Black Wings: No happy ending, but the series holds up

2023-10-22 18:28:00

The series holds: The Steinbach Black Wings also scored points in the 10th match in a row and still left the Linz AG ice arena, which was well attended with 3,170 fans, slightly disappointed. Austria’s ice hockey record champions KAC secured the extra point with a 3-2 win after extra time.

“It was deserved,” admitted Wings striker Emilio Romig, although Nick Petersen’s decisive goal 20 seconds before the siren (65′) was not without controversy, but ultimately regular. Johannes Bischofberger had just captured the puck on the blue line in the attacking third, and there was no interference from the strong Linz goalkeeper Rasmus Tirronen.

“We gave ourselves a bit of a hard time, we weren’t quite up to speed in the second third,” added Romig, who remains on top course with his fifth-placed Black Wings. They are only four points behind league leaders Villacher SV, who won the big game against Salzburg 2-1.

In the stands, ex-defender Martin Schumnig, who had been sent off before the opening face-off with gifts (jersey, framed collage with signatures and the inscription “Thank you”, Linzer cake), was excited. “A really cool game to watch, there was a lot of fire in it,” said the 34-year-old from Klagenfurt, who was received with a standing ovation from both fan camps. No wonder. He is a legend at the KAC and has become a real crowd favorite in Linz in just one season (2022/23).

On Sunday, others were in the spotlight: fourth-line striker Jakob Mitsch, who made it 1-0 (10th), and Brodi Stuart, the scorer who made it 2-2 (51st). Top scorer Graham Knott came away empty-handed. That doesn’t happen often.