Three home wins and one away win on Sunday

Villach wins contested game in the shootout
A total of nine goals were scored in EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV's 5:4 shootout win over the HC Pustertal. With 17 points, the Villach team is now only one point behind Pustertal, which slipped to the third place. After an uneventful first 30 minutes of play, things got really spectacular. Pustertal initially took the lead, but VSV completely turned up the heat after falling behind and needed only five minutes to pull away to 3:1. The third goal for the Eagles was scored by Kevin Hancock, who has scored in each of his four games for Villach so far. In the final period, however, the visitors promptly reduced the deficit to 2:3, but the home side was unimpressed by strong Wolves and went up 4:2 in the 47th minute, through Elias Wallenta. Then the moments of ex-VSV player Rick Schofield came. The Canadian played for the VSV in the 2015/16 and 2021/22 seasons. Since this campaign, the 36-year-old wears the jersey of Pustertal. With two goals in the 47th and 51st minute, the center could equalize the game and thus force the overtime. In the overtime VSV had a powerplay for a long time, but could not make use of any of the numerous chances. In the shootout, however, it was Robert Sabolic and Maximilian Rebernig who scored and brought Villach the extra point. For the 23-year-old Rebernig it was a special game anyway. Because shortly before the start of the game, the VSV communicated the contract extension, until the end of the 2025/2026 season.

Innsbruck prevails in the west derby
In the fifth west derby in the win2day ICE Hockey League between the HC TIWAG Innsbruck and the BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg, the Tyroleans celebrated the fifth victory. In an balanced match, the Sharks prevailed 4:2 and thus ended the Pioneers' three-game winning streak. For the HCI it was the second win in a row. In the standings, Innsbruck climbed to the fourth place. With 18 points, they are three points ahead of the Pioneers, who are sixth. In front of 1844 spectators in Feldkirch, the home side took the lead already in the sixth minute with a powerplay goal by Daniel Woger. The narrow lead lasted until the beginning of the second period, before Innsbruck completely turned the game around with three goals within five minutes. Again only 22 seconds after the 3:1 by Brady Shaw, the Pioneers reduced to 2:3. In the final period, the Vorarlberg team still had several chances to equalize, a few minutes before the end of the game they failed only on the bar. Anders Krogsgaard finally scored an empty-net goal with 28 seconds left to decide the game in favor of Innsbruck.

Narrow home win for Klagenfurt
After the 1:4 defeat in Innsbruck on Friday, the EC-KAC was able to win with 4:3 at home against Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey on Sunday. For the northern Italians it was the first defeat after two wins in a row before. After a scoreless first period, four goals were scored in the second period. Jan Mursak (23.) and Tobias Sablattnig (28.) gave the KAC a 2:0 lead. Only a short time later William Rapuzzi reduced the lead to 1:2 in the power play, before Paul Postma restored the two-goal advantage just two and a half minutes later. In the final period, Asiago, ranked eleventh in the league, even came close to 2:3 in the 51st minute. But once again the KAC promptly answered. This time it was Nick Petersen who made it 4:2 in the 53rd minute with his second goal of the season. Asiago came back to 3:4 five minutes before the end with Allan McShane's second goal of the evening, but the visitors were unable to equalize and Klagenfurt took the three points and moved up to the seventh place in the table.



Fehérvár climbs to the second place in the table
Hydro Fehérvár AV19 climbed to the second place in the table with a 6:3 home win over the HK SZ Olimpija. In a high-scoring match, the Hungarians led 2:0 after just four minutes, but Ljubljana quickly recovered from the deficit and equalized in the 14th minute. However, after a mistake by HKO goalkeeper Lukas Horak, AVS took the lead again before the end of the first period and thus went into the first period break with a 3:2 lead. In the second period Olimpija could equalize again. But Janos Hari gave Fehérvár the lead again a few minutes before the end of the period. This time, the home side kept the lead and added two more goals in the last 14 minutes of the game to celebrate their fifth win from the last six games. Ljubljana, which conceded its second defeat in a row, is eighth in the table. With 20 points, Fehérvár is only one point behind league leader Salzburg, but has already played two games more.



WIN2DAY ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE | 08.10.2023:
EC-KAC – MIGROSS SUPERMERCATI ASIAGO HOCKEY 4:3 (0:0, 3:1, 1:2)
REFEREES: GROZNIK, TRILAR, MIKLIC, RIECKEN | SPECTATORS: 3625
Goals KAC: 1:0 Mursak J. (23.), 2:0 Sablattnig T. (28.), 3:1 Postma P. (32.), 4:2 Petersen N. (53.)
Goals ASH: 2:1 Rapuzzi W. (29./PP1), 3:2 McShane A. (51.), 4:3 McShane A. (56./PP1)

HYDRO FEHÉRVÁR AV19 – HK SZ OLIMPIJA LJUBLJANA 6:3 (3:2, 1:1, 2:0)
REFEREES: SIEGEL, STERNAT, MANTOVANI, PUFF | SPECTATORS: 2475
Goals AVS: 1:0 Terbocs I. (2.), 2:0 McGauley T. (5.), 3:2 Vertes N. (18.), 4:3 Hari J. (38.), 5:3 Magosi B. (47.), 6:3 Hari J. (60./EN)
Goals HKO: 2:1 Bericic M. (10.), 2:2 Leskinen V. (14.), 3:3 Kapel R. (26.)

BEMER PIONEERS VORARLBERG – HC TIWAG INNSBRUCK 2:4 (1:0, 1:3, 0:1)
REFEREES: PALKÖVI, PIRAGIC, HRIBAR, MARTIN | SPECTATORS: 1844
Goals PIV: 1:0 Woger D. (6./PP1), 2:3 Maver L. (27.)
Goals HCI: 1:1 Roy K. (22), 1:2 Mackin C. (24.), 1:3 Shaw B. (27.), 2:4 Krogsgaard A. (60./EN)

EC IDM WÄRMEPUMPEN VSV – HC PUSTERTAL 5:4/SO (0:0, 3:1, 1:3)
REFEREES: OFNER, ZRNIC, MUZSIK, VACZI | SPECTATORS: 3101
Goals VSV: 1:1 Sabolic R. (33.), 2:1 Rauchenwald A. (38.). 3:1 Hancock K. (39.), 4:2 Wallenta E. (47.), 5:4 Sabolic R. (65./SO)
Goals PUS: 0:1 Morley D. (32.), 3:2 Atwal A. (43.), 4:3 Schofield R. (47.), 4:4 Schofield R. (51./PP1)