Erste Bank Eishockey Liga semifinals kick off on Friday

Fr, 29.03.2019 | 19.15: spusu Vienna Capitals (#1) – EC Red Bull Salzburg (#5) live Sky Sport Austria
Referees: PIRAGIC, SMETANA, Nagy, Soos.

• After a 4:1 in the „best-of-7” quarterfinal series against HC Orli Znojmo, the spusu Vienna Capitals participate for the twelfth time in the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga semifinals. The Viennese advanced four times to the finals. 
• With a 4:2 win against Fehervar AV19 in the quarterfinal series the EC Red Bull Salzburg plays its thirteenth semifinal series. They missed the qualification only once, back in 2010/11. 
• Five of the past six season meetings were decided in shootout. With a 4:2 victory, the Capitals celebrated the own win after regular time in the first encounter. The EC Red Bull Salzburg was Erste Bank Eishockey Liga’s lone team getting points from Vienna in the pick round, after losing twice in shootout. 
• Both teams faced each other six times during a semifinal campaign. While the Red Bulls won the first five meetings, the Capitals snatched up the last one in 2012/13 (4:2). They meet each other for the last time in the finals 2015 with Salzburg getting a 4:0 sweep. 
• The Viennese played 59 games in semifinals so far and grinded out 26 wins, while Salzburg won more than 70% of its semifinal games (45/65).
• The Red Bulls won 120 out of its 144 games in playoff history. 
• With only 1,75 goals against and 6,9 goals scored the Capitals earned eight consecutive home wins. 
• Philippe Lakos (VIC) played six of seven playoff series against Salzburg, while Matthias Trattnig was part of the Red Bulls in all seven duels. 
• Top-Scorer: With 76 points each Christopher DeSousa und Peter Schneider are Vienna’s best scorer. Salzburg’s John Hughes has 22 goals and 48 assists.
• Both teams have the best PK available during playoffs with only allowing three goals in 25 boxplay occasions (88%).

Riley Holzapfel, spusu Vienna Capitals: „It’s going to be an intense game, obviously. We have been off for a while and are ready to play. We have to be ready right from the beginning and keep on moving our game. Both teams are great and it will come down to details. We try to limit our mistakes and take advantage out of Salzburg’s.”

Andreas Brucker, headcoach EC Red Bull Salzburg: „We became better and better each quarterfinal round. Of course, there is room to improve, but we are on the right way. We can play a very high paced game for 60 minutes. We expect Vienna very motivated, but my team is confident to get a good start into the series.”

Fr, 29.03.2019 | 19.15: Moser Medical Graz 99ers (#2) – EC-KAC (#3) live Servus Hockey Night
Referees: NIKOLIC M., SIEGEL, Kontschieder, Zgonc.

• With a 4:2 in the “best-of-7” quarterfinal series against the EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz the Moser Medical Graz 99ers won their first playoff series ever in Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. In 2004 the Styrian advanced directly to the semifinals. 
• After defeating defending champion HCB Südtirol Alperia in the quarterfinals, the EC-KAC were through to semis for the ninth time in Erste Bank Eishockey Liga history. The Carinthians advanced seven times to the finals. 
• In 2004 both teams meet for the first-time during playoffs, with EC-KAC gaining a sweep. In the 2013 playoff campaign they met again as Klagenfurt won 4:1. 
• Graz snatched up five of six season encounters, celebrating huge comebacks in the first three games after trailing twice 0:2 and once 0:3. The EC-KAC won the last season meeting 1:0 after overtime. 
• While the Styrian played only three semifinal games, the Carinthians showed up 38 times in the top-4, getting 26 wins. 
• Overall the EC-KAC played 131 games in playoffs and won 76 duels. The 99ers played 30 postseason games so far (7 wins). 
• Both head coaches were part of their opponents in the past. While Petri Matikainen (KAC) supervised the 99ers from 2013 to 2014, Doug Mason coached the Carinthian side from Oktober 2014 to December 2015.
• Top-Scorer: With 67 points Colton Yellow-Horn is Graz’ best scorer this season, while Nick Petersen scored 69 points for the EC-KAC. 
• Graz has the best PP available among all playoff teams, with 10 goals out of 35 powerplay occasions. 

Kevin Moderer, Moser Medical Graz99ers: „We had two days off after winning the quarterfinal series and are ready for entering the second stage. We expect a higher paced game then against Linz. We need to keep the pace and will capitalize of our forechecking and powerplay.”

Nick Petersen, EC-KAC: „We are excited for the upcoming series against Graz. They proved themselves to be a good team all year. The first game is always a huge momentum. We want to do our best. Set a tone for the series and just have fun. We need to play our game and work hard. It is going to be a long series. If we keep working hard and play a fast game we know that we have a good chance to win.”