ICE Hockey League

KAC wins the battle against Salzburg

Johannes Bischofberger was the goal scorer for the KAC.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The runners-up have also won their second clash of the season against the champions in the ICE Hockey League. The KAC won 3:2 at Red Bull Salzburg on Sunday thanks to a successful penalty by Johannes Bischofberger in overtime and closed the gap on the defending champions. 

At the top of the table, HCB Südtirol maintained their two-point lead over the Graz 99ers, who won 4-2 at VSV, with a 4-2 win in the Tyrolean derby against the Innsbrucker Haie.

(Bild: GEPA)

At the start of the season, the KAC had won at home against Salzburg 4:3 after a penalty shoot-out, and the game in Salzburg's Volksgarten was just as close and intense. The home side took the lead through Ryan Murphy after 81 seconds, Maximilian Preiml (23rd) and Matt Fraser (34th) turned the game in Carinthia's favor, Peter Hochkofler sent the game into overtime with his goal to make it 2:2 (41st).

Bischofberger ice-cold
The KAC, who were without top scorer Mathias From, who was ill, and injured forwards Raphael Herburger, Fabian Hochegger, Jan Mursak and Simeon Schwinger, took the extra point. After a foul by Salzburg captain Thomas Raffl, Bischofberger was successful with the penalty shot against goalkeeper Atte Tolvanen. After two clear away defeats recently, the record champions celebrated another win away from home, while Salzburg had to settle for a point at the weekend. "We had enough chances, but nothing came off for us today," said RB striker Luca Auer.

(Bild: GEPA)

Without suspended captain Korbinian Holzer, the Graz99ers secured three points. The Styrians struck twice in the powerplay through Casey Bailey (6th) and Paul Huber (31st), Marcus Vela increased the lead to 3:1 with a converted penalty shot (48th). However, VSV veteran John Hughes made the match exciting again with his powerplay goal (52nd) in his 900th league game. The 36-year-old is the top scorer among the active players, he now has 1,052 points and is currently number one in the league with 14 points for the season. His goal was not enough, however, and Villach are now only one point ahead of bottom club Vorarlberg.

(Bild: GEPA)

Bolzano marches on
In the Tyrolean south-north duel, the Innsbruck Sharks overturned a 2-0 deficit through Ryan Valentini (19th/PP) and Mark Rassell (30th). It was not enough to score against the league leaders, Anthony Salinitri (40th) and Jason Seed (60th/EN) scored to give the team from Bolzano their eighth win in the last nine games.

After four wins in a row, the Black Wings Linz were beaten 3-1 at home by Fehervar, who are now third in the table. The team from Linz was down 3-0 after 22 minutes and only managed to close the gap in the dominant final period. The efficient Hungarians had 14 shots on goal to win. The Pioneers Vorarlberg prevailed in the duel between the last and penultimate teams in the table. The team from Feldkirch won 3:1 in Asiago and caught up with the Italians on points with only their second win of the season.