Image: R. Eisenbauer
“This is going to be a long series”, Rasmus Tirronen, the goalkeeper of the Steinbach Black Wings Linz, predicted. The Finn should be right, because after the 1:5 (0:1, 0:3, 1:1) home defeat of Linzer HC Bozen, the play-off quarter-final duel is 2:2, on Friday (7.45 p.m., live ticker on nachrichten.at) it continues in the South Tyrolean Palaonda.
“We need to get over that quickly and look to the future”said coach Philipp Lukas after a used evening in which the EHC completely lost control in the middle of the second third for incomprehensible reasons.
Such a hard-nosed squad like the regular season champion uses something like that mercilessly, of course, they ultimately gave up “foxes” from Italy the Black Wings a lesson.
That’s bitter, especially since everything was prepared for a superlative ice hockey treat. The 4,000-spectator sound barrier fell for the first time since March 6, 2020, when the people of Linz reported a sold-out house with 4,865 eyewitnesses against the KAC. This time, 4216 fans turned the arena on the lower Danube land into one “cauldron”who certainly impressed Bozen on the way to the rebreak in the series.
The 1-0 lead after the first third was pretty flattering – not only because Domenico Albergo’s attempt was unluckily maneuvered over his own line by Tirronen after exactly 120 seconds.
The Black Wings came out of the dressing room like firefighters, they dominated the first section with spirited, aggressive combination play and had top opportunities through Julian Pusnik (6th, 13th), Stefan Gaffal (10th) and Graham Knott , who in the 18th minute went alone to Bozen keeper Sam Harvey. Goal celebrations none.
Linz striker lost his nerve
The beginning of the second period also belonged to the Upper Austrians, who seemed to be very close to equalizing. But with a hearty brawl (yes, the emotions were great) and a rather unsuccessful power play, the game seemed to tip over (29th). Linz made too many mistakes in the neutral zone and on the opponent’s blue line, Bozen punished them coldly.
Dustin Gazley (32nd) and Christian Thomas (33rd) increased to 0:3 within 62 seconds. With Gazley’s 0:4 (38th) and a frustrated stick blow after the second siren – Emilio Romig, who could expect a suspension, pulled the ball over Ryan Culkin’s head – the game was decided.
The Linz audience tirelessly cheered on their team even when the score was 0:5 (48th) – and was rewarded with at least a partial success. Marc-Andre Dorion scored to make it 1:5 (51./pp2).
Salzburg in the semifinals
Salzburg has already cleared the first hurdle. The defending champions won 6-1 in Szekesfehervar and the series 4-0. The Black Wings still need two successes, the same applies to opponents Bozen. The encounter between Vienna Capitals and Innsbruck is also completely open. The “sharks” from Tirol triumphed in Vienna 2:1 after extra time, so it is 2:2 after a total of four away wins. After a 3-1 home win over Villacher SV, KAC leads 3-1 in the Carinthian Derby.
Source: Nachrichten
