Black Wings with great morale: Kristler Festival against Bolzano

It’s just not meant to be that the Steinbach Black Wings have everyone on board yet. Contrary to what was announced, one player was also missing from the 42nd ice hockey match of the season due to injury. Defender Martin Stajnoch was not there for the hard-fought 4:3 (0:0, 2:1, 2:2) win over HC Bozen. The 3,707 fans in the Linz AG ice arena could live with that, they celebrated their EHC, which shone with great morale in this key match for a top 6 position.

The Upper Austrians improved to fifth place, meaning they are currently on the direct play-off course. However, without any respect for the hunters. Villach (6th) and Innsbruck (7th) are breathing down Philipp Lukas’ team’s neck. In the last match before the international break, the successful run could go into extra time, because on Sunday (5.30 p.m., live ticker on ) there will be a showdown with the favorite opponent in Kagran. The Black Wings clearly won the previous three duels of the season with the Vienna Capitals – 5:2, 4:1, 8:1.

Reactions in seconds

The Linzers were also in a scoring mood against Bozen, even though the score had been zero until the 37th minute. But then it clicked. Andreas Kristler in particular was in top form and was involved in all four EHC direct goals. The striker recorded four scorer points – three assists and the goal to make it 3-2 (48./pp2).

The “Foxes” from South Tyrol had led 1-0 (26th), a double strike from Sean Collins (37th) and Logan Roe (38th/pp) within 94 seconds turned the tables for the time being – 2-1. The Wings always had a timely response to Bozen’s comeback. Kristler replied to Christian Thomas’ 2:2 (46th) just 88 seconds later with the 3:2. There were only 87 seconds between Domenic Alberga’s 3:3 (55th) and Collins’ winning goal (56th).

It’s good if you can react like that. Especially against an opponent who has previously triumphed four times in a row.

EC Salzburg - Graz99ers             9:1      (2:1,3:0,4:0)    
EC VSV - Olimpija Ljubljana         3:2 n.V.
Fehervar AV19 - Vienna Capitals     2:1      (0:1,1:0,1:0)    
Black Wings Linz - HCB Südtirol     4:3      (0:0,2:1,2:2)    
Pioneers Vorarlberg - Asiago Hockey 6:2      (1:0,1:1,4:1)    
Pustertal Wölfe - EC-KAC            1:7      (1:3,0:2,0:2)

 1. EC-KAC              43 26 3 6  8  162:96  66 90 *
 2. Fehervar AV19       43 26 2 3 12 140:117  23 85 *
 3. EC Salzburg         43 22 5 4 12 130:101  29 80  
 4. HCB Südtirol        42 21 4 0 17 120:106  14 71  
 5. Black Wings Linz    42 17 5 8 12 137:109  28 69  
 6. EC VSV              42 18 5 4 15 142:123  19 68  
 7. HC Innsbruck        42 16 7 6 13 122:119   3 68  
 8. Pustertal Wölfe     43 17 5 4 17 126:126   0 65  
 9. Olimpija Ljubljana  43 16 5 4 18 134:132   2 62  
10. Pioneers Vorarlberg 43 16 3 3 21 138:139  -1 57  
11. Vienna Capitals     43  8 7 7 21 107:157 -50 45  
12. Asiago Hockey       42  7 5 8 22 108:171 -63 39  
13. Graz99ers           43  6 5 4 28  83:153 -70 32

* fixed in the play-off quarterfinals