In its 56th game of the season in the win2day ICE Hockey League, EC-KAC has to face the premature end of the season for the first time: On Friday, March 18, the Rotjacken will be playing away at the Vienna Capitals, who are in the “Best-of -Seven” quarterfinal series have a 3:1 lead. The opening faceoff in this encounter will take place at 7.45 p.m., Puls24 will broadcast live on free TV.
EC-KAC, who started the post-season with three wins in a row, recently had to accept three defeats in a row and therefore literally has their backs to the wall in the quarter-final series: In each of the up to three upcoming duels with the Vienna Capitals, a defeat means the premature one End of the season for Klagenfurt.
In their club history, the Rotjacken have only trailed 3-1 in “best-of-seven” series three times. In none of these cases was the turnaround successful: the final series in 1998 (Feldkirch) and 2012 (Linz) both went with them Lost 1:4, that 1999 (Villach) was at least extended into a sixth duel with an away win in game five.
Tailwind should give the defending champion his good record in away games in the federal capital in the recent past. Before the 3:5 defeat in Vienna on Sunday, EC-KAC had won a total of six wins in a row in the Steffl Arena.
Thomas hundred pounds:
“We have nothing left to lose now, so we can only go full throttle from the first shift and throw everything in. It will be necessary to work harder than the Capitals, to put them under pressure from the start, then luck will jump on our side too. So far, Vienna has been more disciplined than us in terms of tactical behavior, we have to match that, then we can beat them with our forechecking and our pressing. In my opinion, the game on Tuesday was our strongest in this series, we have to build on that performance. Whether away or at home is completely irrelevant, we now need three wins in a row and getting them is our big goal for the coming days.”
Many failures and open personal details
Niklas Würschl returned to team training on Thursday from the quartet of those who had been injured for a long time, although it is still too early for him to play. He is out of the fifth quarter-final game on Friday, as are Jakob Holzer, Rok Tičar and Johannes Bischofberger.
Also missing is Steven Strong, who was brutally checked to the head late in the first period of Tuesday’s game, suffering multiple injuries. The defender was discharged from hospital after spending a night in hospital but will have to undergo several outpatient check-ups in the coming days to determine the extent of his injuries.
–
Clemens Unterweger, who was recently injured, and Stefan Geier, who was injured in the final training session, are also on board for the journey to Vienna on Thursday afternoon. After the morning skate on Friday, a final decision will be made on the suitability of both players.
www.kac.at, photo: Leo Vymlatil
–
–
–
