KAC with seventh win in a row | Fehérvár back at the top of the table

The EC-KAC won the top game of the 37th round against Steinbach Black Wings Linz 3:1 and celebrated their seventh win in a row. The Black Wings, on the other hand, suffered their fourth defeat in a row. In the sold-out Heidi Horten-Arena, it was David Maier who scored the 2:1 game-winner for the third-placed team five minutes before the end of the game. Jan Mursak finally made everything clear with an empty-net goal. Linz slipped back to sixth place in the table and are now six points behind the KAC and just two points ahead of seventh-placed Graz.

Vienna surprises in Salzburg
Decimated spusu Vienna Capitals surprisingly won 4:1 at defending champion EC Red Bull Salzburg. Player of the game was Evan Jasper with a hat trick. It was the Canadian's first hat trick in the Capitals' jersey. After a goalless first 20 minutes, the 32-year-old put the visitors ahead (21.) before Salzburg equalized shortly afterwards through Mario Huber (24.). The Capitals pulled away to 3:1 in the middle period with goals from Mathias Böhm (27.) and Jasper. The Red Bulls, who are fifth in the table, were unable to find an answer and when Jasper completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal two-and-a-half minutes before the end, even the last Red Bulls fans lost hope of a turnaround. Despite the win, Vienna remain tenth in the table and are still nine points ahead of the eleventh-placed Pioneers.

Pioneers topple Bolzano from the top of the table
The team from Vorarlberg celebrated a sensational 3:1 away win at Bolzano. The South Tyroleans slipped back to second place in the table with their first defeat after three wins in a row. They are now one point behind new leaders Fehérvár. For the Pioneers, it was one of four wins from their last five games. Brady Gilmour put the visitors ahead in the 10th minute. It then took until the 49th minute for Bolzano to equalize through Luca Frigo. However, the visitors were unimpressed and it was Lucas Sowder who scored the game-winner five minutes before the end of the game. It was the forward's sixth goal of the season. The Vorarlberg team finally made everything clear with an empty-netter.

Fehérvár stops Ljubljana's winning streak and is back at the top of the table
Hydro Fehérvár AV19 beat Olimpija Ljubljana by the narrow margin of 2:1. The Hungarians thus stopped the Slovenians' five-game winning streak and regained the lead at the top of the table. With 69 points, they are now one point ahead of Bolzano, although they have already played two more games. Olimpija remain in eighth place and are twelve points behind sixth-placed Linz. Everything started according to plan for the visitors. Kale Kerbashian put Ljubljana ahead in the fourth minute. But it was the only goal of the evening for the Slovenians. In the 25th minute, Fehérvár equalized through Janos Hari and in the 32nd minute, Chris Brown turned the game around in favour of the home side, who celebrated one of three wins from their last five games.

Derby win for Pustertal against Innsbruck
HC TIWAG Innsbruck, who are bottom of the table, announced the early extension of the contracts of Head Coach Jordan Smotherman and assistant Florian Pedevilla until the 2025/26 season shortly before the start of the game. Nevertheless, it was not enough to win the derby at HC Pustertal. The “Sharks” were defeated 1:4, but first took the lead in the sixth minute. The home side finally managed to equalize in the 32nd minute and the “Wolves” decided the game in their favour with three more goals in the final period. The gap between the Tyroleans and tenth place is now an impressive 14 points. Pustertal are still in ninth place and ten points ahead of the eleventh-placed Pioneers. Overall, it was the third win in a row for HCP, while HCI suffered their sixth defeat in a row.

Villach without problems in Asiago
In addition, new fourth-placed EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV beat twelfth-placed Migross Supermercati Asaigo Hockey 4:1. Chase Pearson shone with his third brace of the season. After Asiago equalized in the 15th minute, VSV pulled away to 3:1 by the 30th minute. In the end, the “Eagles” celebrated one of thirteen wins from the last 14 games. Asiago, on the other hand, remained winless for the twelfth time in a row.

win2day ICE Hockey League:
Friday, 03.01.2025:
EC-KAC – Steinbach Black Wings Linz 3:1 (0:0, 1:1, 2:0)
Referees: SMETANA, SOOS, Bärnthaler, Riecken. Spectators: 4.404
Goals KAC: 1:0 Fraser M. (26.), 2:1 Maier D. (56.), 3:1 Mursak J. (59./EN)
Goal BWL: 1:1 Knott G. (33.)

EC Red Bull Salzburg – spusu Vienna Capitals 1:4 (0:0, 1:3, 0:1)
Referees: STERNAT, ZRNIC, Bedynek, Puff. | Spectators: 3.259
Goal RBS: 1:1 Huber M. (24.)
Goals VIC: 0:1 Jasper E. (21./PP1), 1:2 Böhm M. (27.), 1:3 Jasper E. (30.), 1:4 Jasper E. (58./EN)

Hydro Fehérvár AV19 – Olimpija Ljubljana 2:1 (0:1, 2:0, 0:0)
Referees: NIKOLIC M., SIEGEL, Gatol-Schafranek, Weiss. | Spectators: 3.759
Goals AVS: 1:1 Hari J. (25.), 2:1 Brown C. (32./PP1)
Goal OLL: 0:1 Kerbashian K. (4./PP1)

Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey – EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV 1:4 (1:2, 0:1, 0:1)
Referees: GROZ NIK, OFNER, Mantovani, Rigoni. | Spectators: 2.958
Goal ASH: 1:1 Zampieri S. (15.)
Goals VSV: 1:1 Pearson C. (12.), 1:2 Rebernig M. (17.), 1:3 Pearson C. (31./PP1), 1:4 Holway P. (57.)

HCB Südtirol Alperia – Pioneers Vorarlberg 1:3 (0:1, 0:0, 1:2)
Referees: BERNEKER, SEEWALD E., Seewald J., Zacherl. | Spectators: 2.520
Goal HCB: 1:1 Frigo L. (50.)
Goals PIV: 0:1 Gilour B. (10.), 1:2 Sowder L. (56.), 1:3 Cooper O. (60./EN)

HC Pustertal – HC TIWAG Innsbruck 4:1 (0:1, 1:0, 3:0)
Referees: HUBER A., PIRAGIC, Fleischmann, Hribar. | Spectators: 2.817
Goals HCP: 1:1 Findlay B. (32.), 2:1 Frycklund M. (45.), 3:1 Petan A. (54.), 4:1 Akeson J. (56.)
Goal HCI: 0:1 Grasso P. (6./PP2)