The EC Red Bull Salzburg expects the EC IDM heat pump VSV in the Eisarena Salzburg (7:15 p.m., Sporteurope.tv) in the basic round of Win2day Ice Hockey League.
Based on the Salzburg Rupertikirtag, the Red Bulls are happy about many spectators in traditional clothes on the traditional costume match day and want to win the next victory against the VSV, with which the reigning master of the ICE Hockey League was difficult last season.
Starting position
After the strong start into the basic round last weekend-the Red Bulls celebrated victories in Bolzano and at home against Klagenfurt-the Salzburgers want to add to VSV in the second league home game of the still fresh season. The respect is here: Even with the second Carinthian ice hockey club, the Red Bulls have been running hot duels for many years and had a look against the blue and whites in four comparisons last season. Like Salzburg, Villach only had to cope with a few changes in summer and can continue to rely on the strong trunk. Led by 37-year-old striker John Hughes, who, after a total of eight seasons with the Red Bulls, is now (with an interruption) his seventh season in Villach and is currently holding the league record with incredible 1,099 scorer points (!).
The Villacher started the season well last Friday with a 4-2 away win at the Hungarian new league FTC Budapest, but were then sent home from Ljubljana with a 2: 7 defeat.
Michael Raffl before premiere
For Michael Raffl, the encounter with the VSV has a very special (emotional) status, as it is the first game against his former main club for the 36-year-old native Villacher. In 2011 Raffl left the VSV towards Sweden for two years, followed nine years in the NHL and three years in the Swiss NL, until he returned to Austria this summer and followed the Red Bulls, where his brother Thomas has worked successfully since 2010 (with one year interruption). In the 2020/21 season, Michael Rafffl even played four games on a loan base for the VSV. It is also the first encounter with his former club for Youngster Florian Lanzinger. The 20-year-old Villacher native came to the Red Bull Ice Hockey Academy last season and has already played two ICE games in the previous season, but not against VSV.
Further seven failures!
Nothing changes on the lineup of the Red Bulls for the time being. The convalescent Ali Wukovits, Peter Hochkofler, Mario Huber, Troy Bourke, Philipp Wimmer, Maximilian Wurzer and Vadim Schreiner work in rehabilitation and are not available to the team at the weekend.
www.redbulls.com, Image: EC Red Bull Salzburg
