After the 2:4 home defeat against Hydro Fehérvár AV19, the EC iDM Heat Pumps VSV wants to rehabilitate itself in front of its own audience against HC Innsbruck and fight back on the winning track. The Blue-Whites are eager to show a reaction this Saturday (Villach town hall, game start: 3:00 p.m., with live broadcasts on Radio Kärnten and in the stream on sport europe.tv) and to let the fans in the “Adlerhorst” cheer again.
The initial situation:
After completing eight rounds, the EC iDM Heat Pumps VSV is still in solid form and is in 5th place in the table. The blue-whites have been able to collect 13 points so far, consisting of four wins, three defeats and one overtime defeat. With 26 goals scored and 26 conceded, head coach Tray Tuomie’s team has a balanced goal difference. The situation is significantly more difficult with their upcoming opponent, HC TIWAG Innsbruck – Die Haie. The Tyroleans are currently in second-to-last place (12th) and have only gotten five points from seven games. Their record: one win, five defeats and one overtime win, with a clearly negative goal difference of 17:36 (-19). Nevertheless, the Haie should not be underestimated: Last Saturday they surprised their fans with a 3-2 home win after a penalty shootout against the Graz99ers. They celebrated their first win of the season early in the second round away against Pioneers Vorarlberg. The direct duel (head-to-head) speaks clearly for VSV: The Blue-Whites won 6 of the last 10 matches, Innsbruck only won 4 games. Particularly impressive – the last five duels all went to Villach, including two spectacular wins (8:2 and 6:0).
The opponent:
The Haie from Innsbruck have been an integral part of the win2day ICE Hockey League since the 2012/13 season and have qualified for the quarter-finals three times during this time. In the 2023/24 season, the team even took part in the Champions Hockey League. Before the start of the current season, the Haie made massive changes to the squad: 15 new additions strengthened the team. On the defensive, Winston Frimmel in particular stands out as a young talent. In addition, Mario Ebner, who was most recently active in France, returned as an experienced Austrian. Further reinforcements came from the ECHL: Patrick Kudla and Cole Moberg were primarily intended to bring stability and international experience to the team. The team was almost completely regrouped in the attack. With Steven Owre, the Haie probably made the most famous transfer: The Canadian, who had already played for the Pioneers Vorarlberg and came from the second Swiss league, was even awarded the Ron Kennedy Trophy as MVP of the league. The Tyroleans also recently brought in ex-VSV striker Max Coatta, who, as the only player with a blue and white past, brings particular explosiveness to this duel.
Opponents and Stats to Watch:
The Haie from Innsbruck are currently showing themselves to be a multi-faceted but still developing team. The current top scorer is Sebastian Benker, who only joined the Tyroleans during the season. In seven games he scored 2 goals and assisted 4 more, with a plus/minus rating of -4. Hot on his heels is Steven Owre, who has 3 goals and 2 assists in as many games. In the defender position, Jan Lattner leads the internal scoring list – the versatile Czech, who has also played as a striker in the past, has so far recorded 2 goals and 2 assists. In goal, Innsbruck relies on Matt Vernon, who currently has a catch rate of 88.0% with a goals conceded average of 4.18. Statistically speaking, he saved 2.18 fewer goals than expected. Offensively, the Sharks put a power play on the ice with a 13.64% success rate (4 goals in 24 attempts, 11th place), while they work solidly when shorthanded with a 75.00% success rate (3 goals conceded in 12 situations, 8th place). The playing time distribution of the previous ICE games shows that the Innsbruck team spends an average of 24:21 minutes on the ice in attack and 28:06 minutes in defense. They produce an average of 2.61 expected goals but concede 3.99 expected goals.
Blue-White Stats & Facts:
After the first eight games of the season, the EC iDM Heat Pumps VSV presents itself as a strong offensive team with some impressive individual performances. The top scorer is currently Guus van Nes, who has collected 5 goals and 5 assists in eight games and has a plus/minus balance of +6. He is followed by Nikita Scherbak (4 goals, 4 assists, +3) and Kevin Hancock (1 goal, 6 assists, -1). At the defender position, Philipp Lindner leads the internal rating: with 1 goal and 3 assists as well as an impressive plus/minus balance of +8, he is among the top 3 in the plus/minus rating in the league. When it comes to special teams, the picture is rather dreary: In the power play, Villach currently scores in 16.67% of situations (4 hits out of 24 chances), while the penalty kill has even more room for improvement – only 12 of 24 outnumbered situations were completed successfully, which corresponds to 50% and means last place in the league. The faceoffs remain a bright spot: with 53.6% of faceoffs won, the “Eagles” are holding their own throughout the league. When it comes to duels, Villach has won an average of 50.08% duels, the best duel is Dylan MacPherson with a 52.27% success rate. In the last three games, the Eagles showed significant improvements both offensively and defensively. With an average of 3.95 expected goals per game, Villach is the strongest offensive team in the league, while the defense allows an average of 3.31 expected goals conceded. Despite this strength, scoring efficiency remains an issue: out of 245 shots fired, the “Eagles” have only scored 24 goals (9.8%), which means sixth place in this category.
ecvsv.at Image: VSV/Stefan
