After a long season, the last games of the Styrian Ice Hockey Academy took place and were a great highlight with the 3rd place of the U20international, which is synonymous with the Austrian runner-up title.
Ice Hockey Academy Styria U20 team wins in CHL mode against Ujpest Budapest and wins the bronze medal
The U2 team from the Styrian Ice Hockey Academy is having a great season. In phase 1 of the championship they started in Division 2 and qualified for the play up/downs with only 2 defeats. Here they gave DVTK Jegkorong in Miskolc no chance and were promoted to the top division. Phase 2 of the championship was just as great and the basic round ended in 3rd place. In the play-off quarter-finals they “picked” the academy from Fehervar, with whom they still had unfinished business from the last two seasons. In the last two seasons they lost in the play up/downs against the Hungarians and so they really wanted to win the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 season. With 2 wins (4:2, 3:0) in the best of three series, they clearly cleared this hurdle and met HD mladi Jesenice in the semi-finals. The Slovenians, who were able to strengthen their squad again after being eliminated from the ALPS Hockey League, won the best of five semi-final series 3-1 and so the Styrians had to fight for third place against Ujpest Budapest in CHL mode.
This weekend the U20 won the game on Saturday with 3:2 and achieved a 2:2 in the all-important game on Sunday and thus the bronze medal with an overall score of 5:4! After the KAC won the league title and Austrian championship title against Jesenice, third place in the league was synonymous with the Austrian runner-up title.
A pleasing detail on the side: In both meetings between the Styrian Ice Hockey Academy and the KAC, the Styrians emerged victorious.
These successes should not go unnoticed by the Graz ice hockey audience and so the successful U20 team was invited by the Graz 99ers on Sunday, March 29th, 2026 to be presented during the third break of the first semi-final game!
U17 team finished the Austrian championship in 4th place
After the regular round, the U17s were level on points with the Okanagan Academy in 4th place and met HC Innsbruck in the quarter-finals. In the best of three series, the Styrians celebrated 2 deserved victories (5:0, 3:1) and had to go to Linz in the semi-finals to win the basic round. However, there were 3 defeats in the best of five series against the Ice Hockey Academy Upper Austria and so the team played for third place this weekend – opponents the Okanagans, who had the same points in the regular round.
As expected, two more than exciting games developed in the CHL mode and after two regular seasons the score was 5:5 (2:2, 3:3). This meant that extra time had to be decided in which the Styrians missed two great chances and after a goalless extra time the penalty shootout had to bring the final decision. Okanagan had the better end of the penalty shootout and ended the season in 4th place
U15 surprisingly eliminated in the quarter-finals
The youngest team at the Styrian Ice Hockey Academy is the U15, from which we could expect a lot this year. In the basic round they were able to beat every team and finished the basic round in 4th place. The focus was on the play-offs in which they wanted to really annoy the top three. Unfortunately, the quarter-final weekend against HC Innsbruck didn’t go as expected and they lost the best of three series 0:2 (4:5 SO, 5:7).
However, the development of the players wasn’t over yet and on the one hand players were able to gain experience in the U17, and on the other hand some players had to play the U15 Slovenian play-offs with our partner club from Celje this year. In the Slovenian championship, HK Celje is currently in the final with Slavia Laibach and is leading 2-1 in the best of five series – on Wednesday or, if necessary, next Sunday, some players could still be crowned Slovenian champions.
The summary of the season is very positive
The President of the Styrian Ice Hockey Academy Dr. Philipp Hofer draws a very positive summary of the 2025/26 season: “We were able to develop significantly again and were ultimately rewarded with a medal,” says Hofer, who is particularly pleased with the bronze medal for the U20. “But it’s not just the 3rd place in the U20 championship that gives reason to be happy, but also the constant development. With Lukas Engelhart, Lukas Fassmann and Lennart Braun, 3 players celebrated their debut in the fighting team. With Paul Reiner, a real homegrown player shows top performances in the ALPS League with the Zeller Eisbären, in the ICEHL with the 99ers and also in the U20 national team, he has been a fixed and important part of the last 3 years! The Alumni Clemens Krainz, Jakob Engelhart and Markus Handl earned their spurs in the ALPS with the Kitzbühel Adler, goalkeeper Patrick Grascher was in action for Austria at the U20 World Cup, is in the squad of the fighting team and was also loaned out to the ALPS. Benedikt Krainer is currently fighting in the play-offs in the ALPS RedBulls Salzburg in the ALPS League.”
Particularly worthy of mention are the national team call-ups, which are constantly increasing. This season, 18 players from the Styrian Ice Hockey Academy were called up to a wide variety of selection teams, in addition to the Austrian selection teams, also for Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. The academy’s coaching team also includes 2 national team coaches who act as assistant coaches for the Slovenian men’s and U20 national teams.
Future of the Styria Ice Hockey Academy
In the 2026/27 season, Austrian youth ice hockey will switch back to even age categories. For the Ice Hockey Academy this specifically means U20, U18 and U16.
“For us, this makes the transition to the academy much easier, as the players not only move to the U16 but also mostly to the upper school. This means that training operations are much easier to organize with our school cooperation partners and the morning units are possible for the youngest year group,” says President Hofer.
The athletic department under athletic director Gerd Gruber has been working on putting together the squad and organizing the next season for several weeks.
“In addition to a try out, which we have been organizing at the beginning of January for the last four years, we receive various inquiries from coaches and players every week. Here it is important to make the right decisions with a good eye. It is now completely normal for us to be contacted by agents and to be offered a variety of players. The work in the background is becoming more and more similar to that of professional teams with everything that goes with it and the financial pressure has increased massively in the last few years.”
What do you expect for next season? “In youth, it’s not always about the results but especially about the development of young talents who should and must complete training alongside competitive sports. If the development is right, the quality of the players also increases and thus also the results. We want to take the “next step” again next season and continuously improve, then we are optimistic that we will be able to bring medals to Graz again for the young talent!”
If you could wish for something in the academy, President Hofer immediately thinks of 2 things: “On the one hand, we are constantly working on improving our budget – that would make a lot of things easier in our daily work and, on the other hand, the upward perspective. We would urgently need an intermediate step between the U20 and the fighting team so that our talents can collect ice time in the senior level and have a sporting perspective after youth ice hockey. This undertaking is difficult to realize in Austria but urgently necessary. From the 3rd league (ÖEL) to the regional association leagues “There is already a wide range of options in Styria, but it is very hard for the top players to continue striving towards professional ice hockey and to live the dream of being a professional player – perhaps even playing internationally or in the national team!”
Source: STEHV, Pic: jm.visualsx
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