The injury situation at Eisbären Zell am See continues to worsen. Top striker Tim Coffman suffered a lower body injury in the last game against Unterland and will be out for about a month. The next failure of an absolute top performer is a serious blow, but we have to look forward.
The polar bears are currently struggling with an exceptionally high number of failures. As if the situation wasn’t already tense enough, the away game in Neumarkt is now tense too Tim Coffman caught. Seven regular players are currently injured and will be out for the next few weeks – including last year’s league MVP Ethan Szypulathe best player in the 2025 AHL playoffs Nick Huard and now also the EKZ’s best goalscorer, Tim Coffman. This concentrated failure list presents coaches and management with major challenges and creates a difficult situation during game operations. Injuries are part of the sport, especially the fact that the three top imports (Huard, Szypula & Coffman) are missing at the same time has never happened in the past. As of today, some other cracks are still questionable. Here it is decided “day by day” when and whether an assignment is possible this week.
The current injury situation, with an overview of the length of absence:
- Tim Coffman: Lower body, about 4 to 5 weeks of total downtime
- Ethan Szypula: Lower body, about 6 to 7 more weeks of total downtime
- Bernhard Fechtig: Upper body, a return to the line-up is planned in the next 2-3 weeks or so
- Nick Huard: Lower body, return to the Vipiteno game on November 9th. planned
- Leon Widhalm: Another return to the line-up planned for this week
- Kele Steffler: Concussion, back in the lineup in about 3 weeks
- Alois Schultes: Lower body, expected to return in late November
Despite this difficult situation, the Eisbären got six out of six possible points last week. The trainers and management of the EKZ continue to look for solutions and are in close contact with the cooperation partners in order to master the situation in the best possible way.
“The current situation is anything but pleasant for us. We are accepting this challenging phase, thinking in a solution-oriented manner and are all working at full speed to get the best possible team on the ice. Our athletes are under first-class medical and physiotherapeutic care – at this point a big thank you to our entire medical department for their excellent work! Even though we have been struggling with a significant loss of quality for several games and in the next few weeks, the basic virtues within our team – fighting spirit, heart and passion – still remain “The morale, physicality and willingness to block shots have been at a very high level in the last two games and confirm that we are definitely on the right track in terms of attitude.”, said managing director Patrick Schwarz.
ek-zellereisbaeren.at , Image: EKZ / Radlwimmer
