Release from 10.04.2021

ICE finals kick off Sunday night

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Sunday night, HCB Südtirol Alperia and EC-KAC, the two best-ranked teams of the regular season, will contest the final series in the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League. For the ninth time, the first and second-placed teams will meet in the final series. Bolzano is looking to win the title in its third appearance in the final, while Klagenfurt is looking to defend its title for the first time in its fifth attempt.

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Bet-at-home ICE Hockey League | finals game #1 | Sunday, April 11th 2021:
Sun, 11.04.2021, 5.30 pm: HCB Südtirol Alperia – EC-KAC
Referees: PIRAGIC, STERNAT, Seewald, Zgonc.
Live on: >> PULS 24 (worldwide for free) << | >> SKY SPORT AUSTRIA << | >> VB33 <<

  • Regular season winner HCB Südtirol Alperia qualified for the final series with an overtime win in game #6 at the spusu Vienna Capitals on Wednesday. The two-time champions won the "best-of-7" series against the Viennese 4-2, while the "Foxes" won the previous quarterfinal series against the iClinic Bratislava Capitals 4-1.
  • Bolzano reached finals for the third time since joining the league in 2013/14. In both participations it won the title (2014, 2018).
  • The second-placed after the regular season EC-KAC entered the final two days earlier. With a 1-0 win in Game #5 against EC Red Bull Salzburg, the Carinthians clinched the "best-of-7" semifinal series 4-1. In the quarterfinal series against EC GRAND Immo VSV, the "Rotjacken" also needed five games to advance.
  • Klagenfurt is playing its tenth final series since the league was founded. They have won the title five times since the 2000/01 season. They have never managed to defend their championship win. Only Salzburg has managed that so far.
  • The KAC played a total of 51 final games, winning 26 of them. Bolzano picked up a win in seven of its twelve final games.
  • For the first time since the final series in 2016 (RBS vs. ZNO), the two best teams of the regular season will again - and now for the ninth time - contest a final series against each other. In four of the eight confrontations, the regular season champion was also able to secure the title.
  • The two teams faced each other in two playoff series:
    • In 2018, HCB won 4-2 in the quarterfinals and later became champions
    • In 2019, KAC won 4-1 in the quarterfinals and later became champions
    • Of eleven playoff games between these two teams so far, five had to be decided in overtime.
    • Game #2 in 2019 was decided in favor of Klagenfurt only in the fourth overtime - and after 120 minutes and 51 seconds - by Johannes Bischofberger. It is still the longest playoff game in league history.
  • The KAC won four of the previous six encounters this season. Five games in the current campaign ended with only one goal difference, two were decided in overtime.
  • In the six season encounters so far, the special teams have played a big part, with just under 38 percent of all goals (11/29) coming on the power play.
  • So far, there have been 53 confrontations between these two teams, 30 were won by the KAC - including the last two in the pick round.
  • The KAC has the ICE's highest-scoring player in Nick Petersen (26G|39A) in the roster. Bolzano's top scorer Brett Findlay holds at 22 goals and 32 assists.
  • Thomas Koch is facing another milestone in his great career in the final series starting on Sunday: his next point will be the 1000th of his career in Austria's top division. Of his 999 points so far, he collected 627 for EC-KAC and 372 for EC Salzburg.
  • HCB will have to play without the suspended Mike Halmo, also the injured Karl Stollery and Marco Insam will be missing. Dustin Gazley and Domenic Alberga could return. With Diego Gück and Patrick Tomasini, the "Foxes" have activated two players from the farm team of HC Gardena.
  • The KAC is still missing the long-term injured David Fischer, Paul Postma and Dennis Sticha for the final opener. All other players are available.

Pre-game comment Martin Schumnig (KAC): 



Pre-game comment Anthony Bardaro (HCB): 





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Images (5)

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HCB vs. KAC
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HCB vs. KAC
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HCB vs. KAC
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HCB vs. KAC
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