Release from 04.03.2023

Showdown for last quarterfinal ticket

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Seven of eight quarterfinal tickets in the win2day ICE Hockey League have been allocated. On Sunday, the field of participants of the ICE playoffs will be completed. The Steinbach Black Wings Linz will host the Moser Medical Graz99ers in the decisive third game of the "best-of-three" pre-playoffs. The game can be received exclusively in the free stream of PULS 24.

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05.03.2023, 17:30 Steinbach Black Wings Linz - Moser Medical Graz99ers
Standings of the "best-of-three" pre-playoff series: 1:1
Referees: NIKOLIC K., ZRNIC, Riecken, Seewald | Exclusively live on PULS 24 Free-Stream and on zappn

The pre-playoff series between the Steinbach Black Wings Linz and the Moser Medical Graz99ers goes the full distance. After the Styrians' opening win in Linz - after trailing 0:2 - the Upper Austrians gave the right answer in Graz on Friday and won impressively 6:2. Brian Lebler put his stamp on the game with a hat trick. The suffering Graz goalie Christian Engstrand made his first pre-playoff appearance on Friday, replacing Nicolas Wieser at 0:4. Also making a postseason debut Friday was Marc-Andre Dorion, who promptly obliged with a 1-0 goal for Linz. Linz was able to rely on their special teams. While Lebler & Co were able to score on both power plays on Friday, the 99ers let three of four power plays go unused. Once Linz was even allowed to cheer about a goal in a shorthanded situation. Although the Black Wings gained a lot of self-confidence in the last game, their record against Graz in home games looks sobering. The last home win for the Steinbach Black Wings against the 99ers dates back to February 14, 2021, and since then they have suffered five defeats in a row.

For both teams, the qualification would be their first quarterfinal since the 2019/20 season - the playoffs that was canceled due to the pandemic. At that point, the Upper Austrians were leading 3-0 against EC-KAC, while Graz was trailing 2-1 against the Caps. After that, neither Graz nor Linz could qualify for the playoffs.

Important note: The game will be streamed exclusively on zappn.tv and free streamed on https://www.puls24.at/eishockey. The game will not be shown on linear TV.

Playoff Pick

The playoff pick will take place in a video conference following the BWL-G99 game. The quarterfinal pairings will then be published immediately on the win2day ICE Hockey League channels.