United in tragedy, in a class of their own in a duel

Even though the Black Wings goalkeeper’s goal barrier was broken by Ljubljana center forward Maris Bicevskis after an impressive 142:17 minutes, the EHC Linz was not stopped and maintained its position at the top of the ICE Hockey League with a 4:2-(1 :0, 1:1, 2:1) home win in front of 2866 eyewitnesses. Among them was ex-Wings striker Daniel Oberkofler (926 league matches), who was received with applause and chants.

Before the opening face-off in the Linz AG ice arena, the mood was anything but exuberant, the cracks from both clubs – united in the tragedy – had formed a circle, they bowed their heads and commemorated the drop of a pin in a minute’s silence could have heard, Adam Johnson.

The US professional and former teammate of league top scorer Graham Knott had a fatal accident in an English Cup match last Saturday. In addition to the 29-year-old’s portrait, a candle and the words “In loving memory” in English appeared on the video cube.

But the show must go on, that’s what the job demands, which the Black Wings carry out in a highly professional manner. They tied up the “Dragons” from Slovenia in the first third almost like a power play, 19:8 shots and the 1:0 by fourth-line striker Marco Brucker after 148 seconds (3rd) were the logical consequence.

Lebler equalized the league record

Not for the first time the thread was to break in the second half, but after the 1:1 (23rd), captain Brian Lebler brought the ship to 2:1 (35th), 3: with his league goals 357, 358 and 359. 1 (45th) and 4:2 (52nd) back on track.

A milestone: After this “hat trick”, only one goal separates the 35-year-old from the sole league record. Lebler, who still wants to play at 40, equaled KAC legend Thomas Koch’s record.

Am Sunday (4:30 p.m., live ticker on nachrichten.at) The Black Wings are visiting reigning champions and leaders Salzburg, who won the first duel of the season 4:3 after a penalty shootout. It is a tradition that hundreds of Linz fans make their way to the city of Mozart to support their EHC.

Free days in prospect

“That’s impressive. I experienced that when I made my debut with the Salzburg professionals (2018/19, note),” recalls Wings striker Nico Feldner in the OÖN podcast “Eisbrecher”.

After the final siren, the Wings can take a deep breath; due to the international break with the Germany Cup (without Linz participating), the game will only continue against Pustertal on November 17th. “It’s important to recover. It was a strenuous phase for body and mind,” says coach Philipp Lukas, who will give his protégés at least five days off in two stages.