Bitter! At 10:01 p.m., Gazley sent the Black Wings on vacation

What an evening, what a fight, what a thrill without a happy ending! The regular season triumpher got away with a black eye, the underdog, who had been pushed up from seventh place via the pre-play-offs, heroically said goodbye at 10:01 p.m. on vacation. The ice hockey season is over for the Steinbach Black Wings, Bozen will meet the Vienna Capitals after a 3-2 win after extra time in the semifinals on Friday, Salzburg will play against KAC.

“It was a great series against a great opponent. Respect,” said match-winner and 21-goal man Dustin Gazley, who turned the tables in that incredible Game 7. First with the 2:2 (55th) and then after only 44 seconds of overtime with the 3:2 (61st). Stefan Gaffal had lost the puck on the boards, Gazley picked up the pace and outwitted goalie Rasmus Tirronen with a shot into the near corner. It’s over.

“It hurts incredibly, it was so close. Nobody can complain about our character, we were the underdog, nobody thought we were capable of anything. But we can’t buy much of that at the moment,” said Gaffal after the showdown, which got under the skin. When the final curtain fell, a number of the 130 fans from Upper Austria had tears in their eyes, while the majority of the 5,325 eyewitnesses celebrated the HCB for minutes in the Palaonda “witches’ cauldron”.

“I’m very proud”

It was an incredibly close affair that Wings coach Philipp Lukas didn’t leave unmoved either. “Unfortunately, it’s the end of our trip, congratulations to Bozen,” said the 43-year-old from Vienna: “I’m very proud of this team. She managed to inspire the people in Linz with her virtues – commitment, cohesion, team spirit. That was our philosophy from day one. We pulled ourselves out of a low in February, this squad has grown together.” Shortly before the finish line, the goal for the semi-finals was slammed in EHC’s face.

The two lucky potatoes that OÖN’s “Mister Liveticker”, Markus Prinz, had taken to the hall at the request of Hans Eder, the company founder of “Auto Eder”, one of the most loyal Black Wings sponsors, could not do anything about it change. You could be a bit superstitious in this exciting showdown, which the Linzers had left their mark on in South Tyrol in the first third with no-frills play and a tailor-made start. After just 23 seconds, the puck wriggled in the net, Logan Roe had pulled from the blue line, gaffal goalie Sam Harvey blocked the view – 1:0 (1st).

“We had the perfect start”

Andreas Kristler (9th), Shawn St-Amant (9th) and Gaffal (15th) found viable opportunities to make it 2-0. Too bad. “We had the perfect start, were very focused and did everything we could to make life as difficult as possible for Bolzano,” said the US defender, who experienced ups and downs yesterday.

Roe later squandered the disc, which Luca Frigo grabbed and raced towards Tirronen alone – 1:1 (38th). That was not undeserved at this point, because the Italian series champion dominated in the middle section and also kissed aluminum twice (22nd, 31st). But Linz was unimpressed and answered immediately. Just 34 seconds later, a shot by Andreas Kristler on the power play made it 2-1 in the right corner (38′).

“We didn’t fail because of fitness, the team has reared its head in this series. We could have played three thirds in overtime,” said the scorer about the 58th and final match of the season, after which 29 wins and 29 defeats were recorded. No other hurts as much as the very last one, with which a proud series came to an end. In the seventh playoff decision match since entering the Oberhaus in 2000, the Black Wings lost for the first time – albeit with their heads held high.