After the Steinbach Black Wings were able to break their curse abroad with yesterday’s victory in Innsbruck, the next showdown will take place next Friday in the Linz AG Eisarena. On the scariest evening of the year, the people of Linz meet the people of Linz in the “HalloWien-Special”.
With the successful away game against the Innsbruck Haie, head coach Philipp Lukas’ team was not only able to end the drought of defeats on foreign ice, they also brought another three points with them to the steel city. This means that the Upper Austrians have moved up one place in the table and are now ahead of Innsbruck and Vorarlberg with a total of 13 points. As if things couldn’t get any more exciting after the winning streak that has begun, Brian Lebler and Co. still have a score to settle with tomorrow’s guests! At the beginning of the season, the Linz team managed to take a clear 4-1 lead in the first third on Vienna ice. But the Caps didn’t let that go and they had to admit defeat 40 minutes later with a score of 6:7. Since then, the Viennese duels in nine more games, but they lost six of them.
In both previous games against Salzburg, Linden Vey and Co. came away empty-handed. They also had to admit defeat against the Graz 99ers and the record champions from Klagenfurt. Captain Linden Vey and Mitch Hults are responsible for the three successes against the Innsbrucker Haie, Laibach and the Pioneers, against whom they won in the shootout. The two strikers currently lead the team’s internal statistics with twelve and eleven points. Cole Hults is considered their best defender so far in the new season. Due to the mixed start to the season, there were recent changes in the Caps’ staff team: the club ended the collaboration and management of head coach Gerry Fleming with immediate effect. Fabian Scholz, who was born in Linz, took over his role on an interim basis until the international break.
Locker room update
The start of the game against Innsbruck did not go as desired. Compared to the last two home games, we were unable to take the lead first. But you were still able to turn the game around and prove to yourself that you can catch up after a deficit. Head coach Philipp Lukas has not made any changes to Linz’s line-up for tomorrow’s game. You still have to do without Luis Lindner.
HalloWien Night in the Linz AG Eisarena
In the duel with their eternal rivals, the Stahlstadters will wear special jerseys and invite you to a party with DJ Nico Roschnai after the game – presented by Gasteiner. In addition, all costumed visitors receive a reduced rate at the box office when purchasing a day-long general admission ticket. There will also be a costume competition: the camera in the Linz AG Eisarena will capture the three best costumes and invite them onto the ice for the competition during the first third break.
Two days after the hit against the Vienna Capitals, the Steinbach Black Wings invite you again to a family Sunday against Budapest in the Linz AG Eisarena. Then we go into the annual national team break before heading to the record champions in Klagenfurt on November 12th. Tickets for the upcoming double weekend are available online at tickets.blackwings.at and at the box office.
Voices:
Head coach Philipp Lukas: “I don’t think you should overestimate everything right away. But what was visible was a certain consistency. It wasn’t an easy task yesterday, especially after we fell behind. We did everything we could to turn the game around and the most important thing was that we didn’t change the way we played. We continued to believe in our game and found a way to turn the game around. The first game against Vienna is long behind us and of course it wasn’t a pleasant evening for us. But there shouldn’t be one for us tomorrow “It will be a hard-fought, competitive game, as it always is against Vienna. It’s a team that works very hard, just like us. We’re expecting a great evening of ice hockey in front of a great crowd here at home and we’ll do everything we can to get the points.”
Christoph Tialler: “We focused on the simple things again in yesterday’s game, getting the disc deep, blocking shots and that’s good for the boys and the team. I’m expecting a good and strong game tomorrow and that we can build on the momentum we currently have.”
Steinbach Black Wings Linz – Vienna Capitals
📅 Basic round 16: Friday October 31st, 7:15 p.m., Linz AG Eisarena
📺 Live stream: sporteurope.tv
blackwings.at , Image: Black Wings Linz/Eisenbauer
