EBEL seventh round review

Moser Medical Graz 99ers – EC Red Bull Salzburg  5:3 (2:0,1:1,2:1)

The guests from Salzburg began the game in Graz in a really offensive manner. That was until the 10^th minute when a Czech player for 99ers scored a shorthanded goal. And what a beauty it was: he received a puck outside the faceoff circle on the left side and hammered it with enormous power right near the place where the goal-post and cross bar are sticking. That gave a boost to the home side and they scored in 12^th minute power play once again. End of the first period offered one minute 5 on 3 situation on ice in Salzburg’s advance, but nothing happened. Red Bulls started second period off once again with high tempo, pressuring on a home defence. Salzburg’s top scorer Thomas Raffl scored in 27^th minute and Red Bulls hit the post quickly after that. Another goal for Salzburg was disallowed for standing into goalie’s territory before Graz answered: Daniel Woger scored in 32^nd for 3:1. The game later went into some extra boxing input, but the score shield remained 3:1 after 2 periods. Power play in 43^rd minute gave an extension to the home lead (4:1) and guests goalie was substituted after that. Guests managed to score out of the blue in 51st (4:2) and came really close with another goal in 55^th (4:3). They tried to level the score without a goalie during the last minute , but Graz hit the empty net to win their second game in a row (5:3).

HK Acroni Jesenice – EC Rekord Fenster VSV  3:1 (1:0,0:1,2:0)

Poor home crowd - due to lack of results - expected the game with hope for a first win of the season. The first minute offered a big hole in the home defence but it all ended with long distance shot and nothing happened. However it gave the guests a boost and they put enormous pressure on home side. The first five minutes therefore passed mostly on Jesenice’s half of the ice, but Gasper Kroselj in the home goal was convincing. After that the home side began to grind. They missed one good chance already before power play hammer in 8^th minute secured home side the lead. Jesenice later tried to extend the lead, but the guest’s goalie was also in good form. The second period proved home side is improving their performance: many pucks were shot towards guest’s goal, but unfortunately for the home crowd neither of those found the net. On the contrary the guests managed to level the score in the 28^th minute when the home goalie let the puck under his arm and into the net near the close post. The beginning of the last period offered more pressure on the guests, but some dirty playing and nervousness from VSV players as well. Referees didn’t cool things down and the crowd saw some boxing. VSV was gathering penalty minutes after that, many chances were missed for Jesenice, but relief came 33 seconds before final buzzer: Lukas Hvila scored a power play goal. VSV pulled the goalie out of his net to put the final pressure on the home side, but it all ended with another puck in their empty net. It all ended up in a massive fight on ice as the guests completely lost their nerves. It resulted in a choir of whistles and massive boo’s for the referees in the first place. Villach presented them selves as a dirty playing team and Jesenice secured their first win of the season.

EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz – EC KAC  2:1 (1:0,0:0,0:1,1:0) ot.

The game in Linz offered competition between the highest scoring team in the league (Linz) and the winner of all previous games played (KAC). Both teams began quite offensive and first few chances were missed by Black Wings. KAC was forced to focus on defence and managed to take the pressure off in the final minutes of the first period only. One counter attack for Linz however gave home side the lead in 19^th minute. Linz hit the post twice at the beginning of the second period and it woke up KAC’s players. Leaders of the league standings after that started to play their game, too. Many nice chances were missed on both sides, both goalies proving their good form as well. 26^th minute offered second goal for Linz, but it was disallowed for standing in goalie’s territory. Many discussions were made and video recordings were checked, but the result remained 1:0. Second period was finished after that with some more action on both sides and both teams gave fans really good effort for their money. Linz was playing with 3 players on ice against 5 at the beginning of the last period: home goalie Alex Westlund and the post kept their net empty. They didn’t managed to keep the sheets clean as KAC levelled the score in 46^th minute. As game was coming to an end phase Linz begun to gather penalty minutes and KAC was pressuring for the leading goal. Some good chances were offered for home side from counter attacks as well, but nets remained clear. Alex Westlund performed some miracles to remain Linz in the game during the last minutes and the game went into overtime. Curtis Murphy scored in 62^nd minute to gave home side a prestigious win over the leader.

KHL Medvescak Zagreb – HDD Tilia Olimpija Ljubljana  2:3 (2:2,0:0,0:0,0:1) ot.

The game between teams from the Croatian and Slovenian capitals proved to be entertaining. The home crowd once again filled arena and was eager to see Bear’s win over this year’s good performing Olimpija. The game started off nervously on both sides. First goal was scored in fourth minute to cheer up home crowd. Olimpija levelled the score with shorthanded goal in 9^th, but Medvescak got in front in the next minute during power play. Olimpija once again levelled the score in 18^th minute after shot from blue line was deflected into home net. Second and third period gave spectators no answers as both goalies performed well. Guests goalie was particularly on high level of performance as Medvescak was pressuring Olimpija in the last period really hard. However, penalty minutes for home side proved to be fatal in overtime: Ales Music scored his second of the night in 62^nd minute to level Olimpija’s points with leading KAC on top of the league.

HC Orli Znojmo – Sapa Fehervar AV19  3:4 (2:1,1:2,0:1)

The first league game scoring between Orli Znojmo and Hungarian champions Sapa was opened with Znojmo’s goal during power play in 7^th minute. Derek Ryan levelled the score in PP2 in12th minute, but Znojmo renewed their lead in 15^th. Orli didn’t score on power play in the second period and Derek Ryan scored two more goals for guests in 26^th and 29^th minute. Another power play gave Orli an equalizer in 30^th minute. Sapa missed big chance later in the second period and the result was 3:3 after two periods. Many penalties were given to both teams during the last period. Both Orli and Sapa had to play on occasions with 3 men against 5 and one of such situations gave us the winner of last night’s match; 51^st minute fourth goal of the night was scored by Derek Ryan. He was allowed to repeat his shot three or four times before hitting the net. Znojmo did not find guests net in the last minutes of the game and Sapa won thanks to four goals of Derek Ryan.

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