Hot for game seven

KAC captain Hundertpfund chases his fifth trophy

The cup hamsters of the final clubs in a duel: Thomas Hundertpfund holds four championship titles, Salzburg's Thomas Raffl six.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The whole of Klagenfurt is eagerly awaiting the seventh ice hockey final duel between the KAC and Salzburg on Friday. With the experience of championship titles in the final squads, it's currently 44:32 in favor of the Bulls. Captain Thomas Hundertpfund is number one for the Red Jackets with four victories.

All or nothing! For the cracks from KAC and Salzburg, it's cup or tears in the big showdown of the ice hockey league on Friday in the Klagenfurt Stadthalle. Both clubs have plenty of experience in winning a title. Salzburg is ahead in the statistics with 44 victories for all players (six of which were won by Thomas Raffl from Villach).

Captain Thomas Hundertpfund leads the internal KAC rankings with four titles.(Bild: Krone KREATIV, F. Pessentheiner)

"Pulse a little higher"
But the Klagenfurt players also know how to become champions - the current players have already succeeded 32 times. Above all Thomas Hundertpfund, who has already lifted four trophies - for the first time in the 2008/09 season. "In my first season as captain, that would of course be the crowning glory. We have such a positive energy in the dressing room, such cohesion. It was exactly the same before my four other championship titles," says "Hundi", who is normally not fazed by much. "But maybe my pulse goes up a bit before a game seven in the final."

Ten-time double champion
The largest number in the KAC dressing room is the number of double champions. Johannes Bischofberger, Niki Kraus, Daniel Obersteiner, Nick Petersen, Steven Strong, Clemens Unterweger, Thomas Vallant and Marcel Witting were all part of the last two Klagenfurt titles in the 2018/19 and 2020/21 seasons. Raphael Herburger won with the KAC in 2008/09 and 2012/13. Veteran Jan Mursak has also been able to celebrate twice in his career: in 2012/13 with Grand Rapids Griffins (current club of KAC export Marko Kasper), he won the American Hockey League championship - in 2018/19 he won with Bern in Switzerland.

Jesper Jensen Aabo wants to win his first championship title.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Jensen Aabo hopes for a premiere
Seven players have yet to win a championship at the highest league level, including Jesper Jensen Aabo, the captain of the Danish national team: "I made it to the second division in Sweden with Rögle, but never to the top," says the defender. "Most professionals never experience a game seven in a final, of course we're excited. We have to stay patient." Then you might as well overtake the Bulls in the title statistics.