Bolzano aims to avert weakest start into the season since joining the league

win2day ICE Hockey League | 22.09.2023:
Fri, 22.09.2023, 19:15: Moser Medical Graz99ers - HK SZ Olimpija
Referees: HLAVATY, STERNAT, Bärnthaler, Seewald E. | >> live.ice.hockey <<
The Moser Medical Graz99ers are still waiting for their first win of the season. Both against Vienna (2:3) and against the reigning champions Salzburg the Styrians lost narrowly (3:4-OT). The HK SZ Olimpija started the season with a 2:3-OT loss against Linz, before they celebrated a surprisingly clear 5:2 win in Vienna. The Slovenians had already faced the 99ers in the preseason. In this Olimpija won with 5:2. Last season, the H2H ended in a 2:2 draw. For Ljubljana, Friday's match is the first of two games within 24 hours. On Saturday at 18:00 they will play against Innsbruck at home.

Fri, 22.09.2023, 19:15: EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV - HC TIWAG Innsbruck
Referees: BERNEKER, GROZNIK, Martin, Miklic. | >> live.ice.hockey <<
The EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV had a perfect start to the season, celebrating clear victories both in Linz (4:2) and at home against runner-up Bolzano (4:1) and thus are currently leading the table. Innsbruck also won clearly against Bolzano with 5:1, two days later it set against Pustertal a narrow 5:6-SO defeat. Both games took place at the Tiroler Wasserkraft Arena. Away from home, the HCI has already played two competitive games in the Champions Hockey League this season. Both in Biel (1:6) and in Munich (1:9) they clearly lost. In Villach, Innsbruck took one win from two games last season. Looking at the last ten games at the Carinthians, the Sharks picked up five wins. With ten goals scored, the Tyroleans have the best offense early in the season. A perfect start to the season was experienced by Kevin Roy, who has already recorded six points. On the side of the Eagles, Alexander Rauchenwald had a perfect start to the season with four points. Innsbruck does not only play in Villach this weekend. Already on Saturday at 18:00, the Tyroleans have to deal with Ljubljana in Slovenia.

Fri, 22.09.2023, 19:15: Hydro Fehérvár AV19 - EC Red Bull Salzburg
Referees: FICHTINGER, PIRAGIC, Muzsik, Vaczi. | >> live.ice.hockey <<
Champion EC Red Bull Salzburg will play the first away game of the season on Friday. For Hydro Fehérvár AV19, on the other hand, it is the first home game of this campaign. The Hungarians started the season with two wins in Italy, at Asiago and in Bolzano, and thus still have the maximum points. Salzburg, on the other hand, won clearly against the EC-KAC with 4:1 in the opener, but only two days later they had to go into overtime against Graz, which they won. In the meantime, they were already trailing 1:3 against the 99ers. Against Fehérvár, the Red Bulls are clearly favored, at least if you look at the H2H, because the past twelve encounters were all won by RBS.

Fri, 22.09.2023, 19:30: BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg - Steinbach Black Wings Linz
Referees: HOLZER, NIKOLIC M., Fleischmann, Sparer. | >> live.ice.hockey <<
Both the BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg and the Steinbach Black Wings Linz started the new season with one win and one loss. The Pioneers first lost to Pustertal with 1:3, before they won against Asiago with 2:0. The Black Wings started the season with a 3:2-OT win against Olimpija. Two days later, they lost against Villach with 2:4. Against the Vorarlberg team, the Upper Austrians celebrated three wins from four encounters last season.

Fri, 22.09.2023, 19:45: HCB Südtirol Alperia - EC-KAC
Referees: NIKOLIC K., ZRNIC, Pardatscher, Puff. | >> live.ice.hockey <<
For only the third time since joining the league, the HCB Südtirol Alperia started the season with three losses. In 2014, the South Tyroleans finally got their first win in the fourth game of the season at Znojmo. In 2016, they had one point after three games and celebrated their first win of the season in the fourth game again against Znojmo. So far this season, the current runner-up have been beaten by Innsbruck, Fehérvar and Villach, never scoring more than one goal. With a total of twelve goals conceded, Bolzano currently has the weakest defense in the league. Tomorrow, Friday, the South Tyroleans welcome the EC-KAC. The Klagenfurt team have only played one game so far in Salzburg (1:4) . The KAC have lost four away games in a row, and the last time the EC-KAC had a longer series of losses in away games was in January and February 2020, when they lost five in a row.

Fri, 22.09.2023, 19:45: HC Pustertal Wölfe - Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey
Referees: SCHAUER, TRILAR, Hribar, Snoj. | >> live.ice.hockey <<
The opening weekend for the HC Pustertal Wölfe and Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey could not have been more different. While Pustertal managed to win both games against the Pioneers (3:1) and Innsbruck (6:5-SO), Asiago suffered two defeats without scoring a single goal. First, the Italians lost 0:3 at home against Fehérvár before loosing 0:2 at the Pioneers. For Pustertal, the game against Asiago will be the 100th game in the win2day ICE Hockey League. Against Asiago, which is playing its second season in the international league, they could win only one of four games so far.

win2day ICE Hockey League | 23.09.2023:
Sat, 23.09.2023, 18:00: HK SZ Olimpija - HC TIWAG Innsbruck
Referees: BERNEKER, SOOS, Martin, Muzsik. | >> live.ice.hockey <<
Both the HK SZ Olimpija and the HC TIWAG Innsbruck are already in action on Friday and are thus challenged for the second time within 24 hours on Saturday. In the league, the two teams have faced each other eight times so far. The H2H speaks clearly for the Sharks, because Olimpija could not celebrate one victory in all eight duels and only score one point.