It was a step back in time for Ed Zawatsky.
Recently, Zawatsky attended a gathering of players in Straubing, Germany gathering to pay tribute to Bill Trew, who played a dozen seasons with the Tigers.
“He approached me about a year ago (to attend),” said Zawatsky. “It was 60 players who had played with, or against him.”
While Zawatsky started his German career in Straubing he and Trew had been an opponent, as Zawatsky was gone from the Tigers by the time Trew arrived.
The trip was one that surprised Zawatsky in terms of the emotions it evoked.
“There’s thing you sort of put on the shelf in life,” he said, adding that was the case with his pro career in Germany that came to an end after the 2001-02 season. “It opened up again for me.”
Zawatsky left Straubing for Deggendorf, then Neuwied and finally Landshut, and has not been in the Tigers city since 1997 when he changed teams.
“I switched to a rival, and never really went back ... So, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” he said.
But any hard feelings that might have existed was long gone.
“Everything was so welcoming,” said Zawatsky.
Then the good memories flowed. Zawatsky said he had had a few games in the East Coast Hockey League and American Hockey League after four years at Colorado College, when he first signed with Straubing.
As part of the event Zawatsky suited up and played a mini game.
Not surprisingly for a player who scored 199 regular season goals in four seasons in Straubing, he took a pass in the mini game, went in alone and scored high over the netminder’s glove.
“It was like a little bit of fantasy camp,” he said.
The hockey bug was back.
“I hadn’t bought a pair of skates since I quit,” said Zawatsky, so he borrowed a pair from son Alec (currently a Yorkton Junior Terrier). “I told my wife if I had had my own skates I might have scored two, or three.
“She said “no you couldn’t have’.”
But that little game in Germany reminded Zawatsky how much he loved the game.
“I miss it more than ever to tell you the truth,” he said in an interview with Yorkton This Week Monday. “... I sat on the bench and just soaked in ... you realize it’s your happy place.”
Zawatsky of course is still involved in the sport, coaching the ‘AAA’ Midget Maulers, but he admitted after the German trip he’d like to find a rec team to play with to get back on the ice as a player.
“It’s more development (of young players) now, but I miss playing,” he said.
