the old town a modern skyscraper filled banking district is reaching up to the sky giving the old German city a North American feeling. The surrounding suburbs are what anyone would dream of with lush green parks that are surrounded by well taken care of family houses.
All English All the Time
“Everything is OK we are enjoying life, we are not at home that much because Livi is in pre-school and Kriszti is taking German classes, the summer was like this as well because there is no opportunity to take a couple weeks off” explains Márton about his older daughter and his wife so at this time are getting themselves together as they are waiting for Daniele to come over. Daniele is a nice older lady who was born in Germany but has Hungarian roots, that the Vas family met while walking their dog, who since then takes the kids and the dog with her if she happens to be going out for a walk. This is great because it gives the parents a chance to relax for a bit, Daniele understands the kid’s Hungarian and it gives Márton a chance to speak German on a regular basis with some as well. The reason this is a great opportunity to practice his language skills is because in the Löwen Frankfurt locker room and on the ice English is the official language. The team already had a number of North American players but since the team was promoted from the Oberliga to the DEL2 there has been an increase in import players, this could increase even more once the team achieves its goal of making it to the top of the later and being promoted to the DEL.
Grilled by the Mustache man
“Yes we achieved last years goal of winning promotion from the Oberliga to the German second division, DEL2, this season the hockey is at a much higher level, the opponents are better, we have a stronger squad since we are aloud to sign a larger number of imports than one level below. The biggest difference is that almost every team in this league is truly a professional organization, they are better organized.” say Márton Vas. After saying this if one has to just look at the previous night’s score of 8-1, a home win against Crimmitschau to see that Löwen has been able to pick up the game speed at this level.
During the season the stands are usually packed with about 5,000 fans, the pregame introductions were that of a professional level, from a light show to a new car being out on the ice. With the mascot running around and the player intro videos it would have been easy to mistake this for a pregame intro of some North American league. Whenever Löwen scores the speakers play the classic song from the movie, The Life of Brian, Always look on the bright side of life” to which the main cheering section sings their own words. It is easy to see why Márton and the Vas family not only are enjoying their life in Frankfurt am Main but also could see themselves living here for years to come.
This great atmosphere is not only in the arena but also in the VIP tent, which is where the club holds the post game press conference. The press conference starts off with a nice cold liter of beer in front of each coach so they can take a sip as they collect their thought about the game that was just played. The press conference is followed by an open Q&A and impromptu autograph session if anyone once to talk to the coaches, in this case Tim Kehler who two years ago was the head coach of Miskolc is grilled by a local middle aged mustachioed sports reporter.
“He is always here and he is always asking” say Márton, as he sits down for a late dinner in the VIP tent. In one hand he has a fork and in the other he phone, Márton is checking the scores of the Czech Extraleague, “they lost 2-1 with seven seconds left in the game”
Who is they? his younger brother of course
Spiders, basement schools, and Rented Furniture
János Vas who turned 31 on January 29th in the mean time is playing in Prague for Slavia Praha, this hasn’t been the best season for the red and white as they sit at the bottom of the table and have had a new coach just about every month. “Living in Prague is great, the team is having some problems and we are sitting in last place, but where we live is beautiful and I really can’t say anything bad about it, we are having a great time” says János Vas about his life with his wife Gabi in Prague. János and his wife have lived in a number of places in the hockey world, at the age of 16 he moved to Sweden and 18 when the Dallas Stars drafted him, he would play in the AHL and in other top European leagues. After a quick count the world traveling couple says that Prague is the eighth city that they have lived in together, but he hasn't always been easy.
“We thought that the club would be more professional from this point” Mr. and Mrs. Vas say in unison “we were in contact with the office on a regular basis with regards to housing but we found the place we live when one of my teammates so an advertisement on the way to practice one day. we asked the club for a vacuum cleaner but in the end we just got one from Hungary, but we have number of stories when it comes to find a place to live in a new city/ For example in Dijon after a long drive we met the club president at the town border, but instead of driving into the town we made a turn away from the city, we thought that being farther it might be better housing. The first thing we say was a giant spider, which I can not stand, and the corners were filled with them, we told them that we will spend the night here since we are tired but first thing tomorrow we will need to find something a little more to our liking. In Rouan we lived in a building that were just about the entire club was housed, all the import players had housing there as well as the young players who were coming up from the academy and the first floor of teh building was where they had classes. It was a nice little community but everyone knew everything about your daily life. In Iowa during the three season we were there we lived in three different apartments, everyone rents everything out there and at the end of the season everything is packed away, in the end we could have just bought everything for ourselves”
Grabbing a hotdog in selected team gear
There is time in the restaurant to talk about life since everyone is sitting in a restaurant, but eventually the night comes to a close and tomorrow there is a game an hour and a half north of Prague in Litvinov against the second place team in the league. The game does not go smoothly for the visiting Prague club, goal is scored against them followed by the second and third goals. There is a bit of a scare for Slavia, after a scrum in front of their net the goalie skates to the bench after getting cut on the wrist and is bleeding. In the end they lose 4-1 but the backup goalie hold his own. Despite the loss the Slavia fans are chanting and cheering from the opening faceoff until the closing whistle. “I’m not looking towards next season yet, we are trying to avoid relegation. The style of play in this league is what I expected, its similar to what they play in Sweden, its not as physical but its just as fast and I wanted to play at a high level like this again” say Jankó as the gear that he has on is a resume of his career, he has a Tingsryd hat on with a Slavia windbreaker and Rouen pants as he is chomping down on a post game hot dog. Litvinov is a real working class town that is the home of a giant power plant, however the arena does have some first class dogs. Márton Vas is playing in Dresden which is only about an hour away, these 76 kilometers is the closest the the two brothers will be to each other all season.
