With the tailwind of the late 5:4 comeback win, the Adler want to survive on Friday against the in-form HC Pustertal (Intercable Arena, 7:45 p.m., live on Radio Kärnten Eishockey-Magazin and on sporteurope.tv) and on Saturday in the TIWAG Arena against Innsbruck (5:30 p.m., live on Radio Kärnten Ice hockey magazine and on sporteurope.tv) take home points.
The initial situation:
The EC iDM Heat Pumps VSV is currently in 6th place in the win2day ICE Hockey League and shares 21 points with HCB Südtirol, the Graz99ers and Red Bull Salzburg. After 12 games, the Eagles have 6 wins, 4 losses, 1 overtime win and 1 overtime loss. With 43 goals scored and 40 goals conceded, this results in a positive goal difference of +3. Villach’s form curve is also good: in the last five games, VSV has won 2 times, 1 win after extra time and 2 defeats, which puts the team in 7th place in the form table. The record against the upcoming opponents is particularly exciting: the direct duel against HC Pustertal is evenly matched, and each team has won 5 times in the last 10 encounters. In the last five meetings, three games went to the South Tyroleans and two to the Carinthians. Pustertal is currently in second place with 24 points. Only 23 goals conceded out of 38 hits make the South Tyroleans the second best defense in the league. The team also showed top form in the last five games: 3 wins, 1 win after extra time and 1 loss after extra time, which earned 12 points. With their upcoming opponent HC Innsbruck, however, the situation looks much more difficult.
The Tyroleans are in 11th place and after 11 games they only have 1 win, 7 defeats, 2 wins after extra time and 1 defeat after extra time. With 28 goals and 53 goals conceded, their balance is −25 and only 8 points were collected. The direct duel clearly speaks for VSV: Of the last 10 matches, 7 went to Villach and only 3 to Innsbruck, and Villach remained undefeated in the last five games against the Tyroleans. The most recent success dates back to October 11th, when the Eagles won 5-1 at home. Villach won the last away game in Innsbruck 5-4 after extra time.
The opponent:
HC Innsbruck has been an integral part of the win2day ICE Hockey League since the 2012/13 season and has already qualified for the quarter-finals three times during this time. In the 2023/24 season, the Tyroleans also made it into the Champions Hockey League. Before the start of the current season, the team experienced massive changes: 15 new additions have now strengthened the Sharks. The most prominent name among the transfers is Steven Owre. The Canadian was named league MVP two seasons ago with the Pioneers Vorarlberg and received the Ron Kennedy Trophy. The signing of ex-VSV striker Max Coatta, who is the only player with a blue and white past, made the duel against Villach particularly interesting. The Tyroleans play their home games in the TIWAG Arena, which has space for 3,000 spectators.
Developments were also promising at HC Pustertal, which has been part of the league since the 2021/22 season: the South Tyroleans qualified for the playoffs in three out of four seasons, and in the 2023/24 season they even reached the semi-finals. The transfers deserve a lot of attention: With Cole Bardreau, Rok Ticar and the experienced striker Henry Bowlby, the offensive has been significantly strengthened. HC Pustertal plays its home games in the Intercable Arena, which opened in 2021 and offers space for 3,100 spectators.
Opponents and Stats to Watch:
At HC Pustertal, the current strengths are clear: Cole Bardreau and Henry Bowlby are particularly in focus. Bardreau has already scored 8 goals and 11 assists – 19 points – in 11 games with an excellent plus-minus rating of +15. Bowlby follows with 10 hits and 5 assists (15 points) as well as a +14 from 11 games. The experienced Slovenian veteran Rok Ticar also contributes 9 points with 3 goals and 6 assists, his plus-minus rating is -2. Edward Pasquale ensures stability in goal: in 10 games he only conceded 19 goals, which corresponds to a goals against average of 1.89, with a catch rate of 92.43% – a significant jump compared to the previous season, when he only had 91.1%. The 34-year-old Canadian also saved 2.6 more goals than statistically expected. One area with room for improvement is the special teams: in the power play they were able to convert 6 of 29 chances (20.69%), while when they were outnumbered they survived 23 of 29 situations (79.31%). The team shows strong values at the faceoff points: with 52.77% of faceoffs won, they are currently in second place in the league.
At HC Innsbruck, on the other hand, there are weaknesses in the special teams area: the power play is only second-class with a success rate of 14.63%, and when they were outnumbered they survived 19 of 27 situations (70.37%). When it comes to faceoffs, they are slightly above average with 51.42% of faceoffs won. Steven Owre stands out offensively, scoring 5 goals and 5 assists in 11 games (10 points, -5). Sebastian Benker is also tied (4 goals, 6 assists, -5). The Tyrolean defender with the highest points is Patrick Kudla, who contributed 6 assists but has a record of -10.
Blue and White Stats & Facts:
Nikita Scherbak is currently leading the scorers list for the Eagles. The Russian has 13 points, including 6 goals and 7 assists, and also boasts the most successful zone entries in the team. Directly behind him is captain Alexander Rauchwald, who has impressed in almost all categories this season: after 12 games, he has 3 goals, 9 assists, a plus-minus rating of +5, 24 hits and 5 blocks. Dylan MacPherson stands out on the defensive end. The defender has collected 8 points so far, all of them assists, and has a strong plus-minus record of +9. With eight hits and 20 blocks, he shows tremendous commitment while also recording the fewest number of turnovers among defenders – just 14 this season. The Eagles’ special teams deliver mixed results, but the trend in the last few games is clearly pointing upwards: So far they have been able to use 9 of 47 opportunities in the power play (19.15%), while the penalty kill has successfully overcome 28 of 43 situations (65.12%). When it comes to faceoffs, the team currently has 51.17% of faceoffs won.
The scoring efficiency is particularly pleasing: 423 shots on goal resulted in 43 goals, which corresponds to a rate of 10.17% and represents a significant increase compared to previous games. On average, the Eagles spend 26:03 minutes per game in the offensive zone and 26:37 minutes in their own zone. The team blocks an average of 14 shots per game and has 35 shots on goal. In addition, the Blue and Whites put up 32 hits per game and generate an average of 3.72 expected goals (xG) while conceding 3.38 expected goals against (xGA).
ecvsv.at Image: VSV/Stefan
