Red Bull Salzburg completed their third ice hockey masterpiece in a row. The defending champion surprisingly retained the upper hand 6:2 (2:0, 2:0, 2:2) in the seventh and final game of the ICE Hockey League’s best-of-seven final series at the KAC on Friday.
In the third final duel between the two teams, Salzburg prevailed for the second time and can call themselves champions for the eleventh time in the club’s history. Record champions KAC missed their 33rd triumph. Klagenfurt. The fans in the sold-out Klagenfurt town hall and at the public viewing at the Benediktinermarkt had to watch an extremely one-sided final.
Nicolai Meyer with a brace (8th, 38th), Peter Hochkofler (17th), Thomas Raffl (21st), Lucas Thaler (43rd) and Benjamin Nissner (57th/EN) ensured clear conditions in favor of the guests. The Carinthians only managed cosmetic results thanks to Paul Postma (44th) and Raphael Herburger (53rd). As in the final series between the two clubs in 2009 and 2011, the champion was only crowned in the seventh match; as in 2011, Salzburg had the better end.
Salzburg experienced an almost perfect game in front of 4,407 spectators. After 7:26 minutes, Meyer quickly took off following a face-off and hit the ball right into the corner. Peter Schneider failed to follow up straight away. Hochkofler made it 0-2 following 16:30 minutes by deflecting a Robertson shot into an unsustainable position. Immediately following the restart, things continued in the same vein, a backhand goal from Raffl finally set the stage for victory.
The KAC always found one or the other opportunity, but at the latest with goalie Atte Tolvanen it was the end of the line. This even when the home team had a double majority following just over 26 minutes. Salzburg, on the other hand, shone with efficiency. Meyer added goal number four once more. The 30-year-old Dane, who scored the decisive championship goal once morest Bozen last year, played a key role once more this time. His return campaign in February absolutely paid off.
At the beginning of the third period, the next KAC shock followed with Thaler making it 0:5. The consolation goals from Postma and Herburger delighted the audience in the Heidi Horten Arena, but they were no longer able to bring any real excitement into the action. As a result, the Klagenfurt team was no longer able to bring regarding a turnaround in the series in which they had forced a seventh game with a 4-1 win in Salzburg on Tuesday. Benjamin Nissner (57./EN) then scored into the empty goal. In contrast to the 2-1 in Bolzano 2023, game seven was a much clearer affair this time.
