Salzburg and Villach stayed unbeaten in the Intermediate Round

A highly fast-paced first period did not bring any goals, but the play was utterly active, with only a few stoppages. The score was broken midway through the second period, after a bench mistake by Red Bull when they mixed up a line change that gave enough room for Mike Aviani on the left wing who beat Starkbaum in the top left shelf with a nifty wrister. Until the end Medvescak stroke the post twice within a minute, so the score at the second break was 1:0 for the home team. The hosts doubled their lead in the 47th minute when Sondre Olden found Tomas Netik breaking away alone with the goalie who stood little chance. Nearly three minutes before the end of the third period Red Bull cut the lead in half through Mario Huber in a poweplay situation. It was all tied in the 19th minute when Rauchenwald scored on a powerplay and Salzburg grabbed the lead 40 seconds later through Harris.

 

Miroslav Frycer (coach and former ex-NHL player for Toronto Maple Leafs) has joined the backroom staff of Orli Znojmo and will be on the bench tonight for the game against Graz 99ers.

Right from the opening faceoff, Radek Cip was put clean through on goal and could score with just 6 seconds on the clock but Andrew Engelage, making his Graz debut, denied him with a great pad save. However, Znojmo had the upper hand for most of the period and eventually scored twice. First, Rostislav Snajnar was set up in the slot and fired in his first goal of the season. With five minutes left in the period, Jakub Stehlik found loose puck in the offensive zone and increased the lead with a hard slapshot. In the second period, Graz had three powerplays at their disposal, but despite a lot of time in the offensive zone, they could not find an opening or a goalscoring chance. Eventually it was Znojmo who increased their lead when Dominik Tejnor´s slapshot from the blueline beat Engeleage at his far post. Brophey could pull one back for 99ers on a breakaway, but he was denied by Marek Schwarz. The final period brought a handful of penalties, but no major threat to Znojmo´s lead. Engelage was lucky at 42:23 when a puck slipped out of his grasp, but stayed centimetres in front of the goal line. Graz pulled a goalie late in the period in search for a goal, but Radek Cip put a seal on Znojmo´s win with an empty net goal.

 

The first minutes went on balanced, with few chances on both sides. Then Carruth had to save some chances, the biggest of which was served by Hickmott. 6 minutes into the game, Walter fouled. Then Shields followed his teammate, but Fehervar missed the powerplay opportunity, although Manavian and Meland could have scored. Playing full strength, Sofron threatened, then Stipsicz was penalized. Five on four the Hungarians defended well, then Gilbert passed to LoVecchio but he missed, and before the buzzer Herzog saved his shot again. Sofron missed a breakaway in a counterattack, therefore there was no goal in the first period. Both teams had some chances at the beginning of the second period, then Gilbert missed a slapshot. Shields fouled against Erdely but the youngster missed the penalty shot. In the upcoming minutes, Herzog had more to do, Fehervar pushed hard for the first goal, the guests could hardly come to Fehervar’s end. In the middle of the period, the Eagles started to show up and the game became balanced. Although the game went on in front of Villach’s net, the Austrians scored. 6 minutes left in the period Sarauer passed to Sofron who didn’t miss. Before the buzzer Hari missed another chance and thanks to Herzog’s save Villach started the final period in the lead. The third period started with a powerplay for Fehervar, and the home team finally scored five on four. Koger passed to Luttinen who shot in the bottom right corner. After the goal Fehervar left another poweplay unused, although they played well. Fehervar was the better team on ice again, yet Leiler hit the crossbar. Erdely answered with a chance on the other end, and Herzog had to save in the upcoming minutes. Erdely missed again, this time in a breakaway and after one of the few chances for Villach, Sarauer and Carruth got in a brawl, so the game went on four on four. As there was no decision in the regular time, the game went into overtime. Just 22 seconds into the five minutes, Sofron hit the post. Hari passed to Meland, then Gilbert threatened but Herzog was better again. In the first three rounds, Hickmott and Latendresse scored in the penalty shootout, then it was Hickmott again to score and Villach won the game.

 

HCB Südtirol Alperia was the chief on the ice, but the Dornbirn Bulldogs defended well. So the fans had to wait 30 minutes for the 1st goal in Bozen: Austin Smith finished a pass from Angelo Micelli with a placed shot. The Austrians responded with a more offensive style of hockey. But the guests had problems to break through the HCB-defense. Finally in minute 59 the Bulldogs were rewarded for their effort: Dustin Sylvester deflected a shot by Jerome Leduc. In the Overtime Christopher Carlisle (65.) netted the Game Winner for the Foxes.

 

Forward Ali Wukovits of Leader EV Vienna Capitals won the title EISNER Auto YoungStar of the month January. The vote was done by fans, National team Coaches and ServusTV-experts. Lukas Bär (HCI) became second, Adam Deutsch (MZA) third.

 

Sat, 10.02.2018: KHL Medvescak Zagreb vs. EC Red Bull Salzburg 2:3 (0:0,1:0,1:2)
Referees: GRUBER, KELLNER; spectators: 4.213
Goals MZA: Aviani (30.), Netik(48.)
Goals RBS: Huber (58./pp), Rauchenwald (59./pp), Harris (59.)

 

Sat, 10.02.2018: Fehervar AV19 vs. EC VSV 1:2/SO (0:0,0:1,1:0,0:0,0:1)
Referees: BALUSKA, KINCSES; spectators: 3025
Goal AVS: Luttinen (43./pp)
Goals VSV: Sofron (34.), Hickmott (65./entscheidender Penalty)

Sat, 10.02.2018: HC Orli Znojmo vs. Moser Medical Graz99ers 4:0 (2:0,1:0,1:0)
Referees: SIEGEL, SMETANA; spectators: 2.013
Goals ZNO: Snajnar (9.), Stehlik (16.), Tejnor (33.), Cip (60./EN)
Sat, 10.02.2018: HCB Südtirol Alperia – Dornbirn Bulldogs 2:1 n.V. (0:0, 1:0, 0:1)
Referees: TRILAR, ZRNIC; spectators: 3.260
Goals HCB: 1:0 Smith (30.), 2:1 Carlisle (65.)
Goal DEC: 1:1 Sylvester (59.)