Release from 02.03.2024

Start of the quarter-finals

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After 315 games in the 2023/24 season of the win2day ICE Hockey League, the time has come: On Sunday, the eight most successful teams of this season will start their "best-of-seven" quarter-final pairings. While PULS 24 and JOYN will broadcast the top match between EC Red Bull Salzburg (#3) and Steinbach Black Wings Linz (#5), the other three attractive quarter-final matches will be streamed live on www.live.ice.hockey.

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win2day ICE Hockey League | 03.03.2024 | Quarterfinals 1:

Sun, 03.03.2024, 17:30: EC-KAC (#1) - BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg (#10)
Referees: Huber, Nikolic M., Bärnthaler, Mantovani | >>live.ice.hockey<<

The dominator in the regular season has chosen the BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg as its quarter-final opponent with the first pick right. The best-of-seven series opens on Sunday in Klagenfurt. The KAC was able to win the Regular Season for the first time in 13 years and with the best goal difference per game of any team since the league was founded. Only the end of the regular season had a small blemish: After six wins in a row without dropping points, they were beaten 3-0 by HCB Südtirol Alperia. It was the first game this season in which the team from Klagenfurt failed to score. In contrast, the last games of the BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg were outstanding. The team, which was only founded last season, marched through the pre-playoffs with a final series score of 2:0 against HC TIWAG Innsbruck. In total, they won eight of their last ten games. The first quarter-final qualification in the club's history sparked a new wave of ice hockey euphoria in Vorarlberg. In the season's duels with Klagenfurt so far, the team from Feldkirch has won one encounter in a shootout. The EC-KAC prevailed in the other three encounters. The two strongest powerplay teams of the current season will meet in this quarter-final duel. With 48 goals in overtime (26.1%), the Pioneers are the undisputed leaders in this category.

Sun, 03.03.2024, 17:30 - VF1: Hydro Fehérvár AV19 (#2) - HC Pustertal (#8)
Referees: Smetana, Sternat, Gatol-Schafranek, Riecken | >>live.ice.hockey<<

Mon, 04.03.2024, 19:15 - VF2: Hydro Fehérvár AV19 (#2) - HC Pustertal (#8)
Referees: Huber A., Zrnic, Hribar, Zgonc | >>live.ice.hockey<<

Hydro Fehérvár AV19 starts its home quarter-final double-header against HC Pustertal on Sunday. At the request of both teams, this duel will be the only series to start in H/H/A/A format. The second game of the best-of-seven series will therefore be played in Székesfehérvár on Monday at 7:15 pm. The Hungarians had the best regular season in their club's history, finishing in second place and choosing HC Pustertal as their opponent. A look at the direct duels between these two teams underpins this decision: Fehérvár won all four duels against the "Wolves" in the regular season. In the only meeting so far this calendar year, they even managed a shutout victory in front of their home crowd. HC Pustertal found their way into the quarter-finals via the pre-playoffs. However, a place in the "last eight" had to be hard fought for: In the third and decisive qualifying game Rick Schofield shot his team into the quarter-finals in overtime. In terms of efficiency, Schofield (SE% 21.8) is only surpassed by one player in the current season: Balint Magosi of quarter-final opponent Hydro Fehérvár AV19. 23.6% of his shots find their way into the goal.

Sun, 03.03.2024, 17:30: EC Red Bull Salzburg (#3) - Steinbach Black Wings Linz (#5)
Referees: Fichtner, Groznik, Bedynek, Snoj | >> LIVE on PULS 24 and JOYN <<

EC Red Bull Salzburg starts the 2024 playoffs as double defending champions live on PULS 24 and JOYN with the mission "Three-Peat". Never before has a team managed to win three championship titles in a row. The first major hurdle in this endeavor is Steinbach Black Wings Linz, who finished the regular season among the top six teams for the first time since the 2017/18 season. The Upper Austrians still have a score to settle from last season's quarter-final. They only had to end their season in overtime of the seventh game against the eventual runners-up HCB Südtirol Alperia. Unlike in the previous season, the team from Linz avoided the pre-playoffs this time and finished the regular season in fifth place. Nevertheless, the Red Bulls start as slight favorites in this pairing. The Red Bulls not only finished the regular season more successfully, but also won three of the four season duels against the Black Wings. In the last meeting so far, however, the Upper Austrians fought their way to victory in a shootout. Peter Schneider will be back in action for EC Red Bull Salzburg after a month-long injury layoff.

Sun, 03.03.2024, 18:00: HCB Südtirol Alperia (#4) - EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV (#6)
Referees: Hronsky, Ofner, Durmis, Konc | >>live.ice.hockey<<

HCB Südtirol Alperia welcomes EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV to kick off the quarter-final series. Both Bolzano and Villach secured their place in the quarter-finals in the final rounds of the regular season. The two teams last met on February 16, with Villach celebrating an impressive 7:3 victory in which Robert Sabolic (hat trick) and John Hughes (6-point game) were particularly impressive. The home team also prevailed in each of the other three meetings in the regular season. The statistics also confirm that this could well be a very close duel: Both teams scored almost the same number of points in the basic round - Bolzano 82 and VSV 80. They are also almost on a par in terms of goal difference with +21 and +22 respectively. The "Adler" are the best shorthanded team in the league, while Bolzano is in third place in this category. And the VSV is also only just ahead in the powerplay with 18.8 percent compared to the South Tyroleans (17.4 percent).