In November both brothers were back in Hungary for 4 Nations Tournament but in February only János was in the training camp. The two brothers have not seen each others set up in Frankfurt and Prague but they will have someone reporting back to them, the oldest Vas brother, Mátyás.
Officiating isn't so bad
The oldest Vas is also a hockey man, these days he is linesman in the MOL League, he will be 37 years old on March 10th, around the time of his birthday he will be visiting his younger brothers. He also played hockey but the trio never played together, between 2000 and 2002 Mátyás and Márton were skatking for Dunaferr, János was already in Sweden, when Márton and János were playing for Alba Volán during the 2009-10 season Mátyás was already retired. In his civilian life Matyi is in charge of logistics for a tech company, but to stay close to the sport of hockey he picked up reffing. “When I finished up my playing career I was look most players, there is no way that I will switch over to the dark side and become a referee.” says Mátyás. “I saw how successful Pérer Gebei had become officiating games and I was also curious to see what was it like on the other side, eventually I had the confidence to try to become good at this. I know alot of the players whose games I’m officiating these days but when the game starts I don’t want to be the target for everyone to come over and start talking to me and trying to get calls in their favor. After the game I always want to know how everyone is doing, and what's new with them.” This natural curiosity to know what is going on with each other is what keeps the brothers relationship going as well. WIth Matyi being a linesman in the MOL League and a head referee in the youth leagues and on top of this his regular everyday job there isn’t much time for the brothers to meet. “I have owed Marci and Jankó a visit for a number of years now, I have two young kids, one is about to be three and the other five so we are always trying to do something and keep them active, we are planning to go to Prague for a couple days in the near future, then go to Frankfurt for a couple of days as well and on the way back top in Prague for a second time as well, good thing that Jankó is on the way to Marci.” explains Matyi about brotherly love.
Mátyás on Márton and János
“We keep in touch through all the modern communication tools, it is a lot easier today compared to when Jankó was in Sweden the first time. Back then we could only use the phone and then Dad would see the phone bill, which he was not a big fan of. All three of us can not be mentioned in the same sentence since they have accomplished something big in this sport where as I never reached those heights. Jankó started playing at the age of 6, Marci was 10 and I was 13, Marci was able to make up the difference for the late start where I wasn’t as much. I remember when my father asked Árpád Kercsó if I could go to practice with my two brother, he said that if I can’t make a hockey player out of him, then he will become a ref”
Márton on János and Mátyás
“We keep in touch on a weekly basis, we might not always talk to each other regularly but we do write to each other, we try to get the kids to talk so they keep in touch with their cousins. I have a real good relationship with both my brothers and my sister and it is a great feeling to to know all the news and what is going on within the family. With Jankó its easy to be up todate, with Mátyi not so much, I keep track of the MOL League games and see how he is officiating. Both brothers are really good at what they do, our father is really proud of us, of course we don't ask him this but we can tell by his attitude.”
János on Mátyás and Márton
“I’m always keeping an eye on them of course we also talk and write to each other, we are paying attention to what is going on with the other two as well. I’m happy that Matyi is offciating, and he is busy with all the games he is calling, and how well things are going for Marci, he is doing a great job, he was named assistant captain in Frankfurt and the family is enjoying themselves as well. I have heard great things about how Matyi calls games, I heard that he doesn't really talk to the players on the ice, and calls every penalty, which is good. He officiated a national team match for us once, it was the first time in a number of years that all three of us were on the ice at once. We were able to take a photo and it was great to be together, I would like to send a message to my brother that next time his calls could go a little more in my favor.”