Release from 03.02.2017
The EC Red Bull Salzburg won the top-duel against the Vienna Capitals and defended the number one position after overtime. Innsbruck and KAC booked further wins in pick round. In the qualification round the 99ers made a big step towards the playoffs. Also Fehervar and Ljubljana booked wins.
Sharks celebrates second win in pick round
The HC TWK Innsbruck started with a lot of pressure and created many chances, but didn’t manage to score a goa in the beginning. In the 12th minutes Tyler Spurgeon opened the scoring. The sharks kept on controlling the game, but Ouzas prevente his team from further goals. Also in the second the fans saw a similar game, but the sharks improved their execution. Hunter Bishop brought the clear lead of 3:0. The Black Wings also didn’t succeed in the second period. In the final period, it seemed that the Sharks still had control over the game. But in the last ten minutes Linz shifted one gear up und tried to come back into the game. Lebler scored the first goal in the 53rd and second in the 59th minute. In the last minute the game was open again. But Austin Smith brought the decision with his empty net goal, the sharks won by 4:2.
KAC defends fourth place against Bozen
HCB Südtirol Alperia pressured right from the beginning for the lead. After a missed chance the hosts took the lead. Michele Marchetti captured the pack fired up his engine and scored for the lead. A nice combination of Frigo, Oleksuk and Everson doubled the lead for the foxes. Neal profited from a mistake of Luoma für the first goal of the KAC. At the beginning of the second period Thomas Koch managed to tie game. Only three minutes later the carinthians took the lead for the first time. In the same minute Stefan Geier was even able to double the lead, the defense of Bozen seemed to be absent. Melichercik prevented his team from further goals during a double power play. In the 35th minute hope came back for Bozen, when Brodie Reid narrowed the gap to one goal again. But the hope didn’t last for long, only one minute after that the KAC recreated the old lead. In the final period the guests didn’t öet the foxes come back into the game. Manuel Geier even increased the lead and brought the result of 6:3. Already on Saturday there is the chance to take revenge for Bozen.
Salzburg defends number one position in overtime
The champions of Salzburg started with high pressure. Already after one and a half minutes Mark Flood brought the lead. In the following minutes the hosts delivered an aggressive forechecking and didn’t let the Caps pass. But also the guests had a good defense. That’s why both teams didn’t have a lot of chances in the first period. The Caps starte better into the second period and Jonathan Ferland had a good chance. The longer the game was, the more offensive actions the fans saw. During a very good phase of the Capitals, Lakos had to go to the penalty box and this time the powerplay of Salzburg worked well. Bill Thomas brought the 2:0. The third period started with the first goal of the Caps, Kelsey Tessier executed the power play well. From that moment on the Caps played very powerful and didn’t allow Salzburg to build their game. After two goals in the 52nd and 54th minute of Riley Holzapfel and Jerry Pollastrone the Caps turnd the game around. But only minute before the end Thomas Taffl succeeded with the tie for Salzburg. In the overtime a power play of Salzburg was not successful, but when they played short handed Michael Schiechl brought des decision for the old and new leader of the league.
Ljubljana gets first ever win at Dornbirn
HDD Olimpija Ljubljana searched their luck in the offense from the start and surprised with this tactic their opponent. The Slovenes quickly were rewarded with the 1:0: 4-on-4 Sacha Guimond suddenly was free, outplayed DEC-goalie Florian Hardy and scored. Late in the period Gilbert Gabor came close to add the 2:0, but he could not beat goalie Hardy twice. The Austrians had problems to break through the compact defense from the guests. Better did Ljubljana: After a pass from Guimond Raphael Bussieres added the 2:0. Late in the second period the Austrians found better to their game and also produced now more and more scoring-chances. Early in the third period the west-club finally took advantage from a Power Play, James Livingston was successful (43.). Then the game went up and down. In minute 50 Cody Sylvester deflected the puck after a shot from Olivier Magnan for the 2:2. Then no more goal was scored anymore, also not in Overtime. In the Shoot-out Captain Ales Music decided the game for the green Dragons. It was the first ever win for Ljubljana at Dornbirn. Besides the Slovenes overtook the west-club in the standing.
Fehervar beats Znojmo and stays in touch with the last Play-off-spot
The game started with fast pace, but without many chances. The first save was served by Hetenyi in the 6th minute, Sulak threatened and after the save, the puck hit the post. Koger shot on the other side, but Schwarz saved. Then after a counter attack Znojmo took the lead: McMonagle found the puck first ather a rebound and put the puck into the net. It didn’t took long for Fehervar to tie the game, Vas shot and the puck went into the net deflected by Schwarz. Only 30 seconds later, Znojmo scored another goal after a mistake in the defensive zone, Lakos passed to Bartos on the far side and he didn’t miss. Fehervar tried to answer, but Erdély, Kóger and Sarauer stayed unlucky. One and a half minutes left in the period, Pucher fouled and the Hungarians scored in the Power Play: Sofron’s shot was saved by Schwarz and Koger put the rebound behind the goalie.
