Release from 06.05.2021

Season review of the Moser Medical Graz99ers

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The Moser Medical Graz99ers finished the season in the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League, despite a good start into the season, in eleventh and last place in the standings. The following is a review of a chequered season for the Styrians.

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The 99ers had an extremely successful start to the season. Ten wins from the first thirteen games of the season gave the Graz team hope for a successful season. Until November 29th, the Styrians were even at the top of the table. But then the drop came, initiated by a harsh 2:10 defeat against the EC Red Bull Salzburg. Eleven defeats from twelve games followed. On December 27th, the 99ers finally pulled the emergency brake and parted ways with head coach Doug Mason. The league's longest serving coach at that point was replaced by assistant coach Jens Gustaffson. "It was definitely a tough decision, but inevitable after eleven losses out of twelve games," said General Manager Bernd Vollmann after the departure of Mason.

Under the new head coach, Graz played only marginally more successful. From the remaining 15 games of the basic round phase 1 they celebrated six victories, which meant the eighth place in the standings. In the subsequent qualifying round, they slipped to the last place in the standings with just three wins from ten games. For the 99ers, it was the fourth time since joining the league that they finished a season bottom of the table. Previously, they were in last place in the season 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2017/18.
The weak spot in the past season for the Graz99ers was, among other things, the special teams. With a success rate of 16.1%, they were only in last place in the power play. They only scored 23 goals from 143 powerplays. In addition, they conceded 41 goals from 181 shorthanded situations (77.3% - 10th place). Only Hydro Fehérvár AV19 (43) and the HCB Südtirol Alperia (51) conceded more goals in shorthanded situations. However, both teams also played more games than the 99ers.

On an individual level, Graz was also not on par with the top teams in the league. With Anthony Cameranesi (40 points) and Oliver Setzinger (29 points), just two players made it into the Top-70 of the scorer rankings. However, both of the 99ers' top scorers will no longer be part of the Graz team in the coming season.