Release from 20.03.2025

Semi-final series continue in Bolzano and Linz

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EC Red Bull Salzburg, who are still unbeaten in the 2025 win2day ICE Hockey League playoffs, visit HCB Südtirol Alperia on Friday. In addition, Steinbach Black Wings Linz will be playing a semi-final home game for the first time in seven years as they look to extend their series lead against EC-KAC. The game will be shown on PULS 24, in a free livestream on puls24.at and on the free streaming service JOYN.

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The first semi-final in Klagenfurt was another evening for the history books. The Steinbach Black Wings Linz were able to defeat the KAC in their seventh overtime in a row with a goal from captain Brian Lebler in the 104th minute. For the first time in seven years, the Upper Austrians will now play a semi-final home game. Back then, the Upper Austrians lost to EC Red Bull Salzburg after six games, but won the first two games in front of their home crowd. Linz won just over half of the 13 "best-of-seven" confrontations in which they earned the first win. A 1:0 deficit in a best-of-seven series, on the other hand, has often not been a major drawback for the Red Jackets in the past: A total of 16 opening defeats were followed by a KAC victory in the second encounter in twelve cases. However, the Carinthians have only won seven of 16 series after losing the first game, losing six of the last nine confrontations with this starting position. In the two duels at the Linz AG Eisarena so far this season, each team has prevailed once.

EC Red Bull Salzburg won the first clash with HCB Südtirol Alperia 3:1 and will go into the second game in a playoff series with the Bolzano team with a lead for the first time. In the previous four playoff series, HCB had always won the first game. On Tuesday, Thomas Raffl took over the sole lead in the playoff goalscoring list since the league was newly-founded. The Red Bulls captain now has 60 goals in the postseason after scoring the 3:0. Salzburg's Atte Tolvanen and Bolzano's Sam Harvey are among the best goalkeepers in the league and have shown that in the playoffs so far - Atte Tolvanen shone against Székesfehérvár with two shutouts. In direct comparison, the Finn has the edge in the playoffs so far, holding a .949 save percentage after five games. Sam Harvey has a .932 save percentage after seven playoff games. In the two season duels at the Sparkasse Arena so far, each team has prevailed once.

win2day ICE Hockey League, Semi-finals 2
Fri, 21.03.2025:
19:30: Steinbach Black Wings Linz – EC-KAC
Referees: M. NIKOLIC, STERNAT, Bedynek, Durmis | >> LIVE on PULS 24JOYN
Score in the “best-of-7” series 1:0

19:45: HCB Südtirol Alperia – EC Red Bull Salzburg
Referees: PIRAGIC, SMETANA, Mantovani, Riecken | >> live.ice.hockey
Score in the “best-of-7” series 0:1