International teams with home-advantage on Saturday

>EC Red Bull Salzburg go to Zagreb on Saturday. There, the Mozart Citizens were defeated on January 07th 2018. Since that day Matthias Trattnig and Co. have won nine consecutive games. KHL Medvescak Zagreb won their first Pick Round game in Innsbruck on Thursday.
>EC Red Bull Salzburg have been on fire in the Pick Round, the Austrians have already scored 18 goals in three games. The Red Bulls, who are the best Power Play teams, beat EHC LIWEST Black Wing Linz with 9:5. Within the last six games the Red Bulls have netted at least one goal in Power Play.
>The home-team has left the ice as the winner in the last five meetings. The Austrians celebrated their last victory in Zagreb on March 05th 2013.
>Brant Harris, John Hughes and Mario Huber (all RBS) netted at least one goal in the last two clashes.
>KHL Medvescak Zagreb fights against their bad home-run on Saturday as well. The Croatians have lost three consecutive home-games.
Quotes:
Kevin Carr, Goalie KHL Medvescak Zagreb: „Each game is important. Our goal is to settle on the best position before the Playoffs. I believe, we can even get a title. We have a great team here!“
Brant Harris, Forward EC Red Bull Salzburg: „We already played in Playoff mode against Linz. In the next games we have to show our best hockey as well. We want to get three points in Zagreb!“

 

Referees: M. NIKOLIC, STOLC, Pardatscher, Sparer.
>EC-KAC (5.) and HC TWK Innsbruck „Die Haie“ (6.) will fight for their first win in the Pick Round in Klagenfurt on Sunday. Both teams have lost all three games in the Intermediate Round so far. EC-KAC has even lost seven consecutive games.
>Both teams got weaker in the defense and offense in comparison tot he first part of the regular season.
>EC-KAC is the only team, that has not had a single home-win in the year 2018 so far. They have lost six consecutive home-games.  The Sharks on the other side were defeated in their last three road-games. But watch out: They got their last road-win in Klagenfurt on January 13th 2018.
>It’s 2:2 in the season-clash. The Sharks won the last two meetings.
>Hunter Bishop and Andrew Yogan have netted at least one goal in the last two meetings with EC-KAC.
Quotes:
Manuel Geier, Forward EC-KAC: „Our goal is to score one more goal than our opponent. We need a solid defense and must get back to the rhythm, otherwise it does not look good for us for the Playoffs..“
Sacha Guimond, defenseman HC TWK Innsbruck „Die Haie“: „We have a good team. I have no idea, why we have been playing without confidence lately."

 

Referees: K. NIKOLIC, PIRAGIC, Ettlmayr, Seewald.
>Vienna Capitals go to Linz on Sunday. The Champion is the only team with the maximum of points in the Pick Round. The Leader beat KHL Medvescak Zagreb 5:0, HC TWK Innsbruck „Die Haie“ 6:4 and EC-KAC 4:1. The Upper Austrians on the side were defeated (5:9) for the first time in this Intermediate Round in Salzburg on Thursday.
>Linz were convincing at home lately: The Upper Austrians have won seven consecutive home-games and allowed just eleven goals during that span.
>The last five meetings ended by just one goal difference.
>Jerry Pollastrone (VIC) netted at least one goal in the last two meetings.
>Both teams are in the Top 4 of the Special Teams – Powerplay and Penalty Killing.
Quotes:
Troy Ward, Head Coach EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz: „Every team must be ready in this League from the start on.“
Rafael Rotter, Forward Vienna Capitals: „We work very well as a team. Everybody plays his role.“

 

>HC Orli Znojmo (6.) welcomes Moser Medical Graz99ers (5.) in the bottom clash on Saturday. The Styrians are fifth in the Qualification Round with four points, the Czechs are on place 6 with three points.
>Both teams have had problems to score in the Qualification Round: The Styrians netted just three goals in the first three rounds. On Thursday the Mur Citizens even could not score against HCB Südtirol Alperia (0:4). The Czechs have scored so far six goals from three games.
>In the last six meetings the home-team left the ice as the winner. The Styrians earned their last victory in Znojmo on December 26th 2016 or 410 days ago.
>The 99ers haven’t scored a single Power Play goal for 298 minutes.
>Graz-Goalie Andrew Engelage is ready for his debut in Erste Bank Eishockey Liga.
Quotes:
Ryan Olsen, Forward HC Orli Znojmo: „We are still hoping we can climb up the table and make the playoffs, for sure. To do this, we must go game by game and try to give our 100% every time. In front of our fans we want to get three points and stay in the race.“
Daniel Woger, Forward Moser Medical Graz99ers: „We must forget what has happend so far and get the points in Znojmo!“

 

>HCB Südtirol Alperia celebrated their first win (4:0) in the Qualification Round in Graz on Thursday. The Foxes are Fourth with five points now. Dornbirn Bulldogs was successful against Fehervar AV19 as well (4:3) and is leading the Qualification Round with twelve points.
>The Italians have played well defensively in the Intermediate Round. The Foxes allowed just three goals from their last three games. Nevertheless, Bozen celebrated only one win in the Qualification Round so far. The Vorarlberger on the other side allowed twelve goals in the same span. But while the Austrians scored already twelve goals in their first three games, Bozen netted just five goals in the first three Intermediate Rounds.
>HCB Südtirol Alperia is leading in the season-clash 3:1. The Foxes left the ice as the winner inter alia in the last two meetings.
>Mike Halmo and Angelo Miceli (both HCB) have scored at least one goal in the last two clashes.
>Bozen (PK%: 85,1) and Dornbirn (PK%: 83,5) are leading in the Penalty Killing statistic!
Quotes:
Stefano Marchetti, Forward HCB Südtirol Alperia: „We must be concentrated in each game. There are still 21 points to get.“
Stefan Häussle, Forward Dornbirn Bulldogs: „We expect an intense game in Bozen.“

 

Referees: BALUSKA, KINCSES, Kaspar, Soos.
>Fehervar AV19 (3.) and EC VSV (2) will fight for place 2 in the Qualification Round in Szekesfehervar on Saturday. The Hungarians are third with seven points, Villach is second with nine points.
>EC VSV is the only unbeaten team in the Qualification Round. The Eagles have beaten HC Orli Znojmo on Thursday 4:2 and the have celebrated for the first time in this season three consecutive wins. Fehervar AV19 on the other side lost on Thursday their first game in the Qualification Round in Dornbirn (3:4).
>EC VSV has been on fire in the Qualification Round! The Eagles scored already 13 goals from three games. Fehervar AV19 on the other side have not scored a single Power Play goal in the last four games.
>The Hungarians have won five consecutive home-games against Villach.
>Antonin Manavian (AVS) and Andrew Sarauer (VSV) have scored at leat one goal in the last two meetings.
Quotes:
Hannu Järvenpää, Headcoach Fehervar AV19: „5-on-5 we do well, but our Power Play is not working. I hope Csanad Erdely will be on fire on Saturday too.“
Istvan Sofron, Forward EC VSV: „We play as a team, thats why we have success. The confidence is coming back as well. We want to continue our winning-streak in Szekesfehervar. For us this is already Playoff. We need each win!“