Villach wins dramatic 344th Carinthian derby

The EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV narrowly prevailed in a dramatic 344th Carinthian derby against the EC-KAC with 5:4 after shootout. Thus, the "Eagles" succeeded in taking revenge for the SO defeat in the first season duel. Alexander Rauchenwald was the only player to score his penalty. The home side had the much better start in the sold-out Villach Stadthalle and led 2:0 after the first period through goals from Chris Collins and Marco Richter. In the second period, the KAC had a better start and scored twice, but Villach was also successful once. In the final period it became really dramatic. First Matt Fraser equalized to make it 3:3, before Chris Collins scored his second goal of the evening four minutes before the end of the game to put the VSV back in the lead. But 96 seconds before the end of the game the Klagenfurt team answered again, in the form of Nick Petersen. With the score of 4:4, the game finally went into overtime, and since no decision was made there, the winner of the second duel of the season had to be determined in the shootout. In this, the first four players on the KAC side failed to score. For VSV, it was finally Alexander Rauchenwald, their fourth player, who ended the game. For Villach it was the second home win over Klagenfurt in a row. The two teams are now separated by five points in the table. The VSV is in fourth place with 38 points, while the KAC, in eighth place has 33 points.



Losing streak of Salzburg ends
After four defeats in a row, the EC Red Bull Salzburg returned to winning ways at league leader HC TIWAG Innsbruck - Die Haie. However, the Red Bulls struggled for a long time in the 5:2 win in Innsbruck. Only in the last eight minutes they could finally decide the game. After 40 minutes, the Salzburg team were only leading 3:2, but in the end it was a clear victory for the new third in the table, who were also leading 1:0 and 2:1 in the meantime. A total of seven different players were on the scoresheet this evening. Innsbruck, as the leader of the win2day ICE Hockey League, still has a three-point lead over the HCB Südtirol Alperia, which was free from play.

The Moser Medical Graz99ers also won 5:2 at the Steinbach Black Wings Linz. The Styrians, who remain ninth in the standings but are now six points ahead of the eleventh place, already led 3:0 after 23 minutes, with all three goals scored within five minutes. With a double strike just before the end of the first period, they went into the first break with a 2:0 lead. Only three minutes after the restart, the 99ers increased the lead to 3:0, before the new fifth-placed Linz also scored for the first time a short time later. In the end, however, it was an unchallenged win for Graz, with Ken Ograjensek scoring for the first time in his fifth game of the season. The Slovenian wasn´t able to play for the 99ers until mid-November due to an injury.



Coach debut of Valtonen failed
The debut of HC Pustertal Wölfe neo-head coach Tomek Valtonen failed. At the HK SZ Olimpija the South Tyroleans conceded a clear 2:5 defeat. The defeat against the Slovenians hurts twice as important points were at stake in the fight for the pre-playoffs. Ljubljana, in tenth place in the table, still holds the last pre-playoff spot. However, the lead over Pustertal is now already five points.

The pre-playoff places are moving more and more out of reach for the BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg. The league newcomer kept the game at last year's finalist Hydro Fehérvár AV19 balanced for a long time, but in the end they still lost with 0:3. All three goals were scored in the last 188 seconds. With the 35th shot on goal Anze Kuralt redeemed the Hungarians in the 57th minute, who also scored the final score via empty-net. Due to the win Fehérvár is now into the top-6 in the standings. The Pioneers are still at the bottom of the table with twelve points and have been waiting for a full win since October 26th and the equivalent of nine games.

Castlunger strengthens Asiago
League newcomer Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey announced the signing of Martin Castlunger. The 28-year-old forward last played with the SHC Fassa Falcons in the Alps Hockey League. For the former captain of the Falcons it is the first engagement in the win2day ICE Hockey League. Defender Francesco Forte, on the other hand, moves from Asiago to Fassa on loan.

WIN2DAY ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE | 02.12.2022:
HYDRO FEHÉRVÁR AV19 – BEMER PIONEERS VORARLBERG 3:0 (0:0, 0:0, 3:0)
REFEREES: HRONSKY, REZEK, JEDLICKA, ZGONC. | Spectators: 2006
Goals AVS: 1:0 Kuralt A. (57.), 2:0 Findlay B. (58.), 3:0 Kuralt A. (60./EN)

STEINBACH BLACK WINGS LINZ – MOSER MEDICAL GRAZ99ERS 2:5 (0:2, 2:2, 0:1)
REFEREES: OFNER, SIEGEL, MOIDL, NOTHEGGER. | Spectators: 2577
Goals BWL: 1:3 Roe L. (26./PP1), 2:4 Romig E. (35.), 2:4 Romig E. (35.)
Goals G99: 0:1 Ograjensek K. (18./PP1), 0:2 Alagic A. (19.), 0:3 Granholm V. (24.), 1:4 Oberkofler D. (33.), 2:5 Altmann M. (59./EN)

HC TIWAG INNSBRUCK – DIE HAIE – EC RED BULL SALZBURG 2:5 (0:1, 2:2, 0:2)
REFEREES: PIRAGIC, SMETANA, HRIBAR, RIECKEN. | Spectators: 2000
Goals HCI: 1:1 Helewka A. (22./PP1), 2:2 Shaw B. (36.)
Goals RBS: 0:1 Thaler L. (18.), 1:2 Huber M. (32./PP1), 2:3 Meyer N. (38./PP1), 2:4 Nissner B. (53.), 2:5 Schneider P. (59./EN)

HK SZ OLIMPIJA – HC PUSTERTAL WÖLFE 5:2 (1:0, 1:1, 3:1)
REFEREES: SOOS, ZRNIC, PUFF, VACZI. | Spectators: 697
Goals HKO: 1:0 Bericic M. (1.), 2:0 Kapel R. (32./PP1), 3:1 Kapel R. (41.), 4:1 Garreffa J. (48./PP1), 5:2 Sodja J. (60./EN)
Goals PUS: 2:1 Plastino N. (33./PP1), 4:2 Andergassen R. (52.)

EC IDM WÄRMEPUMPEN VSV – EC-KAC 5:4/SO (2:0, 1:2, 1:2)
REFEREES: GROZNIK, TRILAR, BÄRNTHALER, MIKLIC. | Spectators: 3685
Goals VSV: 1:0 Collins C. (9.), 2:0 Richter M. (14.), 3:1 Josin D. (31.), 4:3 Collins C. (57.), 5:4 Rauchenwald A. (65./PS)
Goals KAC: 2:1 Hochegger F. (30./PP1), 3:2 Steffler K. (37.), 3:3 Fraser M. (49.), 4:4 Petersen N. (59.)