Graz are on schedule
99ers: Last year topped in November?
The Graz99ers ice hockey team goes into the international break satisfied. Despite 18 new players and a new system, the team is on track for a direct entry into the quarter-finals. On Sunday, coach Harry Lange meets old NHL friends.
With a 7:1 goal avalanche against Vorarlberg, the 99ers shook off their scoring drought before the international break - and Harry Lange, coach of the Graz ice hockey team, was able to take a few days off with a satisfactory interim season balance.
With 29 points after 15 games, his cracks are third in the ICEHL table - and only three points short of the total points haul of last season, which ended unpleasantly early after the basic round with a meagre 32 points.
This time, however, it already smells of an early quarter-final qualification: Holzer & Co. currently have an average of 1.93 points per game. If they continue in this vein, the statistical result at the end of the basic round would be 92.64 points. Last season, Villach finished sixth (three points ahead of Innsbruck) in the top six with 80 points.
"When you consider that we have 18 new players and are introducing a new system, we've started quite well," says Harry Lange, not dissatisfied. "Of course we still have room for improvement, but of the first 15 games I was only dissatisfied with two games against Asiago and Ljubljana. We have to be patient, become more consistent and simply believe in the process. But I'm quite sure that other teams would like to have our problems."
Even if the integration of some free spirits such as Trevor Gooch (who had a different role in Ljubljana) will still take time, Lange puts a stop to the latest rumors: "We're certainly not going to cut any players!" Postscript: "But we'll keep our eyes open, because we still have one legionnaire spot open in the squad."
Coach is still active himself
On Sunday, the 99ers coach and his squad (Haudum and Huber are with the team, Brunner, Zündel and Kainz have withdrawn from the ÖEHV due to illness) will be the star guest at the 30th anniversary of the NHL hobby league in Hart bei Graz. At 4 p.m., they will face the NHL All-Star squad of coach Bernd Jäger, with whom Lange himself played for the 99ers. "A point of honor for us! Our staff, Philipp Pinter, Nate Di Casmirro and myself, play in NHL Group C with the Dolphins. But on Sunday I'm just the coach!"
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