In the upcoming best-of-three series against Villach, the Steinbach Black Wings Linz are fighting for a place in the quarterfinals of the win2day ICE hockey league. In Game 1 of the pre-playoffs, Brian Lebler and Co. will face the Eagles on foreign ice tomorrow evening.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, the Steinbach Black Wings will start the pre-playoffs of the ICE Hockey League. In the first game of the best-of-three series, the team around captain Brian Lebler is challenged away from EC VSV. Only one point separated the two teams after the regular round – with the better end for Villach, who were able to secure home advantage. Offensively, the Carinthians presented themselves accurately: 148 goals scored are eight more than the Upper Austrians. Defensively, however, the Eagles revealed weaknesses and the Eagles’ goalies had to accept 156 goals. One of VSV’s great strengths is the power play. With a success rate of 23.24 percent, Villach ranks sixth in the league. Head coach Pierre Allard’s team scored a total of 33 goals. In the penalty killing, however, things went less well: with 77.78 percent, the Carinthians are only eleventh in the league ranking.
Between the posts, Joe Cannata is the undisputed number one. In 41 appearances, the American has a save percentage of 91.01 percent. Offensively, Adam Helewka is the most dangerous man in the squad. The Canadian recorded a strong 45 scorer points (24 goals, 21 assists) in the regular season. For the pre-playoffs, Villach also strengthened itself with Michael Kernberger, who also played for Linz this season. Joel Teasdale is also new to the Carinthian squad. The 26-year-old Canadian has so far been active primarily in the AHL, but also played two NHL games in the Montreal Canadiens jersey. In six appearances for the Eagles so far, Teasdale has already scored two goals and contributed one assist. In the previous meetings, each team prevailed twice. The Upper Austrians had to admit defeat in the first game at the Linz AG Eisarena, but were able to take revenge in the first game in Villach. The other two games went to the respective home team.
Locker room update
With the win against Budapest last weekend, the Stahlstadt team secured their ticket for the pre-playoffs. However, the subsequent defeat against the Graz 99ers narrowly prevented home advantage in the first round. The decisive factor was above all too many penalty minutes, which enabled the Murstadt team to continuously build up offensive pressure and increasingly control the game. Even before the start of the pre-playoffs, head coach Philipp Lukas is faced with personnel challenges. Brian Lebler and his teammates have to do without Jonathan Oschgan due to illness. Nevertheless, there are positive signals from the Linz squad: Julian Pusnik has returned to full team training after his injury. Whether he actually plays in Game 1 against Villach will be decided at short notice. The team receives additional support from the stands – a fan bus is making its way to Carinthia to support the Upper Austrians on site.
On Friday March 6th The first pre-playoff match will then take place in the Linz AG Eisarena. Sales for the home game are ongoing and there are only a few seats available. Tickets are available online at tickets.blackwings.at and at the box office.
Voices:
Head coach Philipp Lukas: “It’s the time of year you work towards and we have the opportunity to play for a quarter-final place. We’re starting away, but we’re looking forward to the task. It’s very difficult to play in Villach. Nevertheless, I’m in good spirits and convinced that our team can win this series, but it will take our best game. Both teams want the same thing and it will depend on how disciplined we are and how high our competency level is, but the most important thing is that we have the belief that we can do it.”
Logan Roe: “Now it’s basically the start of a new season for us. We don’t want to stop here. We’re happy to have the chance to continue playing and we want to get off to a good start tomorrow. It’s the little things that will count against Villach, we have to be mentally focused. Playing away first is always difficult, but we just have to win duels, protect our goal and create danger in front of theirs. I think we’re ready for this task.”
EC iDM heat pumps VSV – Steinbach Black Wings Linz
📅 Pre-Playoff Game 1: Wednesday, March 4th, 7:15 p.m., Villacher Stadthalle
Live stream: sporteurope.tv
blackwings.at , Image: Black Wings Linz/Eisenbauer
“), i.text = “window._taboola = window._taboola || ();_taboola.push({mode:’alternating-thumbnails-a’, container:’taboola-below-article-thumbnails’, placement:’below-article’, target_type: ‘mix’});”, n.appendChild(l), n.appendChild(i), e(n, t) } Array.prototype.filter || (Array.prototype.filter = function(e, t) { if (“function” != typeof e) throw TypeError(); let n = (); for (let l = 0, i = this.length >>> 0; l < i; l += 1) if (l in this) { let r = this(l); e.call(t, r, l, this) && n.push(r) } return n }), window.insertAfter = e, window.getElementByXPath = t, window.injectWidgetByXpath = function e(l) { let i = t(l) ||. document.getElementById("tbdefault"); i && n(i) }, window.injectWidgetByMarker = function e
