Salzburg loses test against KHL team

The Austrian top team EC Red Bull Salzburg of the EBEL had their first test game for the new season on Sunday. Instead of looking for an opponent to get confidence, they chose Metallurg Magnitogorsk, a super power of the world's second best championship, the Kontinental Hockey League.

The Russians were the clear favourites. Not only because of the quality of their roster but also because they started a week earlier into ice training than their Austrian counterparts - they also already faced their KHL rivals Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (4-3).

In an even first period the Red Bulls missed several good opportunities while the guests showed deadly precision with the man advantage. Platonov and Tverdovsky were both succesful in power play. Later in the period Shenfeld even increased the lead for Metallurg. After a goalless second period, Magnitogorsk made it 0-4 through Kaigorodov (45.). With five minutes to go the home team was finally rewarded for their efforts when Justin DiBenedetto scored the consolidation goal for them. Protekhin with an empty-netter was the one who had the honour to make the final point behind the game.

For the Austrians it was a good test to compete with high-level players from Russia, but it shouldn't be over-valued. After the game Red Bull head coach Pierre Pagé said: "We have tested many new players and our system didn't work the way we want it to. But we also tried a lot of things." Salzburg still has some time to find themselves until they start into the 2012 European Trophy on Friday, 17 August 2012.

 

Advanced player search

Tweets by @eurohockey