EBEL: a review of the season so far

20 rounds have been played in Austrian based EBEL league. There are also teams from Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia.

EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz are the most successful team so far. They played 18 games so far (being free of duty on two game nights as league has 11 clubs in it). Black wings won on 15 occasions and were beaten once in overtime and now have 31 points on top of the league. They are followed by HDD Tilia Olimpija Ljubljana which nobody expected at the beginning of the season. Olimpija is trailing seven points, having won on 11 of their 18 games. EC KAC from Klagenfurt is on third place; they won 11 out of their 17 games played, but are point shorter of Olimpija. Teams get two points for any kind of win (straight win after 60 minutes, overtime win, penalty shots win) and are rewarded with one point for losing in overtime or after penalty shots.

Standings

#	Club	G	W	W-OT	L-OT	L	Score	P
1	EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz	18	11	4	1	2	71:51	31
2	HDD Tilia Olimpija Ljubljana	18	8	3	2	5	51:42	24
3	Klagenfurter AC	17	11	0	1	5	62:47	23
4	SAPA Fehervar AV19	19	8	2	2	7	62:58	22
5	EC Red Bull Salzburg	18	8	2	2	6	60:62	22
6	KHL Medvescak Zagreb	18	7	2	2	7	62:52	20
7	UPC Vienna Capitals	19	5	3	3	8	68:68	19
8	Moser Medical Graz 99ers	18	6	2	0	10	52:62	16
9	Orli Znojmo	17	5	1	3	8	47:61	15
10	HK Acroni Jesenice	18	4	1	5	8	47:61	15
11	EC REKORD-Fenster VSV	18	5	1	0	12	43:61	12

Stats

The best team in penalty killing statistics is Red Bull Salzburg (88,04%), followed by Black Wings Linz (85,90%) and EC VSV Villach (85,71%). UPC Vienna Capitals are the worst in EBEL, killing exactly 70,00% of their penalties. Red Bulls and Black Wings both conceded 11 goals in penalty killing situations, Vienna 27.

KHL Medvescak Zagreb scored 7 shorthanded goals to lead that statistics, Graz 99ers, Sapa Fehervar and Acroni Jesenice managed to score only one shorthanded goal.

Medvescak Zagreb is also leading power play efficiency statistics: they score on 25,97% of such occasions. They are followed by Red Bull Salzburg (24,04%) and Graz 99ers (22,78%). HC Orli Znojmo are last in category (13,54%).

HK Acroni Jesenice did not concede any goal playing power play. Medvescak, Olimpija, Vienna and Znojmo are following with one goal conceded. VSV players were the most careless; they conceded as much as 8 goals playing power play.

Sapa Fehervar is on top of fair play statistics. They are penalized with average 12,63 minutes per game. Olimpija is following with 15,67 minutes/game average, Black Wings Linz are next with 17,22 minutes/game average. EC Rekord fenster VSV is the most undisciplined team with as much as 25,50 minutes of penalties average per game. EC KAC was given 87 minor (2 min.) penalties, VSV was penalized 129 times for that statistics. Sapa Fehervar’s players were not sent off the ice (no game misconduct for Sapa), Vienna Capitals, Red bull Salzburg, Medvescak Zagreb and Acroni Jesenice players “earned” 4 game misconducts each.

Black Wings Linz are the most successful home team. They won 8 out of 10 home games, lost once in overtime/penalty shots situation winning 17 points. EC VSV won only 2 out of their 8 home games. Linz is also leading away games statistics, having won 7 of their 8 away games (14 away points). HC Orli Znojmo are last in that statistics, winning 5 points away only (2 wins and 1 overtime/penalty shots defeat) in 8 games.

Tomislav Zanoski of Medvescak Zagreb is the most single penalized player in EBEL so far (82 minutes). Martin Tuma (78 minutes) and Antti Pusa (75 minutes), both of Acroni Jesenice are next.

Benoit Gratton of Vienna Capitals is leading player statistics with 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists). He is followed by Mike Ouellette of Black wings Linz with 27 (11+16) points. Third is Brett Lysak of Graz 99ers with 24 (9+15) points.

Derek Ryan of Sapa Fehervar scored 14 goals so far. He is followed by his team mate Istvan Sofron with 13. Benoit Gratton (Vienna), Mike Ouellette (Linz) and Ryan Kinasewich (KHL Medvescak) scored 11 times. Benoit Gratton (Vienna), John Hughes (Olimpija), Thomas Raffl (Salzburg) and Kirk Furey (KAC) are leading assistants in the league (17 assists so far). Justin Keller of Black wings Linz fired 97 shots against opposition so far (scoring 8 goals). Ramzi Abid of Salzburg fired 75 times (9 goals) and Francois Fortier of Vienna tried 73 times (scoring 6 goals).

