EBEL; Second part of the season - final round

TOP6 games:

KHL Medvescak Zagreb – SAPA Fehervar AV19  3:4 (1:2, 0:2, 2:0)

The decision about second position for the play-offs took place last night in Zagreb, Croatia. Guests from Hungary needed a win with at least three goals gap to get in the second place. They started in the right way: Balasz Lada (0:1) and Istvan Sofron (0:2) scored two goals in first four and a half minutes. Home team did not give up anyway. Joel Prpic scored for Bears in 8^th minute (1:2). Tom Zanoski failed to equalize for Medvescak in 16^th minute, when he missed to score on penalty shot. Home team was dominant on ice at the beginning of second period, but Adam Fekti scored for guests in 24^th minute (1:3). Balasz Ladanyi added fourth goal for SAPA in 36^th minute and Robert Kristan had to leave his goal in Michael Ouzas’ favour. Adam Naglisc scored shorthanded in 45^th minute (2:4) and Frank Banham added a goal in 48^th minute power play (3:4). It was the final goal and Medvescak defended their second position despite losing a game. Bears meet Znojmo in first game of quarter-finals on Sunday in Zagreb. Devils meet Olimpija in Szekesfehervar.

EC Red Bull Salzburg – HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana  7:6 (1:3, 3:1, 2:2, 0:0, 1:0) PS

The strangest game in which Olimpija lost another position in EBEL happened last night in Salzburg. 2300 fans only gathered on a night when Red Bulls had to determine their exact play-off position, so that was strange, too. It was like nobody really cares. Ziga Pance opened the scoring for guests in second minute (0:1), but Salzburg equalized in 4^th (Ramzi Abid, 1:1). Justin Taylor (6’,1:2) and Ziga Pance  (13’, 1:3) produced a two goal gap for Olimpija. Second period was dominated by home team and Thomas Raffl (29’, 2:3) and Abid (33’, 3:3) scored for Salzburg. Erik Pance produced another lead for guests in 36^th minute (3:4), but Matthias Trattnig equalized in following minute (37’, 4:4). Additional four goals were scored in third period. Peter Sachl (43’, 4:5) and John Hughes (50’, 5:6) twice put Olimpija in the lead, but Brent Aubin (49’,5:5) and Doug Lynch (53’, 6:6) equalized on both occasions. Red Bulls dominated overtime, as they shot 10 pucks towards Matija Pintaric; guests on the other side did not manage to shot on home goal. A big controversy happened in penalty shooting, as Pintaric completely left his net twice, opening it for Salzburg players in what really seems to be unprofessional move. It is obvious that Olimpija’s management was aware of the results on the other games and they were choosing the opposition for quarter-finals. Hitting an empty net twice in a row Red Bulls won the game. They meet KAC in first quarter-final game at home on Sunday, Olimpija travels to Szekesfehervar.

EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz – EC-KAC  2:3 (0:0, 2:1, 0:2)

They say in Klagenfurt it was a dream start for their new coach Christian Weber. Manny Viveiros actually lost his job as KAC coach few days ago. Well, might be a dream start, but it’s also a strange result – it promoted KAC on fifth place. On the other hand, this result gave them the least wanted opposition for quarter finals – Red Bulls. Back to the game – KAC came to Linz with very young team; Black Wings also played the game with changed lines. First period was pale and goalless. Stefan Schumnigg opened the scoring for KAC in 27^th minute (0:1). Gregor Baumgartner equalized in 31^st minute (1:1) and Justin Keller put Linz in front in 37^th minute (2:1). Thomas Meinhardt , KAC youngster equalized early in third period (43’, 2:2). Mike Siklenka scored the winning goal for Austrian record championship winners KAC in 57^th minute (2:3). Black Wings finished first anyway and are meeting Vienna Capitals on Sunday at home, KAC travels to Salzburg.

QUALIFICATION Group games:

EC REKORD-Fenster VSV - Moser Medical Graz 99ers  3:1 (1:1, 0:0, 2:0)

Both teams needed a win to secure a play-off place. In addition to winning, VSV were hoping for Vienna not to win the game against Jesenice, or at least not to win the game by five or more goals. Graz also needed a win, so there were not any real calculations present. Manuel Ganahl opened the scoring for Graz in 13^th minute (0:1), but Derek Damon equalized for VSV in 18^th (1:1). The game was actually very nervous and both teams had to deal with many penalties – there were six minor penalties against VSV in first period and five minor penalties for Graz in first 20 minutes. No goals were scored during second period, although Graz players suffered another three minor penalties, and Mario Altmann was the only VSV player in penalty box in that period. Both teams added another two penalties in third period, but no goals were scored in power play. Gerhard Unterluggauer made it 2:1 for VSV from the blue line in 46^th minute and Stefan Bacher scored for 3:1 in 49^th minute, but as it turned out – that wasn’t enough. Both, VSV and Graz are out of play-offs and finished with this season.

UPC Vienna Capitals – HK Acroni Jesenice  11:3 (5:3, 0:0, 6:0)

Another must-win game for Vienna took place last night – actually they needed at least five goals gap and they wouldn’t want Graz to win in Villach. Mario Seidl opened the scoring in 2^nd minute (1:0), but Marjan Manfreda equalized for guests in 4^th (1:1). Taylor Holst scored another goals for Vienna in following minute (2:1), but Branislav Bendik equalized once again – this time shorthanded - in 10^th minute (2:2). Jonathan Ferland (3:2) and Benoit Gratton (4:2) added two goals in another 45 seconds, but Jan Bercic got one for guests also after next 45 seconds (4:3). Jon Insana’s power play goal for Capitals in 14^th minute (5:3) closed the scoring for first period. Justin Sand made an EBEL debut in front of Jesenice goal after fifth goal for Vienna. He produced some great saves at the beginning of second period. As in first period 8 goals were scored, second period was strange without any goal. Home team was expecting news from Villach and cleaning of the ice was unusually long. In addition to that a plexi glass in NASH mysteriously broke and a replacement took another amount of time. News from Villach did not clear of who wins the game in Villach and Capitals had to hunt additional goals in third period. And goals came – plenty of goals. Gratton (6:3) and Martin Oraze (7:3) scored twice inside 40 seconds of 42^nd minute. Philipp Pinter was next in 46^th minute (8:3). At that point, news from Villach revealed that Villach scored a leading goal and 5000 fans in Wien were delirious. They got even more excited in 48^th minute, when Andre Lakos scored and extended the lead (9:3). Benoit Gratton finished his hat-trick in 51^st minute (10:3) and Mario Fischer finished the job in 59^th minute (11:3) in what seemed to be disgraceful presentation of Slovenian champions in Wien! Capitals qualified for play-offs and are meeting Black Wings in Linz on Sunday.  HK Jesenice are finished with EBEL and are now on a wait for their national championship to start.

QUARTERFINALS, first games, Sunday, February 19^th, 2012:

Linz: BW Linz – Vienna Capitals

Zagreb (CRO): Medvescak – Orli Znojmo

Szekesfehervar (HUN): SAPA – Olimpija

Salzburg: RB Salzburg – EC KAC

Tweets by @eurohockey