Tomorrow, Friday, the Vienna Capitals will be guests at table neighbors Steinbach Black Wings Linz. For the seventh-placed Viennese, the eighth-placed Upper Austrians are once again aiming for the fixed ticket for the pre-playoffs. In addition, the Caps want to keep the Stahlstadters, who are only three points away, at a distance. The last regular season duel between Vienna and Linz starts at 7:15 p.m. and will be broadcast live on sporteurope.tv.
For the Vienna Capitals, the starting position in the fight for the pre-playoffs has not changed much despite yesterday’s 5:7 defeat at Olimpija Ljubljana. Every point gained tomorrow will be enough for the Viennese to move into the pre-playoffs. In seventh place, the Capitals are eleven points ahead of eleventh place FTC-Telekom. Regardless of how the Viennese guest game in Linz turns out, the Kagran team would still be qualified for the pre-playoffs if the league newcomers don’t score the full three points against the Pioneers Vorarlberg tomorrow. Nevertheless, the Viennese would be well advised to collect points in view of the home rights that the seventh and eighth in the table enjoy in the pre-playoffs.
The Caps, who have 61 points, and tenth-placed Hydro Fehérvár AV19 are only separated by four points. The Steinbach Black Wings Linz and the EC iDM Heat Pumps VSV, ranked in between, have three points less than the team of head coach Kevin Constantine. Yesterday the American suffered his twelfth defeat in the 16th away game of his coaching era. On the other hand, 12 of the 19 points scored away from home were scored by the 67-year-old. 20-year-old Felix Koschek left his mark on yesterday’s game with two goals. The goal to make it 3:5 from the Viennese perspective has now been credited to the attacker. Koschek decisively deflected a long-range shot from Mitch Hults. Dominic Hackl, who had to shoulder almost 20 minutes of ice time yesterday, finished the game with two assists and a plus/minus value of +2. All players who were available in Ljubljana yesterday will also be ready for action in Linz tomorrow.
Last duel with the Black Wings Linz
Tomorrow’s duel between the Caps and the Black Wings is the last in the current regular season. The Viennese won the first meeting in the STEFFL Arena 7:6. The last two encounters, however, went to the Stahlstadt team. The Black Wings last won 3-2 after overtime on January 9th at the STEFFL Arena. In order to win the direct duel, which would decide the final position in the event of a tie after the regular round, the Caps would have to win in the steel city after regular playing time. Yesterday the Linzers celebrated a 2-0 away win at the Pioneers Vorarlberg.
As with the Viennese team, there is a discrepancy between the results at home and abroad for head coach Philipp Lukas’ team. The Linz team collected 41 of their 58 points in their home Linz AG Eisarena. In the home table, the Upper Austrians are eighth behind the Caps. Graham Knott is the talisman of the Stahlstadters on offense. The Canadian leads his team in goals (21), assists (28) and scorer points (49). Linz’s goalkeeping situation is less pleasing. Rasmus Tirronen, Thomas Höneckl and 20-year-old Martin Reder together only have a catch rate of 88.26 percent. This means that the Linzers have the worst team-wide save percentage in the win2day ICE Hockey League. None of the Black Wings goalie trio can boast an individual catch rate of over 90 percent.
Statement Fabian Scholz, assistant coach of the Vienna Capitals
“It’s always very difficult to play in Linz. Like us, they have a great crowd and are very strong at home. We have to stand up to them in the physical area, minimize our own mistakes and exploit theirs. The games against Linz have been explosive for decades, whether at the beginning of the season or at the end. Of course, it’s even more exciting in the hot phase when you meet a possible pre-playoff opponent. We want to put ourselves in the best possible starting position for them with a win in Linz Bring pre-playoffs.”
www.vienna-capitals.at, Image: Black Wings Linz/Eisenbauer
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