As was the case last season, the Steinbach Black Wings Linz had an unsatisfactory start to the season. After eight games, the Upper Austrians are in last place in the table – and slowly they have to find their way in the steel city.
The season opener against the Pioneers Vorarlberg was successful, but after that there were five defeats in a row. Against Salzburg they secured their second win of the season thanks to a good performance, and against Laibach they lost 4:8 last Friday.
Now the Upper Austrians are at the bottom of the table with just five points from eight games. It should be noted that Linz, along with KAC, played the fewest games. The remaining teams already have nine or even ten regular season games under their belt.
Goalie Rasmus Tirronen is still day-to-day, but could return on Friday. Otherwise, Thomas Höneckl will be between the posts again. It is currently unlikely that Linz will take action on the transfer market due to the table situation. Rather, the focus will be on the intensive time until the national team break. There are now no fewer than seven games on the program until November 3rd – four of them in the Linz AG Eisarena.
On Friday the Black Wings will be visiting Ferencvaros Budapest – the Hungarians are on the rise after their recent successes over Graz and Feldkirch and the league opener has shown one thing: anyone can beat anyone. In Linz you should still get on track as soon as possible before the gap to the playoff places becomes too great. FTC-Telekom is currently seven points ahead of Linz, and sixth place is “already” twelve points away.
Image: Black Wings Linz/Eisenbauer
