Where are they now? Checking in with RED's former players

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Where are they now? Checking in with RED's former players

 

Max von Hohenzollern

 

It's not often that you see a player in the VHL that comes from nobility but Max von Hohenzollern was exactly that, a descendant of the former German ruling dynasty of the Hohenzollerns. Despite having lost all of their political power and most of their wealth since being deposed a century ago, Max still grew up differently than most other kids in his country and when he decided to pursue a career in hockey, it came as a big surprise and even a shock to his family who still aren't exactly fans of manual labor or a rough physical sport like hockey. Max' career was a decent but not overly successful one, he essentially had one season where he was on of the top forwards in the league but didn't have the longevity to preserve that level of performance, and he already left the sport at a rather young ager as he was just entering regression. The end of his career was somewhat ironic too: After Max had decided to leave the VHL and had handed in all the paperwork to the league, they apparently forgot to submit it in time or some fax machine didn't work or whatever. Whatever the reason was, Max still appeared on the list of eligible players for next season even though he had intended to leave the league instantly and due to the VHL's CBA rules, he was actually force to play one more season as an "Inactive". After that one season and now finally being a retiree for good, Max decided to return to Germany and go into the private sector, starting a career as a business consultant. He seems to have cut all ties to the hockey community since then, advising a whole bunch of different companies over the years but none of them being hockey-related.

 

David Collier

 

Unlike MvH, Cavid Collier has been a mainstay in the hockey world ever since starting his career all the way back in S33. After a successful career that mostly saw him suit up for the Cologne Express, Collier moved on into a front office position after his playing career, eventually rising to the position of General Manager. Along with his colleague Ryan Power, Collier was one of the integral architects of the squad that went on to win the Express their first Cup in franchise history.

 

 

After handing over the reigns to Power completely, Collier took a short break from hockey to travel the world and pursue other opportunities before returning to the Hockey world as a TV Expert and Commentator. He has largely been in various media positions ever since, aside from a multi-year break where he returned to his native country of Germany to take on a position in the German Ice Hockey Federation in orde rto build up the structures of their national team. At the writing of this article, Collier is still working on TV but has reduced his workload in recent years and many people expect the now 66-year old to announce his retirement soon.

 

Nicolas Caprivi

 

The last player of the trio that we wanna talk about is Nicolas Caprivi. The Canadian Center was one of the Elite Playmakers of his time, winning a Challenge Cup with the Cologne Express in S42 before moving on to the New York Americans where he would spend the rest of his career. Despite a couple of very strong seasons, Caprivi never quite turned into the perennial Superstar that many hoped he could become and his career ended relatively early, when he announced his retirement after just five seasons to return to his hometown in Ontario. Caprivi has almost entirely been out of the spotlight ever since, avoiding a public profile and staying away from alumni meetings and the likes. There has been a lot of speculation about the cause of his reclusion but as of today, nobody has found a definitive answer and as far as we can tell, Caprivi is just living an ordinary and completely uneventful life with his family.

 

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Review: 9/10

 

A fun trip down memory lane here as somebody who remembers Collier in particular very well. Straightforward stories you've got here, which is pretty true to life for a lot of people that leave professional hockey. The people who leave a sport but then have nothing to do with it afterwards always fascinate me though, and I appreciate the ones that have varied interests like that. For the article itself, it read cleanly from beginning to end, and the presentation was fine with the bolded/underlined player names to designate the section. A grammar thing or two, but nothing huge. Great job overall, and I'm happy to see you active and updating again!