After 16 games, HC TIWAG Innsbruck – Die Haie is in 12th place in the win2day ICE Hockey League. We are realistic about the top 6, but we have seen an upward trend in the last few weeks.
The Innsbruck Haie said goodbye to the first international break of the season with two wins from their last four games. They had the upper hand against Villach with 2:1, and in Laibach they surprised with a 6:5 in overtime. Six goals, only once in the current season have they been able to score more goals. Curiously, the opponent at the time was also Laibach, the Haie celebrated a 7:6 win.
Otherwise, scoring goals at the Inn is still a bit difficult: head coach Ryan Kinasewich’s team was able to score 40 goals in the first 16 games – that’s 2.5 goals per game. The Sharks’ best goalgetter is currently Steven Owre, who has eight direct hits and just as many assists. Only two teams (Fehervar with 31 and the Pioneers with 30) have scored fewer goals. On the other hand, there is no team in the league that has conceded more goals. The puck landed in the HCI box a total of 72 times. But like the “Crown newspaper” reports, there have been recent improvements in this area: in September they conceded an average of 5.6 goals, in October it was only 3.4. “Because not only Matt Vernon, who can now offer us the chance to win games, was able to get used to the larger ice. Other Legionnaires also had problems,” said assistant coach Florian Pedevilla.
There is also still a lot of room for improvement in the special teams: 14.81% of the power plays have been used so far. Laibach is the league champion here with a fantastic success rate of almost 32%. Innsbruck survived 70.21 of all outnumbered phases without conceding a goal. Only Villach is behind the Tyroleans with 68%.
Top 6 out of reach
There are no illusions about the top 6: “They are taken,” says Pedevilla. “Our goal was always to get into the top ten first, and to get into the top eight with the pre-playoff.” For Pedevilla it is clear that the first six places will go to Pustertal, Laibach, Bozen, Graz, the KAC and Salzburg.
Tomorrow the HCI cracks will be back on the ice to prepare for the tasks ahead. The coming games could already point the way, as there are duels against the Pioneers Vorarlberg and the Vienna Capitals, who are currently five points ahead of the Haie. Five points – that’s also the distance to tenth and last pre-playoff place.
Image: HCI / PAPA Productions
