Znojmo gets first little EBEL sensation

The long awaited EBEL debut of EC Dornbirn ended in a fiasco for them. In front of their own fans Dornbirn could have scored early but instead the experienced team from Villach showed deadly precision with three goals in the first 9 minutes. In the following time the hosts tried to create dangerous situations whenever they had the puck but the addition of another two goals at the end of the second period for EC VSV ended all hopes for points. In the 47th minute Peintner even made half a dozen goals against perfect. Despite several good occasions Dornbirn still has to wait for their first goal in Austria's top division.

The other newcomers in the league, HC Innsbruck, did a far better job against Graz but weren't rewarded for the efforts. Defenseman Dustin Van Ballegooie brought the guests in front almost with the whistle for the first intermission. Innsbruck's Francis Lemieux could have become the hero of the day with his double in a 13 second span in the 39th minute, but a power play converted by Olivier Latendresse and the first goal for Olivier Labelle in the young season let Graz take the lead back in the third period that they didn't give up anymore. All goals of the match were scored by Canadian imports.

In the new edition of last year's playoff final Klagenfurt took revenge in Linz with a small 2-1 win. It took the guests only 4 minutes to get the lead through a blue line shot by Martin Schumnig. Just seconds before the second intermission Rob Hisey scored the equalizer for the current champion from Linz. In the 57th record champion Klagenfurt got the lead back through Thomas Koch. Although Linz pulled out their goalie when they had a powerplay in the last minute, even with a 6-on-4 they couldn't create enough pressure anymore to tie the game another time.

In the match of two underdogs that could play a good role this season, KHL Medvescak Zagreb from Croatia earned their first two points of the season by defeating Hungarian side SAPA Fehervar AV19 with 4-2. Curtis Fraser, who last year played for Cortina in Italy, opened the score in favour of the guests from Zagreb in the 14th minute. This was the only goal for quite a long time before eventful minutes at the end of the second period. First Istvan Sofron, who was the Hungarian's regular season top scorer last year, tied the match in the 38th minute before Nathan Perkovich and Andy Sertich gained a two-goal lead for the guests within a minute. Hope returned to SAPA Fehervar when Marton Vas cut the lead shorthanded. In the last 20 minutes Medvescak concentrated on defense and got an empty-netter through Alex Leavitt.

Orli Znojmo earned the first little sensation of the season with a 3-1 away win against a rather weak Red Bull Salzburg. Znojmo found better into the game but missed several good opportunities before Steven Regier did it better on the other end of the ice with a PP goal in the 20th minute. In the middle period the guests from the Czech Republic increased the pressure and the consequence of this was the equalizer by Kim Strömberg in the 37th. Ondrej Fiala and Jan Lattner only needed two minutes from the 50th to the 52nd to add another two goals for the solid away win for the Czechs.   

 

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