EBEL - round 14

HDD Tilia Olimpija Ljubljana – EC KAC  6:0 (2:0,3:0,1:0)

Olimpija lost Slovenian derby after penalty shooting on Friday against Jesenice. Nothing changed in confidence of dragons though. For once in this season even the crowd was pretty big and it gave big boost to home side. KAC on the other hand did not play a game on Friday and wanted to defend their second position in the league standings. Both teams missed two nice goal scoring opportunities in an opening five minutes of the game. Things happened in 8^th minute though: Olimpija scored on power play (1:0), not one of their best features so far in the season. Guests from Klagenfurt failed to monetize their power play in 11^th minute, home goalie was very confident.  Olimpija was in fact close to second goal playing shorthanded. Another power play for Olimpija extended the lead in 20^th minute: Justin Taylor scored his second of the night (2:0). Middle period did not offer such a good hockey, yet Olimpija managed to score three more goals. They scored shorthanded goal in 27^th minute (3:0) after quick counter attack and 2 on 1 situation. Great one-timer from Matej Hocevar in 29^th minute extended home side lead (4:0). It was one way traffic after that: Olimpija scored again in 35^th minute (5:0) to destroy KAC’s confidence totally. It was all decided after two periods. KAC wasn’t dangerous at all during the final period and Ales Music scored on penalty shot in 51^st minute (6:0) to finish the game as the best player of the night. Olimpija overtook KAC on second position of the league standings in style.

Ales Music, Olimpija: MVP of the game

EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz – Moser Medical Graz 99ers  4:1 (1:1,2:0,1:0)

Graz lost Friday’s home game against Medvescak (1:6) and was eager to perform better in Linz. They started the game in very attacking manner, but home goalie Alex Westlund was confident defending his team’s early shorthanded playing. On the other side Patrick Leahy hit the post playing in first power play situation of the night for Linz. He scored shorthanded goal in sixth minute though (1:0). 99ers levelled the score in 10^th minute when Mathias Iberer scored very precisely (1:1). The most scoring team in the league (Linz) answered with enormous pressure. Graz struggled in defence, many minor penalties were whistled against them. Black wings hit the post another two times, but the result remained unchanged until the end of first period. Graz 99ers hit the post of Westlund’s goal themselves at the beginning of middle period. Linz surprisingly wasn’t much active on the offensive side. Graz’s goal was disallowed on occasion and Linz scored from Justin Keller’s solo action in 33^rd minute (2:1). Brian Lebler surprised guest’s goalie Weinhandl from right side in 38^th minute to extend Linz’s lead (3:1). Power play situation for Black wings in 43^rd minute gave spectators last goal of the night (4:1). Graz hit the post in 49^th minute and had some more power play situations to come closer, but Linz defended their lead without any serious problems. Linz extended their lead on top of the league as KAC lost in Ljubljana. Graz is currently on position Nr.7.

KHL Medvescak Zagreb – HK Acroni Jesenice  0:1 (0:0,0:0,0:1)

Medvescak finished their Friday's game away in Graz in style: they celebrated their star-goalie’s return with comfortable win over Graz(6:1). There were high expectations for the game against Slovenian champions, too. Fully packed Dom Sportova hailed Robert Kristan (born and raised in Jesenice) with great enthusiasm. On the other side, there was his back-up goalie for the last two seasons, Gasper Kroselj defending his net for Jesenice. Jesenice won Slovenian derby on Friday and came to Zagreb with confidence. Medvescak was trying to put some pressure on guests’ right from the start, but Jesenice’s defence was very strong. Bears fired 13 shots towards Kroselj during the first period and let steelers from Jesenice shot only 3 pucks towards Kristan. No goals were scored though. Home crowd was very loud seeing another 11 pucks fired towards Kroselj during the second period. Guests from Jesenice fired five shots, but it is fair to say their shots were very dangerous. Marcus Olsson in fact already beat Kristan once, but the puck did not cross the goal line. Both goalies kept their nets clean after 40 minutes of playing. Great offensive from Bears was performed during first minutes of the last period. Guests played with great discipline in defence and were looking for some counter attack chance to threaten home goalie. It happened in 47^th minute: Antti Pusa fired almost from blue line, Kristan was partly covered and puck ended up in his net (0:1). Home team fired 14 pucks towards Kroselj during last period alone (Jesenice shot 3), but guests managed to keep the net clear. Jesenice are now ahead of Medvescak on league place Nr9 due to better goal difference, and Medvescak is 10^th.

Gasper Kroselj, Jesenice: shoot-out

UPC Vienna Capitals – EC Red Bull Salzburg  2:4 (0:2,2:2,0:0)

Vienna came into the game too aggressive. Many penalties were whistled against home side and shorthanded playing took a lot of steam out of home team’s performance. Marco Brucker scored on 9^th minute power play situation for Salzburg (0:1). Later in the period both sides had their counter attack goal scoring opportunities, two were missed by Vienna and one by Red bulls. Ryan Kavanagh scored on another power play situation for Salzburg in 16^th minute (0:2). Capitals were not in shock and they pushed against guest’s goalie really hard. In fact – on two occasions only centimetres separated Vienna from scoring a goal and on another such occasion Nathan Robinson missed to tip the puck over the line for home side. Salzburg scored their third power play goal of the night in 24^th minute (0:3). Another goal for Salzburg in 26^th minute (0:4) already sealed the game. It is fair to say that Capitals played without five important players. Jonathan Ferland scored first for Vienna in 34^th minute. He came on ice from penalty bench seconds before and blasted the puck into guest’s net. Herald Ofner was sent off the ice for boarding and Vienna defended in style: Daniel Nageler scored shorthanded goal in 36^th minute (2:4). Another great opportunity was missed for Vienna before the end of second period. Vienna tried to come closer during the last twenty minutes of the game. Some great chances were missed and guests’ goalie saved Salzburg on occasions, but the result did not change. It was Salzburg’s second away win of the season. They are currently on the position Nr.5 in the league; Capitals are eighth.

HC Orli Znojmo – EC Rekord Fenster VSV  2:3 (0:1,2:0,0:1,0:1) o.t.

VSV started the game very defensively. Orli had to do something against well organized defence of Villach. They weren’t successful: Guests scored on counter attack in 15^th minute (0:1) when Markus Peintner reached his sixth point in six games since he joined VSV. Nothing changed after that: VSV continued to defend carefully and Znojmo didn’t pass well. Orli equalized in 32^nd minute (1:1) when Adam Havlik scored on rebound. Another rebound for Znojmo was realized in 38^th minute (2:1), only this time it was shorthanded goal by Martin Planek. It was sixth such goal against Villach in 13 games and they really need to improve on that. Benjamin Petrik levelled the score in power play situation for VSV in 52^nd minute. Znojmo later on didn’t produce anything during their own PP situation and the game went in over-time. Both sides were penalized during over-time. Villach’s coach called time out and Kevin Mitchell scored after that to give VSV second consecutive win. They are still on the bottom of the league though, Znojmo holds position Nr.6.

Kevin Mitchell, VSV: match winner

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