The Vienna Capitals play two games within 24 hours at the weekend. It starts with tomorrow’s Saturday home game against HC TIWAG Innsbruck, which will start at 5:30 p.m. The next day, the Viennese duel in the Villach town hall with the EC iDM heat pump VSV. The game starts at 5 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live via sporteurope.tv.
The Vienna Capitals last lost 1-2 at FTC-Telekom on Wednesday, which was the third defeat in a row for the eleventh-placed Viennese team. Tomorrow, Saturday and the following Sunday game against VSV, the team wants to get back to winning ways under new head coach Kevin Constantine. The 66-year-old American will be behind the boards for the first time as Caps head coach in the STEFFL Arena tomorrow. In addition to the long-term injured Senna Peeters and Sebastian Wraneschitz, Constantine also has to do without Marco Richter. The Vienna native suffered an upper body injury in Budapest on Wednesday. Statistically, the Caps power play remains a highlight. Since a goal was also scored in the majority in Budapest, the success rate is still exactly 25 percent, the fourth best value in the win2day ICE Hockey League. The shorthanded game is the fifth best in the league with an 83.33 percent success rate.
HC TIWAG Innsbruck comes to the STEFFL Arena in Vienna with two wins under their belt. Before the international break, the Haie defeated Olimpija Ljubljana 6:5 after overtime, and the Pioneers Vorarlberg were also defeated 4:3 after extra time on Wednesday. There wasn’t much to gain for the Haie against the Viennese recently. The Capitals won the last five games in a row, and the first duel of the season at the end of September went to the Kagraners 4-1. The two Caps home games against the Tyroleans in the previous season ended 10-0 and 8-2 in favor of the capital city team. Former league MVP Steven Owre is Innsbruck’s top goalscorer and top scorer with ten goals and 19 points. According to official statistics, the Canadian fired 80 shots this season, almost twice as many as Benjamin Corbeil and Troy Lajeunesse (41 each), who occupy second and third place in the team’s internal rankings. Ryan Kinasewich’s team should avoid penalties not only because of the successful Caps power play. The own penalty killing is the second worst in the win2day ICE Hockey League with a success rate of only 68.63 percent.
Before the Vienna Capitals honor the Villach town hall on Sunday, the VSV will welcome the EC-KAC to the 360th Carinthian derby. Before today’s matchday, the Eagles are in seventh place in the table with 25 points. Tray Tuomie’s team hasn’t been challenged often in competitive conditions recently due to the November international break and the postponement of the league game against EC Red Bull Salzburg. Since October 26th, Villach has only played the guest game in Vienna on November 2nd. The duel on November 16th against the Caps is therefore only the Adler’s third game in a period of 22 days. Before today’s game against EC-KAC, Nikita Scherbak is the Villach team’s top scorer with seven goals and 16 points. Like Innsbruck, VSV cannot boast of successful penalty killing. The success rate of exactly 68 percent is even lower than that of the Tyroleans and therefore the lowest in the win2day ICE Hockey League.
Statement Christof Kromp, attacker of the Vienna Capitals: “The last few days have been like a small training camp, we are adjusting to a new system and training hard. There were some good things in Budapest that we can build on. Even though we won against Innsbruck recently, we take every opponent seriously, because in this league you can lose to anyone. We have to be ready from the first second. The next strong opponent, Villach, is waiting on Sunday, but we want to score points there too. The goal is a six-point weekend.”
vienna-capitals.at , Image: HCI / PAPA Productions
