Release from 01.02.2018
Fri, 02.02.2018: Vienna Capitals – KHL Medvescak Zagreb (19:15)
Referees: SMETANA, STERNAT, Ettlmayr, Kaspar.
>KHL Medvescak Zagreb will arrive with two new players in Vienna this Friday. The Croatians have welcomed Forward Mikko Lehtonen and defender Ivan Puzic in their team. Fin Mikko Lehtonen played in the best Leagues around the world. The big Forward showed his skills in Sweden, Switzerland, the KHL, AHL, he even got the chance to make two NHL-games for the Boston Bruins. This season Lehtonen started with HPK in his home-country Finland. Puzic was born in Zagreb, but he spent his youth with HC Vitkovice in Czech Republic. The 21-years old Croatian comes on loan from AZ Havirov (CZE/2). Mahbod left Zagreb.
>The Vienna Capitals start the Pick Round with the maximum of six bonus-points, KHL Medvescak Zagreb with zero points.
>The Austrians have won the last three Capital-clashes, inter alia the Champion was successful in Zagreb just nine days ago.
>The Vienna Capitals were defeated in their first game of the Pick Round past season. KHL Medvescak Zagreb has lost so far always their first Pick Round game (2010 until 2013).
>Tyler Morley of KHL Medvescak Zagreb is the League’s best scorer, he has scored 58 points in 44 games. The Forward showed his skills also in the first season-meetings with Vienna, he scored already five points against the Champion this season.
Quotes:
Riley Holzapfel, Stürmer Vienna Capitals: „We need to be ready from the start to finish this round on the first place too.“
Aron Fox, Sportdirektor KHL Medvescak Zagreb: „Mikko comes to Medveščak with a wealth of experience, playing excellent hockey in top level, professional leagues. He is a great forward with great skill. He should fit in nicely and help us continue what we started here down the stretch in the qualifiers. We have also agreed to bring Ivan Puzić to our EBEL team, on loan from Vitkovice. He gives us some needed depth on the blue line."
Fri, 02.02.2018: EC Red Bull Salzburg – HC TWK Innsbruck „Die Haie“ (19:15)
Referees: GRUBER, PIRAGIC, Hribar, Zgonc.
>EC Red Bull Salzburg starts the Pick Round with four bonus points, Innsbruck without bonus points.
>The Red Bulls won their first game of the Pick Round last season, Innsbruck was defeated.
>EC Red Bull Salzburg were convincing lately. The Mozart Citizens have won their last six games.
>Watch out: Innsbruck has won the last two meetings with the Red Bulls by one goal difference.
>Andrew Clark netted at least one goal in the last three meetings with the Red Bulls.
Quotes:
Michael Schiechl, Forward EC Red Bull Salzburg: „We played well lately. We have grown as a team and we understand as well on the ice. We want to continue this way!“
Rob Pallin, Headcoach HC TWK Innsbruck „Die Haie“: „We will face teams with much quality in this round. It will need the best from each player to be successful.“
Fri, 02.02.2018: EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz – EC-KAC (19:15)
Referees: LEMELIN, SIEGEL, Nothegger, Seewald.
>EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz starts the Pick Round with two bonus points on Friday, EC-KAC with one point.
>Both teams won their first Pick Round game past season and were left withot points the year before.
>EC-KAC has had a bad run lately. The Red Jackets were defeated in four consecutive games. The Black Wings lost in Innsbruck in the last round as well.
>The Upper Austrians were convincing in their last six home-games.
>The Black Wings won three out of four season-meetings with Klagenfurt, inter alia the last two clashes.
Quotes:
„We want to have a good start into this round“, was to hear from Linz.
Martin Schumnig, defenseman EC-KAC: „The second part of the season starts for us in Linz. The whole team likes this time of the year. We travel completely motivated to Upper Austria!"
Erste Bank Eishockey Liga, 1. Qualification Round:
Fr, 02.02.2018: Dornbirn Bulldogs – HC Orli Znojmo (19:15)
Referees: M. NIKOLIC, K. NIKOLIC, Schauer, Tschrepitsch.
>HC Orli Znojmo and head coach Roman Simicek have parted ways after mutual agreement. In the meantime, sports manager Rostislav Docekal takes over the team.
>Dornbirn Bulldogs will start the Qualification Round with the maximum of six points, HC Orli Znojmo with zero points. The two teams faced each other in the first Intermediate Round 2016/17 as well. One year ago, the Czechs won at home 6:2.
>There were already 33 goals in the first four season-meetings, in average 8,25 goals per game.
>The two teams have shown different faces in the last rounds: The Dornbirn Bulldogs have won three consecutive games and have allowed just four goals. The Czechs on the other side lost their last two games and allowed 12 goals during that span.
>The Dornbirn Bulldogs have won the last three meetings with the „Red Eagles“ from Znojmo.
Quotes:
Pavel Ohera, president HC Orli Znojmo: „We would like to thank Roman Simicek for his determination and efforts and wish him all the best for the future. We are in contact with several candidates for the job and we are working to finalize the appointment soon."
Stefan Häussle, Forward Dornbirn Bulldogs: „Znojmo has a strong offense, We must play well in the defense and hard. We want to start with a success.“
Fri, 02.02.2018: Moser Medical Graz99ers – EC VSV (19:15 Uhr, SKY Sport Austria HD and streaming SKY TICKET live)
Referees: TRILAR, ZRNIC, Nemeth, Soos.
>Moser Medical Graz99ers start the Qualification Round with four bonus points, Villach with zero points.
>The home-teams left the ice as the winner in the last nine meetings.
>Both teams started the Qualification Round with a win last year.
>EC VSV tries to end their bad road-run in Graz. The Eagles have lost six consecutive road-games and have scored just eight goals.
>Moser Medical Graz99ers won five from their last six home-games.
Quotes:
Evan Brophey, Forward Moser Medical Graz99ers: „We need the winning mentality in each game!“
Markus Peintner, Headcoach EC VSV: "The Qualification Round is a new chance for us. We must start into the game fully concentrated. We want to tart a good run now!“
Fri, 02.02.2018: HCB Südtirol Alperia – Fehervar AV19 (19:45)
Referees: KELLNER, STOLC, Kontschieder, Pardatscher.
>Fehervar AV19 signed US-defenseman Eric Meland. Meland fills in for the injured Jonathan Harty and Bence Sziranyi and Luka Vidmar, who is part of the Slovenian National Team at the Olympic games in South Korea. Meland started with Bad Nauheim (GER) into the season and scored 25 points in 33 games. Besides, the US-defender played in Europe in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Norway and in Denmark since 2013/14.
>HCB Südtirol Alperia starts the Qualification Round with two bonus points, Fehervar AV19 with one bonus point.
>Fehervar AV19 tries to end their bad run in Bozen. The Hungarians were defeated in six consecutive games and have scored just seven goals.
>The last three meetings ended with just one goal difference, Bozen had the better end in the last two games.
>Michael Halmo (HCB) scored at least one goal in the last two games.
Quotes:
Kai Suikkanen, Headcoach HCB Südtirol Alperia: „I am very confident for the next games. Our goal is the playoffs, but it's the same for all the other teams: team is going better in the last two months, but it could go much better. We had a meeting in the last few days: we've set our goal, I know we can do it.“
Hannu Järvenpää, Headcoach Fehervar AV19: „We must improve our powerplay and we have to be more compact in the defensive zone during the next games.“