This Friday in the STEFFL Arena it’s all about big points again in the fight for the post-season places. From 7.15 p.m. the Vienna Capitals will meet their table neighbors Steinbach Black Wings Linz. In front of their home team, the Viennese team have won six of eight home games since head coach Kevin Constantine took office in mid-November.
However, the task is made more difficult by further absences due to illness. The Caps had to do without seven players on Monday, but still beat VSV 5-2. There is a risk of up to eight cancellations for today’s game. The duel between the Viennese and the Linzers will be broadcast as usual on sporteurope.tv.
With the 5-2 win on Monday against Villach despite a decimated line-up, the Vienna Capitals moved up to eighth place in the table. With 45 points, the Kagran team is four points ahead of eleventh-placed FTC-Telekom. In the home STEFFL Arena, the Viennese team under Kevin Constantine collected 18 out of 24 possible points. Captain Linden Vey scored three points in the 5-2 win over Villach (1 goal + 2 assists). The Canadian has now expanded his lead as the team’s top scorer with 35 points (9 goals + 26 assists) from 33 games. With his haul, Vey also moved into the top ten of the league-wide scorers list.
The 34-year-old scored points in eleven of the last twelve games and in all of the last five games. Carter Souch, who recorded one goal and one assist against Villach, is the Viennese’s second best scorer with 26 points (15 goals + 11 assists). The Canadian, who leads the team’s internal goalscoring list with 15 goals, is tied for eighth place in the league. Today the Capitals have to survive again with a heavily decimated team. Jérémy Grégoire, Scott Kosmachuk, Senna Peeters, Marco Richter and Sebastian Wraneschitz are out injured. Due to illness, Sam Antonitsch, Armin Preiser and Raphael Wolf are questionable for today. Christof Kromp and Benjamin Lanzinger, who were recently ill, have recovered and will return to the line-up today.
The Steinbach Black Wings Linz have one point less than the Viennese and are in ninth place. Head coach Philipp Lukas’ team won three of the last four games, most recently against VSV 3-0 on January 3rd, but all three successes came against teams outside the top six. The Upper Austrians took four wins from their last ten games. Striking differences can be seen when looking at the results in the domestic LINZ AG Arena and the away record. The Stahlstadt team collected 35 of their 44 points in their own hall. The home table shows the Black Wings in sixth place. However, the Black Wings have struggled abroad all season. After 16 away games there are only nine points, the second worst away record in the win2day ICE Hockey League.
The last away win came on November 28, 2025 in Villach, where Linz won 5-4 after overtime. Since then there have been five defeats abroad. The Upper Austrians’ top scorer is Graham Knott, who has 39 points (17 goals + 22 assists). The Canadian shares the top spot in the team’s internal top scorer rankings with Brian Lebler, who also scored 17 goals. From Linz’s perspective, the goalkeeping performances are less pleasing. Rasmus Tirronen, Thomas Höneckl and youngster Martin Reder together only have a catch rate of 88.1 percent. Only the Pioneers Vorarlberg goalkeeper team achieved a lower value. The two previous duels between the Caps and Linz went to the home team. The Caps won a spectacular slugfest 7-6 on September 19th. On October 31st, the Linzers won 4-1 in their own hall against the Viennese.
Statement Kevin Constantine, head coach of the Vienna Capitals
The last few days were important for us to regenerate after a busy schedule around the holidays. We were able to recalibrate our bodies and minds to be ready for the next phase of games. We expect a game with a lot of energy today. Things are tight in the table and every point counts at this stage of the season. Both teams will fight for these points and give everything. As far as our results in the STEFFL Arena are concerned, this is a trend that we would like to continue. We always receive great support from our fans, you can always find that one percent or two in you.
vienna-capitals.at , Image: Vanna Antonello
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