Last round of 2018

Five facts of 33rd round: 

• On Sunday the twelve teams of Erste Bank Eishockey Liga will play the fifth game within the last ten days.
• The game between Dornbirn Bulldogs and EC Red Bull Salzburg will be shown live at Servus Hockey Night.
• Fehervar AV19 is about to set a new personal winning record, after they booked a seventh consecutive victory past gameday.
• The EC Panaceo VSV could score its 2.500th goal in regular season since 2003/04. They currently made 2.495 goals. 
• Both spusu Vienna Capitals and HCB Südtirol Alperia have unfinished business with their upcoming opponents. 

Sun, 30.12.2018: HCB Südtirol Alperia – HC TWK Innsbruck “Die Haie“ (17.00)
Referees: KOPITZ, STOLC, Nothegger, Pardatscher

• HCB Südtirol Alperia vs. HC TWK Innsbruck “Die Haie“ opens the 33rd round of Erste Bank Eishockey Liga
• After the reigning Champion suffered two defeats in the past two games, they dropped to fifth place in standings. Innsbruck got two wins in a row.
• The foxes lost their dangerousness in front of opponent’s net, after scoring only one goal on average the past two games. Prior that, they had six goals on average. 
• The sharks lost the past six consecutive road games. The last road win was against Bolzano on November 18th. They turned an early 0:4-deficit in a huge 8:5-win.
• Both season meetings were decided by away teams. Innsbruck won the past two games at Bolzano. 
• While HCB ist among league’s second best defensiv team (77 goals against), HCI received 125 so far. 

Stefano Marchetti (HCB Süüdtirol Alperia): “We didn't play our best hockey against Salzburg. We learn from our mistakes and in front of our fans we want to close the 2018 in beauty: it was a historic year for Bolzano.”

Daniel Wachter (HC TWK Innsbruck „Die Haie“): „Of course, we wanna win – and this is possible. We made a big step forward in the past days. We need a good start in Bolzano, because we will not turn a game like the last one again.” 

Sun, 30.12.2018: KHL Medvescak Zagreb – EC-KAC (17.00)
Referees: OFNER, TRILAR, Nedeljkovic, Zgonc

• KHL Medvescak Zagreb and EC-KAC will meet each other three times until January 8th.
• The bottom-place Croatian side gained only one point out of the last twelve games. After KAC won its second derby this season, they moved to third place in standings. 
• EC-KAC won the first season encounter 4:2 with Stefan Geier making a brace.
• The Carinthians won the past three games against the bears.
• This game is a battle of the best and the worst defensive team in the league. (75 GA KAC bzw. 132 GA MZA)

Filip Jarcov (KHL Medvescak Zagreb): “In our last games we were not able to create some chances on the offensive end. Of course, Graz did a good job, but we need to improve a lot in front of opponents net.”

Johannes Bischofberger (EC-KAC): „On Friday we had a good game against VSV, because our play was very stable and structured. We will build on this in Zagreb. We do not now that much of the Croatian team and so we need to focus on our personal style of play.”

Sun, 30.12.2018: spusu Vienna Capitals – HC Orli Znojmo (17.30)
Referees: KINCSES, NIKOLIC K., Hribar, Nagy

• Despite losing twice the spusu Vienna Capitals remained leader in standings.
• With a 6:2 win at Linz the HC Orli Znojmo is back in the battle for the pick round.
• The past four games were won by the away teams. In the first season meeting at Vienna the “red eagles” gave the Caps their highest season loss (3:9).
• With only two goals out of 31 shots in Caps past game they struggled with their scoring efficiency. An overall average of 8,9% is third worst mark in the league.
• Znojmo has the worst PP among all teams available (13,6%).
• The Caps will miss Dominic Hackl and Jamie Arniel. New arrival Sondre Olden could make his debut. 

Dave Cameron (Headcoach spusu Vienna Capitlas): „Znojmo will try hard to get another win to reduce the deficit to sixth place again. The regular season runs hot in the next games and the teams performances will get closer. We need to be ready from the first moment on to have a realistic chance for the home win.”

Jiri Beroun (Assistant-Coach HC Orli Znojmo): “A derby is always a specific game, you can lose five games in a row and then win it. It is not our case, we need points from every game, but I am pretty sure the preparation for this game, also mentally, will be special. We have a lot of injured players so our young guys get a lot of ice time. We hope some of the injured players could be back for Sunday game.”

Sun, 30.12.2018: EC Panaceo VSV – Moser Medical Graz99ers (17.30)
Referees: BULOVEC, SMETANA, Nemeth, Tschrepitsch

• After the derby loss the EC Panaceo VSV hosts second-placed Moser Medical Graz 99ers. With its highest win in Erste Bank Eishockey Liga history (9:0 @Zagreb), the 99ers halved the deficit to leader Vienna past round.
• While Villach got two home wins in a row, Graz did not lose for the last three games.
• With Curtis Hamilton each scoring one goal, the Styrian won past two season meetings (4:2 resp. 5:3). 
• Graz is among leagues best team on powerplay occasions.
• VSV is about to score its 2.500th regular season goal (since 2003/04). They currently made 2.495 goals, but had only one game this season with five goals. 

Yann Sauvé (EC Panaceo VSV): „Against Graz we need to work on our scoring efficiency. We will not get that many chances and so we need to capitalize on any opportunity.”

Sun, 30.12.2018: Fehervar AV19 – EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz (17.30 | live on DIGI TV)
Referees: FICHTNER, STERNAT, Bärnthaler, Gatol

• Fehervar AV19 moved up sixth place after winning seven game in a row.
• After suffering a harsh 2:6 home defeat EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz dropped to seventh place in standings. 
• With only two points difference in standings between these two clubs a victory is important for both sides. 
• Linz’ formcurve points downwards with only three points out of the last six games.
• The Black Wings won both season meetings and eight of the past ten games against AVS too.
• Linz will miss Mario Altmann, who will be out for the rest of the season, and Jonathan D’Aversa.

Hannu Järvenpää (Headcoach Fehervar AV19): “We have to continue playing in this mentality, and focus only on the next game, which will be against our rival Linz. We have to avoid goals against in the third period and keep our energy level high throughout the whole game in front of our fans.“

Troy Ward (Headcoach EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz): “The last game was disappointing. We played without energy. For winning in Fehervar we need to step up.”

Sun, 30.12.2018: Dornbirn Bulldogs – EC Red Bull Salzburg (17.30 | live at Servus Hockey Night)
Referees: BERNECKER, NIKOLIC M., Kontschieder, Seewald

• Dornbirn Bulldogs vs. EC Red Bull Salzburg will be shown at Servus Hockey Night.
• Both teams quit different streaks past gameday: While the Red Bulls booked the first win after four losses, the Bulldogs four games winning streak came to an end.
• With Michael Schiechl, Mario Huber and Ryan Duncan each scoring Salzburg won the first two season meetings. 
• Both RBS and DEC have a good PK available (each 83,3%). 
• Dornbirn’s top-scorer Brock Trotter (10 G | 22 A) scored in three of the last four games. 

Dave MacQueen (Headcoach Dornbirn Bulldogs): “Salzburg is one of the best teams in the league. They play some good hockey. They are a very deep hockey club. We have to be a patient team, take advantage of any opportunity we get. Hopefully we get a big crowed here that gives our guys some energy.”

Mario Huber (EC Red Bull Salzburg): “Finally against Bolzano we acted as a team , which we did not in the past games. Further, we scored four goals which gives us back our self-confidence. We will continue in Dornbirn, but need another great team performance.” 


Fotocredit: HCB / Vanna Antonello