EBEL - eleventh round

HC Orli Znojmo – KHL Medvescak Zagreb  8:2 (3:1,3:1,2:0)

Orli seems to be a completely different team since they changed head coach – this was their third win in a row. And really unquestionable: they totally destroyed Croatian champions Medvescak Zagreb. To be fair: Medvescak came in Znojmo in shock: their Sunday’s win against KAC was over-ruled due to trouble with their goalie Mate Tomljenovic. 18 years old goalkeeper did not have right to play, so league commission assigned the game 5:0 for KAC. Back to last night’s game: Medvescak came in Znojmo with another youngster between the pipes: Andrej Vasiljevic. No backup goalie on the bench meant that Vasiljevic has to defend his net for the whole game. Znojmo scored three in first 14 minutes of the game to shake legs of young goalie. Kinasewich manage to score on PP for Medvescak in 16^th minute to ease the pressure (3:1). Znojmo scored another two before half of the game (5:1) and Pascal Morency of Medvescak lost his nerves, provoked a fight and was sent off the ice. Kinasewich scored on PP in the 33^rd minute again (5:2), but that was as much as Zagreb could do. In fact Znojmo also scored on PP situation before the end of the second period to lead comfortably with 6:2. Another two goals for Znojmo were scored during the last period to give Znojmo fans something to celebrate. Those ways Orli jumped over Medvescak on league standings and are now on eighth position

EC Rekord Fenster VSV – Sapa Fehervar AV19  2:4 (1:1,1:2,0:1)

Crisis in Villach goes deeper! Another home defeat means Villach did not win a single home-point this season yet. Both teams were quite equal on the ice at the beginning of the game. Sapa missed two great chances after quick counter attacks to give home team strong warning. Villach came in front in 18^th minute, but ice cold effective counter attack gave Sapa the equalizer seconds before first intermission (1:1). Many nice shots from both sides were seen during the second period, but both goalies performed well. VSV missed a favourable two on one chance in 32^nd minute and another counter attack for Sapa meant another goal (1:2). Villach needed only 16 seconds to level the score though: Markus Peintner scored at 33^rd (2:2). Three really good chances were missed for Villach during the next minutes and punishment came in the last minute of the period once more: Derek Ryan scored only one second before second horn (2:3)!!! A bad pass in Villach’s defence gave Ryan another opportunity in 45^th minute – he did not miss (2:4). VSV didn’t find any answers after that, offering Sapa a couple of chances to increase score, but the result did not change. Sapa won for the fourth time in five consecutive games, leaving VSV without home win and on the last spot in league standings.

Moser Medical Graz 99ers – HDD Tilia Olimpija Ljubljana  0:4 (0:2,0:1,0:1)

Another strong performance from Olimpija! Poor defending right at the start gave guests the lead with 48^th second of the game already. Graz had some great goal scoring chances after that, but guest’s goalie Jean Philippe Lamoreux made amazing saves. On the other side Olimpija scored at 16^th minute (0:2). Graz missed few deadly chances at the beginning of the second period including an empty net chance. Counter attack of Olimpija meant another puck in home net at 27^th minute (0:3). Guests focused the defence and the result hold steady until the end of second period. 99ers tried to do something in the last period, but guest’s goalie was unbeatable last night. Olimpija in fact scored once more in 53^rd minute (0:4). Crowd saw first home defeat of Graz after four consecutive wins and J.P. Lamoreaux came out of the game with his first shoot-out of the season. Very well deserved!

Jean Philippe Lamoreaux: shoot-out

EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz – UPC Vienna Capitals 5:3 (2:0,1:1,2:2)

Home arena in Linz was sold out! Great performances, many goals scored and six previous wins gathered crowd in Linz! Boost from crowd gave Linz an opening goal right in the 1^st minute of the game. Three minutes later: another goal for Linz (2:0). Guests' coach reacted calling a time out and Capitals played better after that. In fact they could come out of first period with a better result if there were more luck and shot accuracy for them. Capitals were offered two power play situations at the beginning of the second period, but nothing happened. Punishment came in 30^th minute when first power play situation for Linz extended their lead (3:0). Later in the game guests' goalie performed very well to keep Capitals only three goals behind. Vienna managed to score in 38^th minute (3:1) to give their fans some hope for last period.  Black Wings were obviously satisfied with result at the beginning of the last period. Vienna pushed forward, but home goalie performed well. The crowd saw three goals in 50^th minute, two scored by Linz. First one was scored in PP situation (4:1), shortly after followed by another goal (5:1). Vienna scored only seconds after (5:2) and came even closer two minutes later (5:3). Strong offensive against home side did not produce more goals though and it all ended up with seventh consecutive win for Linz.

EC KAC – HK Acroni Jesenice  8:5 (2:1,4:2,2:2)

There was no doubt which team is favourite last night. Former Slovenian hockey star Ivo Jan said on TV that referees will probably give some advantage for KAC during the first period. That did not happen during first minutes of the game: Thomas Hundertpfund was sent off plus KAC was given 5 minutes penalty for boarding. Jan’s words became flash in the next minutes when Jesenice were given penalty for too many players on the ice plus another minor penalty for delaying the game. It's resulted in two goals for KAC in 6^th and 8^th minute and protests at referees from Jesenice’s bench. Both goals were scored due some gaps in guest’s defence. Jesenice came closer in 12^th minute after PP goal. Nothing significant happened later during the first period. KAC scored at the beginning of second period (3:1) and guests change their goalie. Jesenice came closer once again in 24^th minute (3:2), but KAC answered with three goals in 26^th, 27^th and 34^th minute (6:2). Jesenice scored PP goal in 39^th minute to finish second period with three goals behind (6:3). Another PP goal in 43^rd minute gave Jesenice boost (6:4). Guests were flying on the ice and counter attack goal in 49^th minute (6:5) gave them hopes for equalizer. Another good chance was missed for guests and KAC used a gap in Jesenice’s defence to extend the lead (7:5) in 53^rd minute. Power play goal for KAC (8:5) sealed the game in 56^th minute of the game. KAC remains on top of the league standings leaving Jesenice with four points only at the tenth place.

Schedule for Round Nr.12, Sunday, October 16^th

Zagreb (CRO): KHL Medvescak Zagreb – EHC Black Wings Linz

Salzburg: Red Bull Salzburg – EC KAC

Szekesfehervar (HUN): Sapa Fehervar AV19 – HK Acroni Jesenice

Ljubljana (SLO): HDD Tilia Olimpija – EC VSV

Vienna: UPC Vienna Capitals – Graz 99ers

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