ICEHL: The Black Wings Linz are complete again!

Before the Steinbach Black Wings play in front of their home crowd again in around a week, the Stahlstadters have to prove themselves twice more away from home. Tomorrow Linz will face league newcomers Budapest for the first time.

Head coach Philipp Lukas’ team had exactly one week to improve their own weaknesses, regenerate and prepare for the coming weekend. After winning the game against the champions and thus ending the series of defeats, they took a small step back in the last match against Laibach. In the end, the Upper Austrians had to admit defeat 4:8. Tomorrow you will have your next chance to collect points again. Brian Lebler and Co. are going to the capital of Hungary, where they will meet the new league team from Budapest for the first time.

Head coach Timo Saarikoski’s team is contesting its first season in the win2day ICE hockey league this year. Until recently, the Hungarians were part of the first league of Hungary and Romania and were able to finish last season’s regular season in first place. In the playoffs they failed in the final and became runners-up after a 0-4 defeat. With 17 new players, a completely new team was put together over the summer – the Hungarians made full use of the Legionnaires’ contingent with three Canadians, three Swedes and four Finns.

The 31-time Hungarian champion Brady Shaw was sometimes tied to the club. The 33-year-old Canadian gained valuable experience in the ECHL and AHL after college in the USA. In 2021, the right wing then moved to the ICE hockey league, where he completed one season for Fehérvár and two seasons for the Innsbrucker Haie. In addition, striker Aku Kestilä will take to the ice for Ferencvaros for the fourth season in a row. So far, the new team has been able to hold its own in four of nine games. Among other things, they had to admit defeat both times against the record champions from Klagenfurt and are currently in tenth place in the table.

Locker room update

There is two good news for tomorrow’s game. Goalkeeper Rasmus Tirronen and defender Gerd Kragl are both returning to the Linz line-up after their injuries. Michael Kernberger will therefore not be making the trip to Hungary. In total, the Stahlstadters will cover around 1,200 kilometers on the two away trips this weekend and spend almost 24 hours on the bus. That’s why head coach Philipp Lukas’ team is heading to Budapest this Thursday.

The people of Linz will return late at night on Friday and set off straight back to Pustertal on Sunday morning. After the disappointing performance a week ago in Slovenia, the Upper Austrians have an even tougher challenge ahead of them in order to free themselves from the low of the start of the season. Head coach Philipp Lukas and his coaching team tried all the more intensively to use the last units and to turn numerous screws.

After the doubles away from home, the next weekend awaits at the Linz AG Eisarena at the end of October. Tickets for the home games on October 24th against Graz and on the 26th against Fehervar are available online at tickets.blackwings.at and at the box office.

Voices

Head Coach Philipp Lukas: “The game against Laibach is already far behind us again. Of course it was a disappointing defeat, but whether we win or lose, we’ll try to move forward quickly. It definitely wasn’t the performance we were hoping for after the good performance at home against Salzburg. But we had a good week of training with a lot of initiative and willingness in the team. The task definitely won’t be any easier now and we have to earn everything back. I think Budapest has been able to surprise positively so far in terms of results. You can appear bold and without expectations. They don’t have the pressure to perform and I think they’re performing above and beyond what they expected from themselves at the moment.”

Luka Maver: “The last game was tough, but we worked on our entire game. There is immense energy in the dressing room and I can’t wait to play against Budapest. We expect good hockey from the team, but we are still focused on our own game and on doing our best. It’s also great that we’re arriving a day early and we’re all excited about the weekend.”