The first minutes of the second period went on with chances in front of Hetenyi’s net. On the other side, Vas threatened but Schwarz made a big save, and in the next attack, Vas hit the post. In the middle of the period, Fehervar slowly became the better team on ice, first Attila Orban shot from the blue line, which didn’t result in a goal, but Erdely’s shot from close did: Sarauer shot from the side and Erdely put the rebound in the net. Fehervar started to push after the goal, the most dangerous line on ice was Janos Vas, Istvan Sofron and Daniel Koger. 5 minutes left in the period, Koger scored his second goal in the game, making a two-goal difference. Roman Simicek changed the goalie after the goal and used his timeout. After the short break, Znojmo started to play better, without great chances, though. After the penalty for both Manavian and Seda, the period ended four on four with a shot from Bartos.
As expected, Znojmo pushed hard at the beginning of the third period. Sulak and Yellow Horn both threatened but on the other end Manavian tried to score, Seda fouled and Fehervar played in powerplay again, without success. Five on five the Hungarians managed to score, Vas and Koger used a chance in the 8th minute, scoring a hattrick. After a short break for collecting the hats and caps on ice the guests controlled the puck better but Hetenyi saved all their shots. Sulak missed a penalty shot, Lakos hit the post and finally Pucher scored after a pass from behind the net. However, the goal was not allowed after the judges watched it with the goal judge system. Sarauer got two minutes because the goal was invalid, but Znojmo didn’t have many chances in the powerplay. The home team had more chances in the remaining time, 37 seconds left in the game Erdely’s goal was the bonus for the deserved win and the end result was 6:2.
99ers made big step to the Play-offs
The Moser Medical Graz99ers started strong into the game against EC VSV, already in minute 5 youngster Zintis - Nauris Zusevics scored the lead from the slot. The Styrians continued to make pressure, but without having big scoring-chances then. The guests needed two Power Plays to found into the game, but Christian Jennes and Olivier Latendresse could not beat Graz99ers-goalie Sebastian Dahm. Besides Evan Grath just hit the post. Early in the second period Kyle Beach made the 2:0, Villach answered with their first goal from Jan Urbas. But just moments later Zusevics answered with the 3:1 (25.). Now VSV-goalie Rene Swette was replaced by Lukas Herzog, but it did not help the Eagles. Within just 21 seconds Matt Siddall extended the lead from 3:1 to 5:1 in minute 34. Also in the last 20 minutes the Styians made the game and after several good chances from Zusevics or Brophey it was Beach, who scored the final 6:1 in a Power Play. With this success the 99ers extended their lead in the Qualification Round.
Erste Bank Eishockey Liga, 5th Pick Round:
02.02.2017: HC TWK Innsbruck – Black Wings Linz 4:2 (1:0, 2:0, 1:2)
Referees: LEMELIN, ZRNIC, Rakovic Schauer
Goals HCI: Spurgeon (12.), Bishop (23./pp, 32.), Smith (60./en)
Goals EHL: Lebler (53./pp, 59.).
02.02.2017: HCB Südtirol Alperia – EC-KAC 3:6 (2:1,1:4,0:1)
Referees: BERNEKER/NIKOLIC; Zuseher: 2592
Goals HCB: 05:18 Michele Marchetti (1:0) – 07:11 Max Everson (2:0) – 34:25 PP1 Brodie Reid (3:4)
Goals KAC: 10:39 PP1 Matthew Neal (2:1) – 20:53 PP1 Thomas Koch (2:2) – 24:36 PP1 Manuel Geier (2:3) – 24:55 Stefan Geier (2:4) –– 35:32 Marco Brucker (3:5) – 52:25 Manuel Geier (3:6)
02.02.2017: EC Red Bull Salzburg – UPC Vienna Capitals 4:3 n.V. (1:0,1:0,1:3,1:0)
Referees: KELLNER/SMETANA, 2.100 Zuschauer;
Goals RBS: Flood (2.), Thomas (39./pp), Raffl (59.), Schiechl (64./sh)
Goals VIC: Tessier (42./pp), Holzapfel (52.), Pollastrone (54.)
Erste Bank Eishockey Liga, 5. Qualification Round:
Thu, 02.02.2017: Dornbirner Eishockey Club – HDD Olimpija Ljubljana 2:3 n. P. (0:1,0:1,2:0,0:0,0:1)
Referees: STOLC/TRILAR; spectators: 1.690
Goals DEC: 1:2 Livingston (43./pp1), 2:2 C. Sylvester (50.)
Goals OLL: 0:1 Guimond (13./4-4), 0:2 Bussieres (28.), 2:3 Music (67./ps)
Thu, 02.02.2017: Fehervar AV19 – HC Orli Znojmo 6:2 (2:2,2:0,2:0)
Referees: SIEGEL, PIRAGIC; spectators: 2.759
Goals AVS: Vas (10.), Koger (19./pp, 35., 49.), Erdely (30.)
Goals ZNO: McMonagle (10.), Bartos (11.)
Thu, 02.02.2017: Moser Medical Graz99ers – EC VSV 6:1 (1:0, 4:1, 1:0)
Referees: GRUBER, K. NIKOLIC; Zuschauer: 3489
Goals 99ers: 1:0 3:1 Zusevics (5., 25.), 2:0 6:1 Beach (21., 44./PP), 4:1 5:1 Siddall (34., 34.)
Goal VSV: 2:1 Urbas (24.)