After exactly 1010 league games, Alexander Barta ended his active playing career as a professional ice hockey player. This was announced by his club, the Düsseldorfer EG, on Thursday. “I’m happy that I was able to pursue my passion for ice hockey at the highest level for so many years. This sport has shaped me, I’ve met a lot of outstanding people and experienced great games and hours on the ice,” said the 40-year-old. “Alex was always an absolute role model. For me he was always an absolute leader,” said his former coach, the current national coach Harold Kreis. Kreis hopes that Barta will stay with ice hockey as a coach in the future: “If he can pass on his experience like this, then we would all benefit a lot from it in ice hockey.” In total, Barta played 1010 games in 20 seasons in the German Ice Hockey League. The former international also went on the ice for the Eisbären Berlin, the Hamburg Freezers, the EHC Red Bull Munich and the ERC Ingolstadt. He was also active in Sweden. Barta, who moved to Düsseldorf in 2016, scored 95 goals and prepared 137 more in 367 games for his last club. He has also been captain since 2018. In this year’s playoff quarter-final series against ERC Ingolstadt, which was lost 4-1, the veteran impressed with four goals and five assists in five games.