Release from 31.05.2022

Contract extensions at KAC and VSV

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The fully recovered Steven Strong extends his contract with EC KAC. The Austrian international will thus enter his eighth season with the Carinthians. EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV, meanwhile, extended the long-term contract of defender Philipp Linder up to and including 2023/2024.

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Strong stays with KAC

Steven Strong joined EC-KAC in the summer of 2015 as a college player and without any experience in professional ice hockey, where he advanced to a regular in the first team within a short time. The Austrian-born Canadian also immediately became a national player after the corresponding IIHF deadline expired: In addition to three World Cup appearances, the defenseman has so far played 46 international games for Team Austria. With the Redcoats, the now 29-year-old has always been a physically very present and reliable defensive player. So far, he has played 397 competitive games for the EC-KAC, in which he scored 27 goals, set up 50 goals and recorded a plus/minus balance of +35. This makes him one of the longest-serving players at EC-KAC: his 377 league appearances for the Klagenfurt team will only be surpassed in next year's KAC squad by homegrown players Thomas Koch (848) and Thomas Hundertpfund (769). In the past season, Steven Strong recorded the second-highest average time-on-ice per basic round game (20:14 minutes) among all field players in the red-white lineup, but an injury in the fourth playoff game against Vienna then ended his personal playing year prematurely. The defenseman has since fully recovered and is currently in North America working on his form for the upcoming season.

Steven Strong, EC-KAC: "I'm really looking forward to my eighth season with EC-KAC, especially since the last one ended with an injury for me and for all of us as a team not with the hoped-for outcome. Our team is a good one, that's well known, but we need to iron out a few things over the summer and improve in some areas. After last year's disappointing performance, we will start the new season fully motivated and eager to fight, as we are all eager to achieve our goals as a team.

VSV extends contract with PhiIipp Lindner ahead of time

The "eagles" continue to tinker intensively with the new team and rely especially with the local players on long-term contracts and planning security: the contract with PhiIipp Lindner would have run at the EC iDM heat pumps VSV anyway still for the coming season, but one of the Austrian Defender has already extended his contract for another year until the end of the season 2023/2024.

Philipp Lindner started his ice hockey career at his hometown club, HC Innsbruck. At the age of 15, he moved to the academy in Salzburg. There he went through the various youth teams and in parallel also made a few appearances in the fighting team. In 2016 he moved back to HC Innsbruck, and from 2019 Lindner defended for Graz 99ers for two seasons.

In the previous year, Lindner moved to the "Adler" and there he hit the ground running with his physical style of play, offensive and defensive qualities. The record of the 1.85 centimeter tall and 97 kilogram powerhouse in the VSV jersey: 56 games, 23 points, including 5 goals, and that with a plus/minus balance of strong +25. In addition, he also acted in the past playoffs with six points in 12 games outstanding. He also has a lot of international experience: He has played 23 times for the senior national team.