Final sweep: EC Red Bull Salzburg are ÖEHV U20 League cham­pions

Salzburg went into the first away game of the final against Nordic Hockey Academy at Ferlach Ice Rink with a 2:0 series lead. The Young Bulls had narrowly won the first game last Saturday at the Red Bull Academy in Liefering, 4:3 in overtime. The second game 24 hours later went clearly to the home side, 6:1.

In the gunsmithing town, the home side initially took a 1:0 lead after exactly 32 minutes through Janick Wernicke, who hammered the puck into the net on a 5:3 power play.

With 36 seconds remaining in the second period, Vasily Zelenov levelled at 1:1 after deflecting a shot from the blue line by Luca Kogler on the power play.

In the final period, Vasily Zelenov once again scored on the power play in the 48th minute to give Salzburg the lead for the first time. The Russian fired the puck into the empty net after NHA goaltender Lorenz Hofer had briefly stopped a cross-ice pass.

Zelenov became the outright match-winner in the final minute of play, adding two further goals within 40 seconds – both into the empty net – to seal a 4:1 win for EC Red Bull Salzburg.

The 3:0 series result gave the Mozart city side a sweep as they won the 2022/2023 championship.

ÖEHV U20 League final:

Nordic Hockey Academy vs. EC Red Bull Salzburg 1:4 (0:0,1:1,0:3)
Fri., 24 March 2023, 19:45, Ferlach Ice Rink
Nordic Hockey Academy goalscorer: Janick Wernicke (32nd/PP2)
Red Bull Salzburg goalscorer: Vasily Zelenov (40th/PP1, 48th/PP1, 60th, 60th)
 
Final result in the best-of-five series: 3:0 for EC Red Bull Salzburg

All results and statistics for the ÖEHV U20