Release from 24.02.2024

The pre-playoff starts on Sunday

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The regular season of the win2day ICE Hockey League ended on Friday and six of the eight quarter-final tickets have been allocated. From Sunday – and for the third time – two pre-playoff series in the "best-of-3" format will decide the remaining two places for the ICE quarter-finals.

HC TIWAG Innsbruck - Die Haie and BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg as well as HC Pustertal Wölfe and HK SZ Olimpija will face each other. The "West Derby" will be shown live on PULS24 and JOYN from 5.05 pm, the other game will be available from 6 pm on www.live.ice.hockey (PPV).

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Win2day ICE Hockey League | Pre-Playoff | Game 1 | 25.02.2024 | Schedule:
Sun, 25.02.2024, 5.30 pm: HC TIWAG Innsbruck - Die Haie – BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg
Referees: OFNER, STERNAT, Nothegger, Riecken. | >> PULS 24 <<
HC TIWAG Innsbruck - Die Haie finished seventh at the end of the regular season, earning the "right to pick" for the pre-playoffs and opted for the BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg. The “Haie” have a strong record against the Vorarlberg side, which have qualified for the postseason for the first time in their second campaign: they have won seven of eight encounters and are still unbeaten at home against the team in tenth place after Regular Season. The lone victory for the "Pionees" came nine days ago, as they won 5-4 at home after overtime, after leading by two goals until ten minutes before the end.

The Tyroleans have home ice in the best-of-3 series and have also won their last two duels on home ice. However, with 14 wins from 24 games, the "Haie" are only eighth in the home table. Dario Winkler will play his 300th game in the win2day ICE Hockey League for Innsbruck.

Steven Owre (31G|31A) was the Vorarlberg team's top scorer in the Regular Season, and they also had the most efficient power play (26.29%). Innsbruck lagged far behind in the overtime game, scoring only 17.2% (#12).

Sun, 25.02.2024, 6.00 pm: HC Pustertal Wölfe – HK SZ Olimpija
Referees: HRONSKY, SMETANA, Durmis, Konc. | >> live.ice.hockey <<
After a one-year break, both HC Pustertal Wölfe and HK SZ Olimpija are back in the postseason: In both of their premiere seasons 21-22, they reached the quarter-finals, but were eliminated (PUS 0:4 vs. AVS | HKO 3:4 vs. VSV). The Slovenians have won three games in the course of the season. The last one, exactly one month ago, they won 4-3 at home after overtime, thus drawing level with the South Tyroleans in the "eternal balance" (6:6).

The current form speaks more in favor of HC Pustertal Wölfe, as the team in eighth place after Regular Season has scored in four of its last five games, winning three of them. The "Dragons" lost their last four regular-season games and conceded at least five goals in each of them. The South Tyroleans had the second-best PK (83.1%) and third-best PP (24.1%) in the RS. Ljubljana's special teams struggled, especially their penalty killing left a lot to be desired (71.8%). In the last three games, they scored five goals while shorthanded.

Overtime rules in the postseason
From the pre-playoff onwards, an endless overtime with sudden death will be played if the score is equal after regulation. In non-elimination games, the number of skaters is reduced to three plus one goalkeeper per team after the first full 20-minute overtime. In elimination games, the game is played five against five until the game winning goal is scored.