Image: (APA)
Third, second and then Austrian champion: After years of unsuccessful attempts to raise ice hockey in Linz to the highest national level, the record after entering the Bundesliga (2000/2001) reads like a fairy tale with a happy ending on the evening of April 13. April 20003. 20 years ago today – around 7:20 p.m. – Canadian legionnaire Ralph Intranuovo’s goal to make it 4-2 in Villach secured the first championship title of an Upper Austrian club in ice hockey history. “It was a journey that will keep us connected for all eternity,” says the current Black Wings head coach Philipp Lukas in one of the current nine parts of the OÖN podcast series on the 2002/03 championship season.
After 3-0 sweeps in the quarterfinals and semi-finals against Lustenau and Klagenfurt, the Black Wings turned a 0-1 deficit in the best-of-five series into a 3-1 win against fearful opponents Villach. The hero in the fourth and ultimately decisive final game was today’s assistant coach Mark Szücs, who was involved in all of Linz’s goals with two goals and two assists and had already visualized the championship-deciding 3:2 before he scored it. “I could see the goal and knew where I had to go to net,” says Szücs in the series of conversations. The wave of euphoria that the people of Linz triggered among the fans when they won the title was felt at the championship celebrations, when around 9,000 supporters celebrated on Linz’s main square. “In Villach, 500 away fans were with us on the ice, and they were there again and again in the days that followed. And this closeness to the supporters is still part of our identity today,” said Lukas.
The ascent was followed by the descent
However, winning the championship also marked the end of the sporty ascent. Master bonuses, rising salaries and expensive new signings brought the people of Linz into financial problems, which should lead to an application for insolvency two years later. “In retrospect, bankruptcy was unavoidable,” says ex-manager Helmut Keckeis in the “Eisbreaker” podcast. After a new foundation, the people of Linz followed up with another title in 2012.
Who will be crowned champion in the current season is open. The Salzburg Eisbullen have the best cards, who won game 3 in Bozen 4-1 and could be 3-1 in the final series tomorrow in front of their home crowd.
Source: Nachrichten
