Things are happening in quick succession in the win2day ICE Hockey League, with the next six games already scheduled for Tuesday.
Table leader HC TIWAG Innsbruck meets fourth-placed EC iDM heat pump VSV at home. In addition, the derby between EC Red Bull Salzburg and Steinbach Black Wings Linz is also a duel between two top teams. All matches will be live streamed pay-per-view.
win2day ICE Hockey League:
Sun, 03.01.2023, 19:15: Moser Medical Graz99ers – Spouso Vienna Capitals
Referees: FICHTNER, SOOS, Gatol-Schafranek, Voican >> PPV-Livestream <<
On New Year’s Day, Graz ended a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 comeback win against Fehérvár and improved back to ninth place. The spusu Vienna Capitals, who are playing their first game of the new year on Tuesday, are only one place but already ten points ahead. The Viennese have won four of their last five appearances. Caps top scorer Matt Bradley had seven points (2 goals + 5 assists) in those games, which put the Canadian back at the top of the team’s internal scorer chart. In Graz, on the other hand, Swede Viktor Granholm is the best scorer with 27 points (14 goals + 13 assists). The previous two duels of the season each went into overtime: on November 1, the Caps kept the better end for themselves with 3:2, in Graz the home side won 4:3 on November 27.
Tue, 03/01/2023, 19:15: EC-KAC – HK SZ Olimpija
Referees: PIRAGIC, STERNAT, Kis-Kiraly, Vaczi | >> PPV-Livestream <<
EC-KAC consolidated its top six position on New Year’s Day with a 3:2 overtime away win at HC Pustertal. Recently, the Rotjacken have also shown their defensive stability, in the last ten league games the Klagenfurt have only conceded 18 goals (league best). HK Olimpija ended their long dry spell of eight defeats in a row with a narrow 5-4 away win at Asiago Hockey on Sunday. The victory brought the Green Dragons back within striking distance of the teams in ninth to eleventh place, but they themselves are still only in twelfth place. Since entering the league in the summer of 2021, HK Olimpija Ljubljana have faced EC-KAC a total of seven times, five of these encounters ending in a Klagenfurt victory. Including each of the three previous ones in the current season. The two teams duel just last week, with the Redjackets clearly winning 6-1 in the Slovenian capital.
Di, 03.01.2023, 19:15: EC Red Bull Salzburg – Steinbach Black Wings Linz
Referees: M. NIKOLIC, SMETANA, Bedynek, Riecken | >> PPV-Livestream <<
EC Red Bull Salzburg put in a top performance in Sunday’s 3-1 win over table neighbors Villach and also secured third place. At the start of the New Year, the Steinbach Black Wings Linz suffered a 3-1 home defeat against leaders Innsbruck. The Upper Austrians are fifth in the table. Now it comes to the fourth and last derby of the season in the current regular round. After the reigning champions clearly won the opening duel in Linz 5:2 at the beginning of November, the team of head coach Phil Lukas recently celebrated two victories. The Red Bulls’ goal scorers this season are spread across all four lines, which poses a permanent threat on offense. Salzburg’s top three goalscorers – Peter Schneider, Chay Genoway and Benjamin Nissner – all hold exactly ten goals. But the Linz goalscorers don’t just concentrate on one line either. Brian Lebler is still the measure of all things with 13 goals, but not far behind strikers like Stefan Gaffal and Shawn St-Amant are strong with 11 apiece.
Tue, 03.01.2023, 7:15 p.m.: HC TIWAG Innsbruck – Die Haie – EC iDM heat pumps VSV
Referees: HUBER, OFNER, Seewald, Wimmler | >> PPV-Livestream <<
Table leaders Innsbruck opened the new year with a 3-1 win in Linz, it was the fourth win in a row. The EC iDM heat pumps VSV, on the other hand, had to admit defeat with the same result in Salzburg. Despite the narrow defeat, the blue and whites are still in third place in the away table, just behind Linz and Innsbruck. The Tyroleans also lead the home table, and with 133 goals they are also the strongest attacking team in the league. Just a few days ago, the leader won 5-1 in Villach, with Tyler Coulter scoring twice with a majority. While the Carinthians are the best team in the league in terms of points in 5-on-5, the “Adler” must improve significantly in the special teams: In the entire season, John Hughes and Co. have only scored eleven power play goals – Innsbruck however, clearly leads this statistic with 34 hits. Marco Richter, who was recently ill, could return to the line-up at VSV.
Tue, 03.01.2023, 7:30 p.m.: BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg – HC Pustertal Wolves
Referees: HOLZER, K. NIKOLIC, Martin, Saver | >> PPV-Livestream <<
The BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg conceded a 2:4 in Bozen on Sunday. For the bottom of the table it was the fourth bankruptcy in a row, the series of defeats began with a 0:9 in Brunico. Since then, HC Pustertal has only picked up three points from three games. On Sunday, the Wolves lost to KAC in extra time. The South Tyroleans currently have a pre-playoff place in tenth place due to the better goal difference to Asiago. From the previous three duels with the Pioneers, Pustertal got the maximum number of points.
Di, 03.01.2023, 19:45: Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey – HCB Südtirol Alperia
Referees: BAJT, ZRNIC, Rigoni, Zgonc >> PPV-Livestream <<
After clinching at least a point in the previous four games, Asiago lost 5-4 at home to Ljubljana (a contender for the pre-playoffs) on Sunday. The Italians gave up a two-goal lead twice. Bozen was sovereign in the home win over Vorarlberg, it was the fourth success in a row (and the seventh from the last eight games). Now the last “big classic” of the regular season awaits the two teams in the Odegar Stadium. In the three previous duels there were victories for the home team. Two games were hard to beat for excitement: In Asiago’s victory, Anthony Salinitri made the decision 17 seconds before the end. In the end, however, HCB turned the game in its favor after being down 0:3.
ice.hockey, Image: VSV/Krammer