It wasn’t meant to be again. The Steinbach Black Wings are still at the bottom of the table without a point after the third match of the ICE Hockey League. After the two 0:5 defeats in Bolzano and against KAC, Philipp Lukas’ team lost 1:2 (1:1, 0:1, 0:0) to the Vienna Capitals on Friday. The injury worries are not getting any less. Before kick-off, Shawn St-Amant, who is suffering from a lower body injury (duration of absence uncertain), was the fourth striker to withdraw after Emilio Romig (imminent end to the season), Brodi Stuart and Stefan Gaffal.
But there are two glimmers of hope: On Saturday, the Upper Austrians will present two (foreign) attackers, who will then be used away on Sunday (5.30 p.m., ORF Sport+) against the Graz 99ers, who are still flawless after a 6-4 win over Villach . You shouldn’t expect miracles, but you should definitely expect more squad depth and increased competition for the body.
Picture gallery: Black Wings lost 1:2 to Vienna
(Photo: Business Administration / Hannes Draxler) Bild 1/18
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Premiere goal from Henrik Neubauer
Against Vienna, the Black Wings only got four forward lines on the ice, with Raffael Aigner making his season debut. In the first two thirds, the uncertainty was almost palpable in front of 3,529 eyewitnesses in the Linz AG ice arena. That also changed the 1-0 (15th) by Austro-Swede Henrik Neubauer, who shook off a league jam that lasted 134:49 minutes after a poke in front of the opponent’s goal. That should have given the Black Wings security, strength and confidence. But it wasn’t like that.
For 40 minutes the level was pretty manageable, there wasn’t too much from the Capitals either – but overall there was more. National team defender Dominique Heinrich made it 1-1 before the first break (19th), Jeremy Gregoire was there after 33:03 minutes in the power play when Sean Collins warmed the “cooler” due to a high stick.
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“A bit paralyzed out there”
It was only in the final section that there was more enthusiasm, speed and pressure in the EHC’s game, but they were unable to capitalize on some outnumbered situations. It didn’t want to happen again.
“Our energy was okay. It’s difficult at the moment, nothing is easy for us at the moment. The execution suffers as a result. The positive thing was that we were in the game, that we fought,” analyzed Black Wings coach Philipp Lukas : “We’re having difficulties with our game, it seems like we’re a bit paralyzed out there. It was hopeless at times for the first 40 minutes, but there were signs in the last third. We have to build on that.” Postscript: “What will get us out of this is solidarity.”
Marco Brucker also appreciated the latter. The 33-year-old was bid farewell to ice hockey retirement by the Linz team – with his last game jersey and a Black Wings gin as gifts. There was a standing ovation for that.
Also listen to the current episode of the icebreaker podcast:
Just in time for the start of the season, we take a look behind the scenes of the organization with Nina Ettinger and Michael Geltner from the Steinbach Black Wings office team.
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