Curtis Murphy (Linz) is leading +/- statistics with 15+ points. He is followed by Kirk Furey (KAC) with 14+ points and Mike Ouellette with 12+ points. Tomaz Razingar (-12), Craig Weller (-14) and Derek Damon (-18), all EC VSV Villach players are on the bottom of this category.

Robert Kristan of Medvescak Zagreb is the best goal keeper so far with 93,9% of saved shots. He is followed by Jean Philippe Lamoreux (Tilia Olimpija) with 93,4% and Gasper Kroselj (Acroni Jesenice) with 92,9% shots saved. J.P.Lamoreux (Olimpija) managed to keep his net clear three times. Filip Landsman of Orli Znojmo has two shutouts on his account so far. They are followed by Robert Kristan (Medvescak), Gasper Kroselj (Acroni Jesenice), Rene Swette (KAC) and Fabian Weinhandl (Graz 99ers) have one shutout on their account.

Comments about the eleven teams:

Black wings Linz are sovereign and full of confidence. They deserve to be on top of the league standings. They renewed the team completely before start of the season, including new coach. They managed to make some gap between them and other teams in the league and have peace to keep their good work going on.

HDD Tilia Olimpija is – as mentioned on number of occasions before – surprisingly high. Much of their success is based on extraordinary goalie J.P.Lamoreux. Their reserves come from potential improvement in attack. There’s also an option of going down in league standings, as some spectators are still in doubt about team from Ljubljana. Their position regarding their performances is well deserved.

EC KAC is one of the biggest favourites in the league. It always is. Their position as third could be better if they weren’t losing their last few games. They are well protected by referees and are expected to improve during season’s proceedings.

Sapa Fehervar is another surprise team in the league. Hungarian champions were more participants than serious contenders for high places in previous seasons. This seasons’ team is based on good goalie Adam Munro and some outstanding foreign players (Eric Johansson and Derek Ryan), well accompanied by Hungarian players. They are well known for their defensive effort and quick and lethal breaks.

Champions Red Bull Salzburg as usual had a quiet opening to the season. The richest team in the league needs to improve on defence, as they conceded too many goals so far. They are expected to be serious contenders for another league title, therefore their performances will probably improve.

Medvescak Zagreb played with variable success so far. They have outstanding support by fans, their Dom sportova hall is sold out constantly. Their biggest problem is lack of good home grown players. Their success depends on chemistry between foreign players. They also have strong advantage in their star goalie – Slovenian national team goal keeper Robert Kristan – an iconic figure in Zagreb.

Vienna Capitals are disappointment so far. They expected a lot from this season and they always do. Big amount of money was invested in team and in renewing their hockey hall. They are expected to do better in forthcoming months, otherwise there will be changes in team.

Graz 99ers is another team that disappointed. Their wishes aim higher than eighth position in the league. There are rumours about money problems around. They need to improve both attacking and defensive performances if they plan to play any serious role in the league this season.

HC Orli Znojmo are newcomers in the league. Nobody really didn’t know what to expect from what was once Czech Extra liga member. They are leaning on their young players. Change of coach brought some good performances to team. Anyway, they are not expected to play any significant role this season, but they could surprise.

HK Acroni Jesenice is dealing with all sorts of problems; their biggest is money. Players pompous announced in Jesenice did not show up at start of the season. Best home-grown players are all around the world, foreign players are not exactly stars. They have faithful group of supporters and are eager to reach play off after two consecutive seasons without it.

VSV Villach is deservedly on bottom of the league. Their coach Mike Stewart was known as player who fist-fight on many occasions. It seems he instructs his players to do the same. VSV presented them on many occasions as dirty playing team and needs to improve on almost every aspect of the game to avoid the last position in EBEL.

Referees

Referees need to be mentioned extra. Although there were even more evident “mistakes” in favour of Austrian teams in previous seasons all 5 non-Austrian teams have serious complains about refereeing. Penalties are whistled against Slovenian, Croatian, Hungarian and Czech teams on crucial points of the games. Clear fouls against those teams are not penalized and that is occasionally dangerous for players. Although it seems that with many non-Austrian referees that problems fades it is still quite acute.

Schedule for next, 21st round, November 16th,2011:

Villach: EC VSV – HC Orli Znojmo
Jesenice (SLO): HK Acroni Jesenice – KHL Medvescak Zagreb
Salzburg: EC Red bull Salzburg – Vienna Capitals
Klagenfurt: EC KAC – HDD Tilia Olimpija
Graz: Moser Medical Graz 99ers – EHC Black wings Linz

 

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