The Vienna Capitals, who said goodbye to the international break with two defeats against Linz and Villach, want to show a different face in the coming weeks and months. The team from Kagran, which is currently in eleventh place with 18 points, can overtake its neighbors from Budapest tomorrow. Only one point separates eighth place, which Linz occupies, and eleventh place. Hydro Fehérvár AV19 and FTC-Telekom are classified between the Stahlstadters and the Viennese, but they have each played one more game than their Austrian competitors. The new Caps head coach Kevin Constantine will have to do without the long-term injured Senna Peeters and Sebastian Wraneschitz tomorrow, the rest of the squad is available. This includes captain and top scorer Linden Vey, who has 16 points (5 goals + 11 assists) after 14 games. The 34-year-old shares the top spot in the team’s top scorer rankings with his compatriot Carter Souch. Together with Mitch Hults, Vey is also the Vienna team’s best preparer.
Premiere in Budapest
The Viennese won the first meeting between the Caps and Fradi on September 14th 3-2 after overtime. FTC-Telekom has been waiting for complete success in the win2day ICE Hockey League since October 17th. Since then, Timo Saarikoski’s team has suffered six defeats in a row. In the “Stachelhalle” at home, after initially two wins, there were three defeats in a row, and the Budapest team was at least able to retain points twice. The Hungarians’ top scorer and best goalscorer is former league MVP Brady Shaw. The 33-year-old Canadian has eleven goals and nine assists after 15 appearances, a total of 20 points. After seven games, 25-year-old goalkeeper Kristóf Nagy has a catch rate of 93.36 percent, the second highest value in the entire win2day ICE Hockey League. The Hungarians’ power play was less successful. Only six of 50 powerplay situations resulted in goals. The success rate of 12 percent is the second worst in the league. The Caps power play is successful on average every fourth power play, which is the third highest success rate in the league.
Statement Kevin Constantine, head coach of the Vienna Capitals
“The last few days have been challenging. In the summer you have preparation and several test games available, we had four days to fine-tune our game. We try to accommodate as much as possible, but you can’t implement all the changes in such a short time. We’re trying to climb a mountain, and as I know from experience, you can only take one step at a time. Ice hockey is built on playing hard and passionately. Of course, we want to have a better defense and structure in the long term, but it will take time But we can play hard and intense ice hockey now, the right work attitude is essential for that. The team has to make sure that they work as hard as possible.”
vienna-capitals.at Image: HCI / PAPA Productions
