Release from 03.01.2024
EC Red Bull Salzburg claimed its fourth win in a row with a 3-1 home victory over Steinbach Black Wings Linz and is now just one point behind leaders Hydro Fehérvár AV19 in the win2day ICE Hockey League, which lost in a shootout in Vienna despite holding a two-goal lead.
HC TIWAG Innsbruck - Die Haie also extended its winning streak and secured an important victory in the battle for the top six with a 4-3 home win over Villach after overtime. In the first game after the resignation of Head Coach Tomek Valtonen, HC Pustertal Wölfe also recorded a home win after overtime (4-3 vs. ASH).
The BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg and HK SZ Olimpija cheered a win in front of a home crowd too, with the ninth and tenth place respectively are now already ten points ahead of eleventh place.
The EC Red Bull Salzburg has finally emerged from its interim period of weakness and recorded its fourth win in a row on Wednesday evening. The defending champions struggled for a long time against Steinbach Black Wings Linz, trailing 1-0 after eleven minutes. Atte Tolvanen kept the "Red Bulls" in the game with strong saves, Peter Schneider turned the game around with a brace: First he scored on powerplay (36.), then he benefited from an avoidable puck loss by Logan Roe from Linz (56.). In the end, Tolvanen crowned his perfect performance with an empty-net goal. The Finn is only the sixth goalie in the history of the win2day ICE Hockey League to score a goal.
With its 23rd win of the season, Salzburg overtook the play-free EC-KAC and moved to within one point of Hydro Fehérvár AV19. The league leaders had to accept a 3-4 defeat at the spusu Vienna Capitals after shootout. The Caps overcame a two-goal deficit in the final six minutes with goals from debutant Zane Franklin (55./PP1) and Dominique Heinrich (59.), fought their way through half overtime with one man less to triumph in the shootout. It was the fourth defeat in a row for the Hungarians.
Innsbruck keeps Villach at a distance
HC TIWAG Innsbruck - Die Haie kept its closest rival for a place in the top-6, EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV, at bay: In front of their home crowd, the "Haie", with Zach Magwood making his debut, twice overcame a one-goal deficit to win 4-3 after overtime. After their fourth win in a row, Innsbruck now have a two-point lead over the seventh-placed "Adler".
The eighth-placed HC Pustertal Wölfe, meanwhile, failed to catch up with Innsbruck and Villach by one and two points respectively with a win after regulation time: The team from Bruneck only lifted themselves into overtime with a powerplay goal from Mikael Frycklund in the third-last minute. There, David Morley benefited from a mistake by Matteo Gennaro. It was Pustertal's first win since the resignation of head coach Tomek Valtonen.
Pioneers and Ljubljana extend their lead to eleventh place
The BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg (#9) and HK SZ Olimpija (#10) have further extended their advantage over the "bottom-three" of the win2day ICE Hockey League. After clear home victories, the duo, which hold 44 points each, now have a ten-point advantage over eleventh-placed Vienna. The team from Vorarlberg returned to winning ways against HCB Südtirol Alperia, taking a 2-0 lead after just four minutes to run out deserved 4-1 winners in the end - thanks to 43 saves by David Madlener.
The Slovenians clearly beat bottom-of-the-table Moser Medical Graz99ers 5-1. Miha Zajc was involved in all the goals scored by the “Dragons”, which were still trailing after the first period: He gave the primary assist twice before his hat-trick. After their 24th defeat of the season, Graz is already 17 points behind a place in the pre-playoffs.
win2day ICE Hockey League | 03.01.2024 | Results:
spusu Vienna Capitals – Hydro Fehérvár AV19 4:3 SO (0:1, 1:1, 2:1, 0:0)
Referees: RENCZ, SIEGEL, Bedynek, Vaczi. | Spectators: 4.490
Goals VIC: Weinger (22., 65./PS), Franklin (55./PP1), Heinrich (59.)
Goals AVS: Philipps (17.), Campbell (23.), Laberge (43./PP1)
EC Red Bull Salzburg – Steinbach Black Wings Linz 3:1 (0:1, 1:0, 2:0)
Referees: K. NIKOLIC, OFNER, Nothegger, J. Seewald. | Spectators: 3.304
Goals RBS: Schneider (36./PP1, 56.), Tolvanen (60./EN)
Goal HKO: Lebler (11.)
HC TIWAG Innsbruck – EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV 4:3 OT (1:2, 1:1, 1:0, 1:0)
Referees: SCHAUER, ZRNIC, Fleischmann, Wimmler. | Spectators: 2.500
Goals HCI: Roy (8.), Lattner (28.), Winkler (46.), Green (65.)
Goals VSV: Sabolic (8.), Lindner (14.), Wallenta (36.)
HK SZ Olimpija – Moser Medical Graz99ers 5:1 (0:1, 4:0, 1:0)
Referees: SOOS, STERNAT, Muzsik, Snoj. | Spectators: 1.247
Goals HKO: Sodja (27.), Bicevskis (28.), Zajc (31./PP1, 39., 55.)
Goal G99: Krastenbergs (11./PP1)
BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg – HCB Südtirol Alperia 4:1 (2:0, 0:0, 2:1)
Referees: HOLZER, M. NIKOLIC, Martin, Sparer. | Spectators: 1.723
Goals PIV: van Nes (4.), Pastujov M. (5., 45.), Kirichenko (51.)
Goal HCB: Miceli (46.)
HC Pustertal – Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 4:3 OT (0:1, 2:0, 1:2, 1:0)
Referees: BERNEKER, TRILAR, Puff, Rigoni. | Spectators: 3.104
Goals PUS: Andergassen (24./SH1), Morley (32.), Frycklund (58./PP1), Morley (64.)
Goals ASH: McShane (13.), Gazzola (46.), Gennaro (51.)