Before CHL – Eurohockey presents Red Bull Salzburg

The Red Bulls have without any doubt the best roster in EBEL. After in 2014 HC Bolzano stole their show, last season they dominated not only the regular season, but also showed no mercy in the playoffs winning the title with an impressive 12-1 record.

‘Never change a winning team’ might have been the Red Bull’s philosophy this off-season, as only minimal changes were made to the lineup. Backup-goalie Bernd Brückler, replaced by Fabian Weihandl, and Troy Milam are the only notable subtraction to a roster, which already last season performed very well in the Champions Hockey League. Last season the Red Bulls almost reached the quarter finals, before Lulea HF came back in exciting fashion to win to win the two-game-series by a 10-9 score.

They should also have good memories from playing against one of their two their competitors for a spot in the playoff round. Already last season the Bulls had to face off against HV71, defeating the Swedes in both games. Though, they should not underestimat Sonderjyske Vojens, despite the fact that they might be the favourites against the Danes.

In net 22-year old Slovenian net minder Luka Gracnar has, despite his rather young age, proven to be a high caliber goaltender. The key players on the team coached by Ratushny, who is also in charge of the Austrian national team, are on defence captain Matthias Trattnig and Brian Fahey. Though, just as on their offensive core including players like Kyle Beach, Thomas Raffl or John Hughes, they lack neither top player nor depth to be a very competitive opponent.

With great talents always coming out of their junior program, the team also has lots of interesting young players on the time such as Peter Hochkofler or Alexander Cijan.

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