The EC iDM heat pumps VSV had to admit defeat to their arch rivals from Klagenfurt with 3:5 in the 356th Carinthian derby. The “Eagles”, who were only able to convince in the first third, took too many penalties and were once again too unfocused defensively.
1st third
The 356th Carinthian Derby began, completely contrary to expectations, with a game-defining EC VSV, which was aggressive in the duels and therefore got off to a perfect start. After John Hughes finished completely alone in the slot, Alex Wall only had to push the rebound over the line to give the “Eagles” a 1-0 lead. In the 5th minute of the game it was again the high-class technician John Hughes who served Maximilian Rebernig with a sugar pass, who scored in goalgetter style to make it 2-0. The “Eagles” absolutely dominated the game throughout the first third and literally restricted the “Red Jackets” in their zone. The statistics underline this: VSV won 55.8% of its duels, checked 15 times and gave the Klagenfurters nothing – ex-Klagenfurt Thomas Vallant led the way as leader, shining with four checks and three wins.
2nd third
“Blau-Weiß” started the third well and even had a power play during a period of pressure, in which they had no opportunity to score. In addition, the “Eagles” were physically present, did not shy away from a duel and impressed the KAC. Although they were strong even when they were outnumbered, they had to accept Mursak’s goal in the 30th minute of the game when they were numerically inferior – the bitter aftertaste: Mursak actually hindered the creation of the goal by JP Lamoureux in the goal area. Despite this obvious adversity, the referees awarded a goal after reviewing the video footage. The Klagenfurt team, now clearly in control, also managed to equalize 2-2 in this phase after Lamoureux was unable to defuse a long-range shot from Aabo due to a lack of visibility.
3rd third
The “Eagles” were now visibly nervous, took too many penalties and had to accept the “Red Jackets”’ first lead of the evening – Fraser, completely free-standing, scored the 2:3 from the slot. Villach now had little control over the game, continued to produce outnumbered situations and were clearly inferior to the KAC. Matthias From even made it 2:4 in the 53rd minute of the game. The “Eagles”, who didn’t give up, got within 3:4 at Empty Net through Guus van Nes, but allowed an Empty Net goal from Matt Fraser, which sealed the defeat. The EC VSV remained without a win in the 4th encounter of the win2day ICE Hockey League 2024/25 and has to wait for the first point.
win2day ICE Hockey League:
EC KAC – EC iDM Heat pumps VSV 5:3
0:1 Wall (2.) 0:2 Rebernig (5.) 1:2 Mursak (30.) 2:2 Aabo (32.) 3:2 Fraser (41. PP) 4:2 From (53.) 4:3 Pearson (57.) 5:3 Fraser (60.)
Photos: VSV/Krammer
