Salzburg took over the lead again!

One goal was enough for Dornbirn to beat Fehervar AV19
Both teams searched their luck in the offense. Finally in period two the Bulldogs scored the first goal after a nice combination. But the goal was not allowed by the referees, because the net was already moved before from goalie Zoltan Hetenyi. Also in the last 20 minutes both Head Coaches Dave MacQueen and Benoit Laporte played with four lines and the game went up and down, but the goalies allowed no goal. So the match went into an Overtime, where Brock McBride fixed the win for the Bulldogs in minute 64.

 

A careful first period did not offer much in terms of excitement or entertainment for the home crowd. The best chance of the period fell to Stepan Csamango who failed to convert Yellow Horn´s pass in front of Herzog. Yellow Horn had another chance later, but he too was denied by the Villach goalie. The deadlock was broken early in the first period on a Znojmo powerplay. Vodny´s pass into the slot was collected and fired into the net by Jakub Stehlik. McGrath could reply soon afterwards, but his individual effort missed the net. The game became more open and Znojmo eventually took advantage when a quick combination finished by Martin Podesva´s backhand deke made it 2:0. At that point, the home team had the upper hand and they took advantage of yet another powerplay late in the period when Yellow Horn´s pinpoint pass was tapped home by David Bartos. But Villach had a late reply in the pocket, Samuel Labrecque firing under the roof of the net with 43 seconds left in the period. And VSV came back strongly after the break, eventually making it a one-goal game after Eric Hunter tapped in a close-range rebound on the edge of the goal crease. Yet it wasn´t enough to get points for the visitors and eight minutes from time, Podesva set up Teddy Da Costa in a counter attack and the French forward beat Herzog on his stick side. With this three points Znojmo also overtook Villach in the ranking and is now second in the Qualification Round.

 

The Moser Medical Graz99ers started strong at Ljubljana. Jeff Frazze found himself under pressure,  but was once more excellent in his goal making 16 saved until the intermission. On the other side Sebastian Dahm had less work to do with the most coming on the Power pPay. Like many times before this season the dragons returned stronger in period 3. Early in it they picked up two penalties, but managed to kill them without much trouble. Then they got one more of their own, but again there was no change in scoring. The deadlock got broken in minute 35 from Graz: Kurtis McLean found Peter Weihager who got the better of Jeff Frazee. In the nervous final minutes the 99ers then picked up a few penalties giving Olimpija a two man advantage in the process. Still the visitors managed to keep their lead intact before the final break. With 27 seconds remaining on the two men advantage and looking to turn the game around the hosts got off to a blitz start into the last period: Seconds after the Styrians got one player back on the ice Aljaz Uduc tied the game still on a Power Play. 80 seconds later youngsters Aljaz Chvatal and defender Kristjan Cepon turned the game around. To the delight of the home fans the dragons continued that way: Another 79 seconds had passed before Aljaz Uduc beat Sebastian Dahm for the second time for the 3:1. Hoping to keep their perfect qualification round record intact the 99ers then did more for the offense. But all shots were stopped by Jeff Frazee. As Sacha Guimond returned on the ice after a penalty, he got the puck and set up Ziga Pesut, who scored the final 4:1 in minute 58. Despite their first qualification round loss Graz stayed at the top of the group.

 

In the beginning the UPC Vienna Capitals were more active, but were not effective enough. Then EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz found better into the game and even scored the first goal: The goal by Kevin Moderer was not allowed by the referees and Moderer got a two minute Penalty, because of roughing. The guests quickly took advantage from the Power Play: Jonathan Ferland was successful from a rebound from short distance after a shot from Macgregor Sharp. The Upper Austrians stayed unimpressed and continued to make their game. The Black Wings then answered also in a Power Play: Ryan Potulny beat JP Lamoreux with a hook through the pads. The Black Wings started strong after the re-start and produced some good chances: Joel Broda just hit the crossbar (25.). When the game went on, the Capitals found better to their game again and finally Rafael Rotter took advantage from a mistake in the Black Wings defense to score the 2:1. Linz had a quick answer: Just three minutes later Dan DaSilva made the 2:2. But one minute before the second break Vienna took the lead again: After a solo from Rotter, Riley Holzapfel scored from a sharp angel. The third period war a big fight: In minute 45 Lebler made after a individual action of Sebastien Piche the 3:3. Then the goalies - Lamoureux und Ouzas – stopped some good chances. One minute before the end Joel Broda scored the 4:3 from a sharp angel. 22 seconds before the end Broda also added the 5:3 into the empty net.

