ICE basement duel

Pioneers want to empty the tanks against Asiago

The Pioneers Vorarlberg were recently beaten 2-0 by the Black Wings.(Bild: dorner_pioneers.hockey)

The Pioneers Vorarlberg recently lost 2-0 to the Black Wings from Linz in front of their own fans. Today, the game continues on home ice in the Vorarlberghalle as the team from Feldkirch aim to secure their sixth win of the season against their neighbors Asiago - and thus also take their place in the red lantern.

The Pioneers Vorarlberg were unable to sweeten the retirement of veteran Patrick Spannring with a home win against Linz, losing narrowly 2-0 (0-1, 0-0, 0-1) to the Black Wings, only conceding the second goal in the final minute. As a result, the Ländle-Cracks once again failed to win two games in a row in the ICE Hockey League this season. "We got off to a bad start," said head coach Dylan Stanley, "and then unfortunately it took us a while to get into the right intensity."

The Pioneers will now also be without Julian Metzler, who has been suspended for two games and fined 500 euros for an incident deemed to be cross-checking (IIHF Rule 59). The 24-year-old will therefore miss today's games against Asiago and Salzburg next Wednesday.

A must-win
The Pioneers continue their important home game against Asiago Hockey in the Vorarlberghalle tonight (19:30). The first meeting between the two teams this season was a 3:1 away win for the Vorarlberg team on October 20. Now the Stanley squad is looking for another win despite the tight personnel situation.

With a win against their neighbors in the table, the bottom team could also hand over the red lantern to the Italians. "We have to empty our tanks completely against Asiago," the Canadian coach makes clear, "we have to be able to play with more intensity than they do."