Release from 18.09.2024

WELCOME TO THE HOME OF HEROES - win2day ICE Hockey League kicks off its anniversary season

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The 25th season of the win2day ICE Hockey League starts on Friday, and the “Home Of Heroes” campaign will accompany the anniversary season. While the league is focusing on continuity with the 13 existing teams and familiar mode, even greater reach is to be achieved with two free TV partners and an expanded streaming offer. The win2day Austrian Women's Hockey League also marks the start of a new era in women's ice hockey.

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Over the past few days, the win2day ICE Hockey League and its 13 clubs have each presented their unique attributes to kick off the “Home Of Heroes” campaign, focusing on their individual strengths. The campaign is part of the “Growing the Bubble” package of measures, which includes special “Hero” match days and activation through influencers. The first steps have thus been taken, as the new Executive Board stated that increasing reach was one of the most important goals when it took charge almost three months ago. “Our initial interim results are positive, we have already achieved a lot together. Everyone in the league is pulling in the same direction. With our package of measures, we want to try to appeal to even more people and further increase interest in ice hockey. The anticipation for the start of the season is already very high,” announces League President Dr. Alexander Gruber.

The new season kicks off on Friday with the final rematch between the EC-KAC and defending champion EC Red Bull Salzburg. The high-class seven-game series was the best advertisement for the win2day ICE Hockey League. In total, the last ten games of the 2024 playoffs were sold out, and TV partner PULS 24 became the strongest private TV channel in primetime thanks to the broadcasts in the decisive league phase. In addition, the league's media value was once again at a very high level at just under EUR 84 million. The league continues to have win2day at its side as a strong partner, with the title sponsor starting its third full season on Friday. “We have seen a steady positive development since the start of our partnership. The last final series was a real highlight, and we need to build on that. I believe that the path we have taken together is the right one and that we will now take the next steps,” says Wolfgang Jethan, who is responsible for sports sponsorship at win2day, confidently.

Information on match operations
The win2day ICE Hockey League is focusing on continuity in the 2024/25 anniversary season with the 13 existing teams and a familiar format. The Regular Season, which lasts until the end of February, will see 48 games per club. The teams in first to sixth place qualify directly for the quarter-finals. The teams in seventh to tenth place contest the pre-playoffs in a “best-of-3” format. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be played in a best-of-7 format.

Two free TV partners and expanded streaming offer
While PULS 24 is entering its fifth season with the broadcast of the new edition of the final from Klagenfurt, ORF Sport+ will also broadcast live from the arenas in the 2024/25 ICE season. The game between EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV and the spusu Vienna Capitals will be the first match at ORF Sport+ on Sunday. In addition, the streaming offer has been expanded, so for the first time there is the possibility to purchase a Regular Season pass with all away games of a selected team in the Regular Season (all information).

“There has been a lot of development in the last 25 years, the special moments - the open-air games in Pula or Klagenfurt were absolute highlights - will be remembered forever. We are well prepared for the new win2day ICE Hockey League season and our goal is to reach even more people. We also see a lot of potential in our TV partnerships. We are delighted to be entering our fifth season together with PULS 24, and the addition of ORF Sport+ gives us even broader coverage,” added league manager Christian Feichtinger.

With SKODA as the new official mobility partner and EUROPCAR as CAR RENTAL partner, the league was able to gain two new sponsors before the start of the season. The partnership with hotel partner harry's home hotels & apartments was extended for a further year. There is a “newcomer” among the referees, with Christoph Sternat becoming the fourth pro referee. From the start of the season, players will be required to wear neck protection.

New era in women's ice hockey
In cooperation between win2day, the Austrian Ice Hockey Federation, the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation and the win2day ICE Hockey League, the win2day Austrian Women's Hockey League will start in the 2024/2025 season. The European Women's Hockey League will also be further professionalized and a sustainable sporting basis will be created.

Since the fall of 2023, intensive work has been carried out on the creation of the new league and the further development of the international EWHL. To this end, the ÖEHV, the HIHF (Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation), the win2day ICE Hockey League and win2day have brought together four key stakeholders in European ice hockey. win2day will act as title sponsor of the AWHL and thus expand its involvement in women's ice hockey.

With the DEC Salzburg Eagles, KSV Highlanders, Lakers Kärnten, Sabres St. Pölten and the reigning national champions EC Graz Huskies, five Austrian teams will be taking part. The AWHL will be established as a partner league of the win2day ICE Hockey League in order to further strengthen the presence of women's ice hockey and provide a uniform platform for the promotion of the sport.
Further information on the win2day Austrian Women's Hockey League can be found on the new homepage: www.awhl.hockey