Release from 11.04.2025

Salzburg is anniversary champion

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EC Red Bull Salzburg have been crowned champions of the 2024/25 win2day ICE Hockey League season and are celebrating a double anniversary: In the 25th season since the league was newly-founded, the Red Bulls have lifted the Karl Nedwed Trophy for the tenth time in total - and for the fourth time in a row.

The Salzburg team won 4:0 in front of their home crowd on Friday evening, defeating the EC-KAC 4:0 in the best-of-seven final series. Goalie Atte Tolvanen was voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2025 playoffs by hockey journalists.

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For the first time since 2019, a team in the win2day ICE Hockey League was crowned champion on its own ice. For EC Red Bull Salzburg, it was only the second time in a total of ten championships that the title could be celebrated directly in front of a home crowd. The last time the Red Bulls lifted the trophy after a home win was in 2007, when they won their first title. After eight more titles away from home, the Salzburg side was now able to celebrate their anniversary success in their home ice arena.

It was only the fifth time in the league's 25-year history that a champion team has managed to sweep their opponents in a best-of-seven final series - the third time Salzburg have achieved this feat. The EC-KAC, on the other hand, had to settle for the runner-up title back-to-back. For the second time since the league was newly-founded, Klagenfurt failed to record a single win in the final series.

It took less than three minutes on Friday for emotions to boil over for the first time - with Ali Wukovits and David Maier having a fight. While Lucas Thaler initially missed from a good position, the KAC had two PP situations that came to nothing. The Red Bulls proved to be more efficient in their first powerplay, with captain Thomas Raffl finishing in front of goalie Dahm. The score remained 1:0 until the first period break. Just 45 seconds after the restart, Tyler Lewington beat Dahm from close range. Shortly afterwards, Nash Nienhuis had the next big chance, but the KAC goalkeeper prevented another goal. Nick Pastujov had the best opportunity to pull one back when he failed to beat the strong Tolvanen after a 2-on-1 counter-attack. In the 38th minute, Lucas Thaler scored the third goal to make the final decision. Tolvanen made two more saves before the second break. The home side managed the result in the third period, with Troy Bourke finally scoring an empty netter to make the final score 4:0.

win2day ICE Hockey League:
Friday, 11.04.2025:
EC Red Bull Salzburg - EC-KAC 4:0 (1:0, 2:0, 1:0)
Referees: HUBER, STERNAT, Bedynek, Durmis
Goals Salzburg: Raffl (12./PP), Lewington (21.), Thaler (38.), Bourke (57./EN)
Final score in the "best-of-7" series 4:0