Ales Zalesny interviewed by worldfloorballnews

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Last Saturday more than three million people saw floorball on TV in Germany. German entertainer and comedian Stefan Raab played against his guest Oku on a small field with little goals. The five minutes lasting match was part of the Pro7 tv show ‘Schlag den Raab’ (Beating Raab). Follow this link to see the match. Floorball is still unknown in some parts of Germany, so ‘Schlag den Raab’ was a good promotion for the game. Constantin Sicking, vize president of the Nordrhein-Westfalen Floorball Federation explained the rules.

Information: German Floorball Federation
Picture: Nordrhein-Westfalen Floorball Federation

More than 14000 floorball fans came to Stockholm’s Globen Arena to see the final of the Swedish Championship. A.I.K. Solna defeated Warberg IC. The match was decided in the last period when A.I.K. scored four times. In the last game of his career Niklas Jihde contributed two goals to the 6-2 victory.The women’s title was won by Balrog. Balrog B/S IK beat IBF Falun 4-2 in front of 10112 spectators. If you want to read the statistics of all the play-off matches (quarter final, semi final and final) follow this link to www.innebandy.se

Picture: A.I.K. Solna Innebandy
Information: www.innebandy.se

wfn: On Monday the fourth match of this playoff series is going to be played. What do you expect?
Ales Zalesny: I will be a new game beginning with 0-0. Our aim must be to play the way we did during the first period.

wfn: What aims do you have in your career?
Ales Zalesny: This season is a special one for me. I’ve been playing in Switzerland for five years (Ales Zalesny played for Unihockey Tigers Langnau’s local rival UHC Grünenmatt until spring 2008 / editor’s note). But this season is the first season that I can play in a final and not even in one final. We won the cupfinal against SV Wiler-Ersigen in March. Now I have the chance to win the final playoff series and the Swiss Champion Title. In addition to this I’m the top scorer of Swiss Mobiliar League (32 goals, 47 assists/editor’s note)This definitely is my best season ever.

Ales Zalesny, top scorer of Swiss Mobiliar League

wfn: What about the further future?
Ales Zalesny: There is an offer from Falun from Svenska Superligan and several offers from Czech Republic. I don’t know where I will play next season, yet. I won’t take part in the national team’s matches in April. I need a break. Maybe I will join the Czech Team again later.

wfn: Why does Unihockey Tigers Langnau play in Hasle-Rüegsau’s small icehockey arena while there is a larger one in Langnau?
Ales Zalesny: The atmosphere would not be good in Langnau if there are 2000 fans in an ice hockey arena built for 7000. The size of this arena is good. I enjoy the atmosphere. Another reason is maybe the costs.

Interview and photograph: Matthias Dudli

Lassi Vänttinen lost his long hair after winning the Swiss Champion title with Wiler-Ersigen

Information: www.swissunihockey.ch
Photograph: Matthias Dudli

SSV Helsinki is Finland’s champion again. SSV won the title after it swept Tapanilan Erä away with three victories in a row. While Helsinki was defeated six times during regular season it didn’t have any real opponents during the play-offs. SSV celebrated nine wins in nine matches. The old and new champion is famous for its stars. Many of them were part of the Finnish World Champion Team of Prague 2008. But SSV is also famous for its small fanbase. In contrast to the most of the other matches, the last game of the final series was seen by a large crowd. 2350 fans saw the Vikings win over Erä.

Picture and information: www.salibandyliiga.fi