Tomorrow, Friday, the EC iDM Heat Pumps VSV will play an away match against the newly formed Moser Medical Graz 99ers team (Merkur Ice Arena, start: 7:30 p.m., live on ice.hockey and on Radio Kärnten Eishockey Magazin). The “Blue-Whites” are burning for redemption after the disappointing defeat against the Spusu Vienna Capitals.
The initial situation:
After the 2:3 defeat in Ljubljana and the 2:3 home defeat against Vienna, the “Adler” need to make amends. These two defeats at the start of the season are responsible for the fact that VSV is currently only in 11th position in the table with 0 points in the points account. Despite a strong performance against the Vienna Capitals, the “Adlers” were unable to capitalize on their numerous scoring opportunities and left the ice as losers despite their clear superiority. Goalkeeper JP Lamoureux is partly responsible for the fact that VSV only narrowly lost the two duels of the season: The American performed above-average in both duels and – as in the previous season – was able to clearly exceed all of the statistical values expected of him. In complete contrast to this is the offensive of the “Blue-Whites”, which scored one goal less in both games than statistically expected – so the remedy is quite clear: improve the utilization of chances! The only positive thing is that two defeats at the start of the season were always followed by a win in regular playing time, as was the case in the 2020/21 or 2022/23 seasons. Furthermore, the “Adlers” can look back on a six-game winning streak in the win2day ICE Hockey League against the Graz team: The last defeat, a 2:4 in Graz, dates back to October 28, 2022. Last year’s duels in the Merkur- The “Blue and Whites” won the ice stadium in a clear manner with 5:2 and 7:1 and of course want to continue this winning streak this season, although the signs are of course completely different.
The opponent:
The Styrians have welcomed well-known Austrian newcomers in the off-season such as Manuel Ganahl (EC KAC), Tim Harnisch (EC Salzburg), Nico Brunner (Vienna Capitals), Paul Huber (EC Salzburg), Lukas Haudum (EC KAC) and Kilian Zündel (HC Ambrì-Piotta) reinforced. This strong Austrian tribe is complemented by established legionnaires – including Korbinian Holzer, Casey Bailey and Rok Ticar – as well as aspiring legionnaires such as Nick Albano, Frank Hora, Trevor Gooch and Kevin Roy.
The Graz team also had an extremely successful start to the season, recording a 2-1 win against the Vienna Capitals and an easy 4-2 win against HC Innsbruck – so they already have six points in their account. Due to the well-known new signings, the 99ers are definitely among the extended favorites for the championship title in the win2day ICE Hockey League, says defender Philipp Lindner, who, by the way, played for the Graz team for two seasons:
“Graz strengthened themselves with incredible players in the summer, but that makes no difference to us, even if they will clearly be fighting for the title. We know that we have to be more compact defensively, stop the dangerous losses of targets that lead to counterattacks and be more cold-blooded in front of the goal. We allowed too many unnecessary chances against both Laibach and Graz and missed our own chances. Of course you can’t win a hockey game like that.”
Personelles:
Head coach Tray Tuomie will have to do without the injured Mark Katic and René Swette as well as the ill Elias Wallenta in Graz. Nico Uschan will play for the U20 and will therefore not be available to the coaching team. Defender Daniil Kulintsev, on the other hand, will celebrate his debut for the EC iDM Heat Pumps VSV as the regular 7th defender.
win2day ICE Hockey League
Moser Medical Graz 99ers – EC iDM heat pumps VSV
Merkur Ice Arena Graz
Friday, September 27th – Start: 7:30 p.m
Live stream on ice.hockey and on Radio Kärnten Eishockey-Magazin
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