After ten days without games, Linz will be heading into the 18th round of the regular season tomorrow, Wednesday. Brian Lebler and Co. will meet the record champions from Klagenfurt for the second time this season on foreign ice.
After the international break, the Steinbach Black Wings are finally returning to the ice. In tomorrow’s game against KAC, the Stahlstadters want to build on their success from the last five games and extend their winning streak. The Red Jackets won the last meeting between the two teams on Linz ice with a narrow score of 3-2. Since then, Klagenfurt has recorded seven wins from nine matches. They celebrated an overtime win against Pustertal and Graz as well as a 5-1 home win against the Innsbrucker Haie. Only the game against Laibach and the Pioneers from Vorarlberg had to be lost in the shootout. Kirk Furey’s team is currently in fifth place in the league with 29 points. Within the team, Nick Petersen leads the current statistics. With seven goals this season and nine assists, the Canadian is the Red Jackets’ top scorer. Close behind him is striker Mathias From, who has so far recorded five goals and ten assists.
Locker room update
After four days off, head coach Philipp Lukas’ team returned to training last Friday. Patrick Söllinger was also able to be part of the national team again and was happy about his very first goal for Austria in the game against Latvia. In addition to the Linz home-grown player, Luka Maver was also called up to the national team of his home country Slovenia. Off the ice, the league break was also used behind the scenes. In addition to installing the new video system in the Linz AG Eisarena, the Linz team received their new battleship from their loyal partner Lehner Busreisen. With this, Brian Lebler and Co. will set off for Klagenfurt on Wednesday. There is also a change in the line-up for tomorrow’s game: Stefan Gaffal missed the last few days due to illness and is therefore out for tomorrow. Andreas Kristler, who recently took a break due to internal competition, returns to the lineup.
After tomorrow’s away game in Klagenfurt, the Steinbach Black Wings will play again in front of their home crowd next Friday. In the first home game after the international break, Linz will face the league leaders from Pustertal. Tickets for the match are available online at tickets.blackwings.at and at the box office.
Voices:
Head coach Philipp Lukas: “I think it’s always time for a break after the first third of the season to get some tension out. But now it’s of course time for tension to return to the system in time for tomorrow’s game against Klagenfurt. It’s important that we can adapt as quickly as possible to the compete level and the pace of the game. The KAC is a team that plays with a lot of speed, that is very competitive, as the successes of the last few years or decades show. We’re coming from a good stretch before the break, which we obviously want to continue.”
Sean Collins: “We trained like we did before the break. We just tried to prepare for this week with three games in order to continue the success before the break. The KAC plays pretty fast and hard, we have to keep up and even pick up the pace. I think we just have to prepare physically and mentally for the return, because after a ten day break it takes a little time.”
EC KAC – Steinbach Black Wings Linz
📅 Basic round 18: Wednesday November 12th, 7:15 p.m., Heidi Horten Arena
📺 Live stream: sporteurope.tv
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