UPC Vienna Capitals lost place 1 to EC Red Bull Salzburg.

 

EC-KAC and EC Red Bull Salzburg were already on Play-of-mode, but period 1 brought no goal. In the third Power Play the guests took the lead: After a shot from Bill Thomas Thomas Raffl was successful with the rebound. Klagenfurt equalized in a Power Play. But the Champion then quickly took the lead again: Bill Thomas picked up the puck after a shot from Layne Viveiros, made a turn-around infront of KAC-goalie Duba and scored the 2:1. In minute 43 the Champion extended the lead in another Power Play: After a shot from Bill Thomas the puck slipped under the legs of Duba over the goalline. Then the team from Salzburg defended their lead to the end and also overtook the lead in Erste Bank Eishockey Liga.

 

HCB Südtirol Alperia beat HC TWK Innsbruck „Die Haie“ in the Tyrolean Derby 8:5 and got their first win in the Pick Round. Already period 1 brought two goals per each team. The Austrians started strong after the re-start, but goalie Melichercik was not to beat. On the other side Bozen then took the lead: Bernard finished a perfect pass from Kearney and scored into the corner – 3:2. In the next minutes the teams were on Fire and nearly each minute a goal was made. First Marco Insam was successful with a big shot 5-on-3 and then Kearney finished a good combination – 5:2. Innsbruck did not give up and reduced the score thanks a goal from Smith. Still in the same minute Glira answered with the 6:3 from a rebound. The guests continued to fight and came back thanks goals from Spurgeon in a shorthanded situation and Stach, who scored from a rebound. The Foxes had an answer: Vallerand, who rounded the net and scored and Oleksuk into the empty net, fixed the first win for HCB in the Pick Round.

 

Sun, 29.01.2017: EC-KAC – EC Red Bull Salzburg 1:3 (0:0/1:2/0:1)
Referees: LEMELIN, ZRNIC; spectators: 3.509
Goal KAC: Koch (33./pp)
Goals RBS: Raffl (26./pp), Thomas (35.; 43./pp)
Sun, 29.01.2016: EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz – UPC Vienna Capitals 5:3 (1:1, 1:2, 3:0)
Referees: BABIC/PIRAGIC; spectators: 4650
Goals Linz: Potulny (18./pp) , DaSilva (35.), Lebler (45.), Broda (59., 59.)
Goals Wien: Ferland (14./pp), Rotter (32.), Holzapfel (39.)
Sun, 29.01.2017: HCB Südtirol Alperia – HC TWK Innsbruck 8:5 (2:2 – 4:2 – 2:1)
Referees: STOLC/TRILAR; spectators: 3359
Goals: 07:16 Hunter Bishop (0:1) – 09:07 Glen Metropolit (1:1) – 10:41 Markus Gander (2:1) – 19:38 John Lammers (2:2) – 22:48 Anton Bernard (3:2) – 27:44 PP2 Marco Insam (4:2) – 28:57 PP1 Dennis Kearney (5:2) – 32:21 Austin Smith (5:3) – 32:46 Daniel Glira (6.3) – 34:33 SH1 Tyler Spurgeon (6:4) – 44:54 Lubomir Stach ( 6:5) – 48:09 Marc-Olivier Vallerand 87:5) – 57:02 EN Travis Oleksuk (8:5)

 

Erste Bank Eishockey Liga, 4. Qualification Round:
Sun, 29.01.2017: Dornbirner Eishockey Club – Fehervar AV 19 1:0 n.V. (0:0, 0:0, 0:0, 1:0)
Referees: GRUBER/K. NIKOLIC; spectators: 1.831
Goal DEC: McBride (64.)
Sun, 29.01.2017: HC Orli Znojmo – EC VSV 4:2 (0:0, 3:1, 1:1)
Referees: KINCSES/M. NIKOLIC; spectators: 2766
Goals ZNO: Stehlik (25./PP), Podesva (26.), Bartos (39./PP), DaCosta (53.)
Goals VSV:  Labrecque (40.), Hunter (49.)
Sun, 29.01.2017: HDD Olimpija Ljubljana – Moser Medical Graz99ers 4:1 (0:0,0:1,4:0)
Referees: KELLNER/SMETANA; spectators: 817
Goals OLL: Uduc (41., 44.), Cepon (42.), Pesut (58.)
Goal G99: Weihager (35.)