ICEHL: Five confirmed failures at KAC – another crack is questionable!

Last Sunday, in its sixth pick in the club’s history, the EC-KAC chose the worst-placed of all possible opponents for the fifth time in a row at the time of its selection and will face Fehérvár AV19 in the quarterfinals. Since the introduction of the pick (2012/13), the Red Jackets have never failed in six cases against one of their selected opponents, but in the past two years they have had to play a sixth game in the opening round of the knockout phase. The Klagenfurt team have so far started the post season nine times from second place in the regular season table, and in seven cases they later reached the final.

At the start of the quarter-finals, the record champions are building on their strong home record against teams outside the top six this year: 14 appearances in the Heidi Horten Arena against teams ranked seventh to 13 brought 13 wins and 39 out of 42 possible points. The recent playoff history of the EC-KAC also gives the red and white camp reason for optimism: the athletes have won eleven of the last 15 “best-of-seven” series, losing out only three times against EC Salzburg and once against the Vienna Capitals during this period. The Carinthians’ record against non-Austrian opposition in the post season is also very positive, as only one of nine “best-of-seven” confrontations with clubs based outside the Alpine republic – the 2018 quarter-finals against HCB Südtirol – was lost.

Last week, Fehérvár AV19 turned the pre-playoff duel with the Vienna Capitals in its favor after a 5-1 defeat at the start: a 7-3 home win (which was only secured in the last part of the game) was followed by a 1-0 away win in Vienna, which meant that the Hungarians successfully mastered the “best-of-three” detour to the quarter-finals for the third time in four years. Head coach Ted Dent’s team saved a season that was in danger of ruining its classification in the category, as the average points achieved in the regular season (1.25) was the fifth lowest in 19 years of membership in the league. Especially away from home, the Magyars’ engine sputtered a lot: from 26 games away from home so far, there have only been seven wins, the last time the club had fewer to its name was in the 2009/10 season. The initial phase of the encounters was often particularly important: of Székesfehérvár’s 26 away games, the team that took a 1-0 lead won 23. This one-sided result was aided by the limited offensive effectiveness: in 19 of his 24 appearances outside Hungary’s borders, Fehérvár AV19 was limited to a maximum of two goals scored by his opponents.

In the duel with the EC-KAC, the Red Devils are aiming to improve their rather modestly glorious playoff history in the win2day ICE Hockey League: So far they have qualified for the quarter-finals ten times, which was then the final destination in nine cases. Since 2010, Székesfehérvár has always started a best-of-seven series away from home with a defeat.

Red Jackets defender Jordan Murray, who collapsed in the canceled first quarterfinal game on Tuesday and had to be resuscitated in the dugout after suffering cardiac arrest, is on the mend. He was able to be transferred to the normal ward at the Klagenfurt Clinic, where he is recovering alongside his partner and his parents, who were immediately flown in from Canada.

When the quarter-final series restarts on Sunday, the EC-KAC is missing the long-term injured Thomas Hundertpfund and Luka Gomboc, who had to end their season early in December. Also not there is Mathias From, who has recovered from his illness but is only slowly getting closer to off-ice and then ice training as a preventive measure. Also not an issue at the start of the series is Mario Kempe (upper body injury), who had to stop team training on Friday and will take a few days of additional rest. However, the healing process of David Maier’s upper body injury, who is already back on the ice, was positive. A final decision regarding his participation will be made on match day.