Release from 20.12.2021

First South Tyrol derby in Bolzano

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On the last big matchday before Christmas, the third South Tyrol derby of the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League will take place - the first one at Palaonda. So far, both teams have won once in this prestigious duel. The Steinbach Black Wings Linz play on Tuesday as guests in Villach against a new negative club record in the multinational league. League leaders Salzburg, the spusu Vienna Capitals and the Dornbirn Bulldogs each play their last games before Christmas away from home.

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bet-at-home ICE Hockey League, 21.12.2021:

EC-KAC - EC Red Bull Salzburg 19:15. | PPV-Stream
Referees: STERNAT, TRILAR, Bärnthaler, Snoj

The first matches of the EC-KAC's home series did not go according to plan from the KAC' point of view. Three of the five scheduled home games in a row of the reigning champions have already been completed, only one game could be won so far. Against the current league leader from Salzburg, it will be a difficult undertaking to reverse the trend in order to still be able to come out of the home game series with a positive balance. Especially because Salzburg has not lost an away game in the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League since October 26. However, the Salzburgers are in top form regardless of the venue: they have scored in the past eleven games, picking up victories in nine of them and even finishing the last four with the maximum points. The two teams are dueling for the third time this season. In the first two encounters, the away team celebrated a 3:2 success after overtime and penalty shootout respectively. Klagenfurt will have to do without Thomas Koch on Tuesday, who suffered a lower-body injury in the game against Graz. The center forward will thus miss a league game for the first time since December 10, 2017, his streak of appearances at a stretch ends at 244 games.

EC GRAND Immo VSV - Steinbach Black Wings Linz 19:15 | PPV-Stream
Referees: BULOVEC, ZRNIC, Miklic, Zgonc,

A split second was missing for Steinbach Black Wings Linz on Sunday to end their losing streak in the seventh game. In their club history, the Upper Austrians have only once recorded a negative streak of the same length. In 2006, the Black Wings also ended the season with seven defeats. EC Grand Immo VSV also suffered a narrow defeat on Sunday, falling out of the top six again. A brace from John Huges wasn't enough to get them into overtime against Ljubljana. The two first season duels with the Black Wings decided the eagles in each case for itself. The second one, however, was only by a razor-thin margin, as the Linzers gave away a 2-goal lead in the last minute. So for the Upper Austrians, a win on Tuesday and thus preventing a new negative club record would be a double satisfaction.

Hydro Fehervar AV 19 - spusu Vienna Capitals 19:15
Referees: HRONSKY, NAGY, Durmis, Konc

Shortly before Christmas, Hydro Fehérvár AV 19 and the spusu Vienna Capitals duel two table neighbors, who crossed each other coming from different directions on the ranks four and three. Fehérvár was already top of the table after a tremendously strong autumn and is currently almost in "free fall". In the past eleven games, the Devils recorded only three wins. In the last two games they were clearly dispatched with 2:8 against Salzburg and 3:7 against Pustertal. The Viennese team has had a completely different season so far. While the Caps were partly in the red at the start of the season, they started to catch up at the latest from mid-October onwards, until they were able to take over third place in the table. This has also contributed to the one or the other new additions to the Caps, such as most recently Matt Bradley. The Canadian, who signed twelve days ago, recorded five assists in his first two games. While Fehérvár would draw level with the Viennese again with a win on Tuesday, a defeat for the Hungarians could already mean a temporary send-off from the top-6.

HC TIWAG Innsbruck - Dornbirn Bulldogs 19:15 | PPV-Stream
Referees: NIKOLIC M., OFNER, Nothegger, Seewald

Kevin Hancock provided last-second redemption for the Dornbirn Bulldogs on Sunday as they ended their five-game losing streak with an overtime win over Linz. The pre-playoff places are nevertheless a long way off for the Vorarlberg team. HC Orli Znojmo, currently in tenth place, is gaining an average of half a point more per game. On the other hand, HC TIWAG Innsbruck, which is currently just in a direct quarterfinal spot, wants to avoid the pre-playoffs. Recently, the Innsbruckers had to admit defeat twice with only one goal difference. The first two duels of the season with the Bulldogs also went to the Sharks. Jesse Saarinen has ended his cooperation with the Dornbirn Bulldogs. The Finnish veteran will not be available for the twelfth-placed team, as he was against Linz on Sunday, in the West Derby against Innsbruck. The 36-year-old scored six goals and eight assists in 21 bet-at-home ICE Hockey League games.

HCB Südtirol Alperia - HC Pustertal Wölfe 19:45 | PPV-Stream
Referees: BERNEKER, NIKOLIC K., Pardatscher, Rigoni

Shortly before Christmas, the third South Tyrolean derby of the season is on the schedule - the first of the season in the ice wave. In the two derbies in Bruneck, the "Foxes" won once and the "Wolves" once. Pustertal managed to break free in recent weeks, even though they had to end their four-game winning streak against Znojmo on Sunday. The league newcomer is thus back in the thick of the fight for the pre-playoff places. Bolzano, on the other hand, is still fighting for a direct quarterfinal spot. At the moment, the Foxes are only a hair's breadth away from the top 6 - but they cannot afford a derby defeat if they want to spend Christmas there.