Release from 13.01.2023
Four games of the 39th round in the win2day ICE Hockey League were scheduled on Friday. Both the league leader HC TIWAG Innsbruck and the first pursuer HCB Südtirol Alperia celebrated victories. The Sharks won 2:1 at the EC-KAC, which is why the KAC slipped out of the Top-6, as the spusu Vienna Capitals defeated the Moser Medical Graz99ers 5:2 at home and thus passed the KAC in the standings. Bolzano kept the upper hand at the Steinbach Black Wings Linz with a clear 4:1 win. In the fourth game of the day, the EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV beat the EC Red Bull Salzburg 5:2. The Eagles scored four goals against the best defense in the league already in the first ten minutes of the game.
Tomorrow, Saturday at 19:15, the 40th round will be opened with the game spusu Vienna Capitals against HC Pustertal.
League leader HC TIWAG Innsbruck is still unstoppable. The Tyroleans also prevailed in the third season duel with the EC-KAC. All three goals in the Sharks' 2:1 away win were scored already in the first period. After 45 seconds Daniel Leavens gave the HCI an early lead. In double overtime, Klagenfurt equalized eight minutes later through Fabian Hochegger. The game-winner was finally scored by Tyler Coulter 88 seconds before the end of the first period. It was the 20th goal of the season for the center and the first after three games without a goal.
Bolzano wins in Linz
Innsbruck's tenth win from the past twelve games keeps them two points ahead of the HCB Südtirol Alperia. The Foxes prevailed 4:1 at Steinbach Black Wings Linz. Bolzano scored once each in the first as well as in the second period. In the second period, it was Daniel Mantenuto who made it 2:0 just seconds before the end of the period when they were shorthanded. The Black Wings were able to reduce the score to 1:2 at the beginning of the final period, but in the following HCB scored twice more, among others Dustin Gazley, who had already scored to make it 0:1, made it 1:3 from the point of view of Bolzano, which finally secured its second win in the third duel of the season with Linz. For the Black Wings it was the fourth defeat from the past five games. They are in fifth place in the standings, however, they are only five points ahead of the seventh place. Bolzano already got the ninth win from the past ten games.
Vienna is back in the Top-6
Still on the rise are the spusu Vienna Capitals, who were victorious against the Moser Medical Graz99ers with 5:2 and thanks to the defeat of the EC-KAC they moved past the KAC in the standings and now are in sixth place. The lead over the KAC is two points, but tomorrow Saturday at home against the HC Pustertal they can further distance themselves from the Klagenfurt team. Against Graz, Vienna started furiously. Already after 15 minutes they were 4:0 in front. Thereupon, a goalkeeper change was made on the 99ers' side. Nicolas Wieser replaced Christian Engstrand, who had been unlucky until then (save percentage of 78.9%). From then on, the ninth-placed team stabilized visibly and was able to reduce the score to 1:4 in the middle period. In the final period, Capitals forward Lukas Kainz made everything clear with his second goal of the evening. For Vienna it was the first win over Graz in the third game this season. The previous two duels always went to the 99ers in the overtime.
Villach surprises Salzburg
For only the fourth time this season, defending champion EC Red Bull Salzburg conceded five or more goals in one game. At the EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV, the best defense in the league lost 2:5. Just like the spusu Vienna Capitals, Villach also had a dream start. The Eagles even scored four goals in the first ten minutes of the game against the Red Bulls. For both the VSV and the Capitals it was already the second time that they scored four goals in the first period against Salzburg and Graz respectively. Still in the first period, Ty Loney was able to score to make it 1:4 in his second game of the season. The US-American made his season debut last Sunday after a long injury break. Just under six minutes before the end of the game, Thomas Raffl, another returnee, scored to make it 2:4 from the visitors' point of view. The Red Bulls captain last played on December 28th. With 80 seconds remaining, John Hughes finally made everything clear with an empty-net goal. It was the second goal of the evening for the 35-year-old, who played in Salzburg between 2013 and 2021. VSV, who celebrated their second win in a row, are in fourth place in the table. Immediately ahead are the Red Bulls, who lost for the first time on Friday after previously winning seven in a row.
WIN2DAY ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE | 13.01.2023:
SPUSU VIENNA CAPITALS – MOSER MEDICAL GRAZ99ERS 5:2 (4:0, 0:1, 1:1)
REFEREES: FICHTNER, RENCZ, GATOL-SCHAFRANEK, KONC. | Spectators: 4550
Goals VIC: 1:0 Fischer M. (10.), 2:0 Kainz L. (13.), 3:0 Wall A. (14.), 4:0 Finkelstein B. (15.), 5:1 Kainz L. (42./PP1)
Goals G99: 4:1 Fladeby T. (24.), 5:2 Zusevics Z. (43.)
EC-KAC – HC TIWAG INNSBRUCK 1:2 (1:2, 0:0, 0:0)
REFEREES: TRILAR, ZRNIC, HRIBAR, ZGONC. | Spectators: 4029
Goal KAC: 1:1 Hochegger F. (9./PP2)
Goals HCI: 0:1 Leavens D. (1.), 1:2 Coulter T. (19.)
EC IDM WÄRMEPUMPEN VSV – EC RED BULL SALZBURG 5:2 (4:1, 0:0, 1:1)
REFEREES: PIRAGIC, STERNAT, MIKLIC, SNOJ. | Spectators: 2790
Goals VSV: 1:0 Despres S. (5./PP1), 2:0 Collins C. (8.), 3:0 Rivett-Mattinen N. (9./PP1), 4:0 Hughes J. (10./PP2), 5:2 Hughes J. (59./EN)
Goals RBS: 4:1 Loney T. (18.), 4:2 Raffl T. (55.)
STEINBACH BLACK WINGS LINZ – HCB SÜDTIROL ALPERIA 1:4 (0:1, 0:1, 1:2)
REFEREES: OFNER, SMETANA, BEDYNEK, RIECKEN. | Spectators: 3105
Goals BWL: 1:2 Knott G. (41./PP1)
Goals HCB: 0:1 Gazley D. (6.), 0:2 Mantenuto D. (40./SH1), 1:3 Gazley D. (55.), 1:4 Frank D. (60./EN)