EBEL - 18th round review

EHL Liwest Black wings Linz – HK Acroni Jesenice  3:2 (1:0,1:2,0:0,0:0,1:0) p.s.

Great win in Salzburg on Friday and thirteen consecutive point winning games packed ice hall in Linz for the game against another team from steelworks city: Slovenian champions Acroni Jesenice. Guests themselves won points on last six games in a row. Game itself started a bit different home fans expected: no real pressure against guests was seen. Jesenice players were very fast and aggressive and it was very hard for Black wings players to develop their well known attacking hockey. It looked like that on the ice until 17^th minute when quick power play break put Linz players in front (1:0). It was guests again at the beginning of second period who dominated. Home goalie had to perform well to keep his team in the lead. Award for Jesenice came in 26^th minute when their committed playing gave them an equalizer (1:1). Linz improved their performance later, but it took another five minutes for them to prepare another goal scoring opportunity. Anyway, it was counter attack from guests in 34^th minute giving home fans something to worry about (1:2). Shock was annihilated a minute later when Pat Leahy levelled the score (2:2). The result after two periods was nevertheless quite a surprise. It was clear that guests came to Linz to win points. Black wings struggled to find any chance against strong Jesenice defence during the third period and game went into overtime. Guests were given a minor penalty in 62^nd minute and Linz fired three dangerous shots towards guest’s goal, but nothing changed. Guests later on missed both first penalty shots and Rob Hisey and Mike Ouellette scored for Linz to decide a winner. It was fourteenth consecutive –at least one – point winning game for Linz who is now 8 points ahead of KAC on top of the league. Guests on the other hand are gathering points slowly as well and they moved up one place to spot Nr.9.

EC KAC – KHL Medvescak Zagreb  4:6 (1:0,0:3,3:3)

Guests from Croatia came to Klagenfurt with one big wish: to show their – later denied at green table – win against KAC in Zagreb was not pure coincidence. Great pace was set by both teams during opening minutes of the game. Both goalies had to show all of their skills in front of 4000 fans, many of those were Medvescak’s. KAC presented their new forward Jordan Morrison. KAC came in front in 8^th minute when Raphael Herburger scored (1:0). It was Slava Trukhno, Greg Day and Pascal Morency who missed good opportunities for Medvescak to score later in first period. Trukhno in fact missed an empty net during power play in 16^th minute. Trukhno and Morency redeemed in second period when they turned the result upside down in 22^nd (1:1) and 27^th (1:2) minute. Morrison failed to lift puck over guest’s goalie Robert Kristan, who was lying on ice in 27^th minute and Medvescak was the dangerous team afterwards. It all ended up with Joel Prpic’s goal in 40^th minute (1:3). KAC came closer in 42^nd minute’s power play (2:3) and was given penalty shot shortly after, but Kristan saved it. Andy Sertich scored power play goal for guests in 47^th minute (2:4) and Ryan Kinasewich added another in 49^th (2:5). Herburger score his second of the night to put KAC closer in 57^th minute (3:5) and home goalie was exchanged for an extra skater. Mike Siklenka scored for KAC in 58^th minute (4:5) to give home fans a bit of hope, but despite enormous pressure against them Medvescak didn’t allow another goal. In fact Slava Trukhno hit the empty net to give KAC their first home defeat in eight this season’s home games. KAC remain second in the league, but is now 8 points behind Linz already. Medvescak is seventh.

Vyaceslav Trukhno, Medvescak: two goals

Sapa Fehervar AV19 – UPC Vienna Capitals  1:3 (0:1,1:2,0:0)

It seems Sapa slowly subsides in terms of results. Their hockey was on the other hand surprisingly attacking during the first period. Christian Borgatello, Csaba Kovacs, Ladislav Sikorcin and Gergo Nagy missed good goal scoring opportunities for Sapa and punishment came in 19^th minute when Filip Gunnarsson scored for Vienna (0:1). Kovacs again, Viktor Tokaji and Arpad Mihaly kept guest’s goalie Reinhard Divis well warmed at the beginning of second period. It all ended up similar to first period, only this time Capitals scored twice: Jonathan Ferland in 32^nd minute (0:2) and Daniel Nageler in 37^th (0:3). Young home goalie Bence Balisz was then exchanged for experienced Adam Munro. And what a boost it was for home team: Marton Vas scored after only 24 seconds (1:3). Guests failed to score on three-on-one situation at the beginning of third period and Sapa was desperate to come closer. Few of their good chances were missed. Vienna was given minor penalty two minutes from time, but Sapa failed to score. In fact they failed to score on their eight last night’s power play situations. Sapa remains fifth in the league with 18 points, Vienna is point shorter on sixth place.

EC Red bull Salzburg – HC Orli Znojmo  5:3 (2:2,2:0,1:1)

Ales Stanek scored in 3^rd minute for Znojmo (0:1) to show Austrian champions there’s no easy opposition in EBEL. Doug Lynch levelled the score in 5^th minute (1:1). Both teams performed well later during the period. Ramzi Abid put Red bulls in front in 17^th minute (2:1), but Lubomir Stach levelled the score 24 seconds later (2:2). Second period wasn’t so substantial. Ryan Kavanagh scored in 31^st (3:2) and 33^rd (PP, 4:2) minute to give home team comfortable advance for last period. Czechs missed a nice opportunity to score in 44^th minute and it was all decided 55^th minute when Ramzi Abid scored his second of the night in PP situation (5:2). Lubomir Stach later scored shorthanded goal for Znojmo in 59^th minute (5:3). It was Salzburg’s seventh win in eight home games this season. They are currently at position Nr.4 in the league standings, Orli are now tenth.

EC Rekord fenster VSV – Moser Medical Graz 99ers  4:1 (1:0,1:1,2:0)

Both teams began last night’s game in very precautious manner. They were concentrating on defence mainly. It was Graz actually who attacked first more seriously, but there weren’t any big problems for home goalie to stop their attempts. It all looked to finish with no goals in first period when Craig Weller scored 8 seconds before first intermission (1:0). It all continued at the beginning of second period: Markus Peintner scored from short distance in 22^nd minute (2:0). Graz’s’ confidence was shaken after that and VSV failed to score on three good chances. It all helped 99ers to find their play again and they managed to come closer in 37^th minute (2:1). Derek Damon and Slovenian national team captain Tomaz Razingar performed nice break in 42^nd minute: it ended up in lead extension for VSV (3:1). Graz wasn’t too dangerous later during the period. 99ers failed to repeat their Friday’s achievement from Jesenice when they played pale as well, but managed to win the game in last few minutes. This time it was VSV who scored in dying seconds of the game hitting the empty net of Graz (4:1). VSV is still on the bottom of EBEL with 10 points only, Graz is eighth with four points more.

Schedule for nineteenth round, Friday, November 4^th:

Zagreb (CRO): KHL Medvescak – EC Red bull Salzburg

Znojmo (CZE): HC Orli Znojmo – HK Acroni Jesenice

Ljubljana (SLO): HDD Tilia Olimpija – Sapa Fehervar AV19

Linz: Black wings Linz – EC VSV

Vienna: Vienna Capitals – EC KAC

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