Just when the Austrian champions, Red Bull Salzburg, were guests in the Champions Hockey League, the Austrian U20 national champion Benedikt Oschgan was able to celebrate his professional debut for the Växjö Lakers. The 19-year-old was rewarded for four very strong games in the Swedish U20 league, in which the Linz player was able to save 93.4 percent of all shots. He wore the number 35, with no name printed on it.
Statt Alps Hockey League nun Champions Hockey League
The Linzer’s plans would have been different. Because the Steel Wings had to withdraw their entry for the Alps Hockey League, Black Wings goalie coach Jürgen Penker tapped into his contacts in Sweden and helped Oschgan get a trial training session in Växjö. Scheduled for the J20 National, i.e. the U20 league, the Linzer was already on the bench as a backup in the SHL last weekend. On Tuesday he made his first start.
The Austrian champions started the game well and caused problems for the Swedes with aggressive forechecking at the beginning. But Benedikt Oschgan was wide awake and was able to distinguish himself time and time again. In front of 4,238 spectators, the home team took the lead through Ludvig Nilsson in the 17th minute of the game.
216 days before that, Benedikt Oschgan’s opponent was also Salzburg. In Game 5 of the best-of-five semi-final series of the U20 Championship at the Red Bull Academy, Linz were down 3-0 after 32 minutes, but managed to equalize and win in the penalty shootout, making the Upper Austrians national champions. Linz carried the momentum into the final series, but fell to Ujpest Budapest after a 2-0 series lead with three championship match pucks. Oschgan and Co sneaked into the medal ceremony like watered poodles from Hungarian ice cream. Nevertheless, a little later the pride of winning the state championship took over.
Substituted injured when the score was 1-1
That’s how it will soon be when Oschgan looks at his professional debut in the rearview mirror. After 50 minutes of play without conceding a goal, Lucas Thaler (51′) blocked his view so well that the Salzburg player’s backhand shot was able to land with virtually no resistance. The 20th shot on the Swedes’ goal was missed. Just a few seconds later, Oschgan limped off the ice injured. The Linzer only saw the fact that his team lost the game 3-1 in the last three minutes from the dressing room. He finished his first professional game with a catch rate of 95.24 percent.
Salzburg qualified for the knockout phase of the CHL with the away win.
Listen to Benedikt Oschgan and the U20 national champions in the icebreaker podcast:
The ice hockey academy’s U20 team started the playoffs as gross underdogs, but then made it to the final and ultimately became state champions.
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