ÖEHV youth leagues: EC KAC’s U13 are cham­pions after final win over Graz!

The Red Jackets, who had prevailed over VSV in the derby semi-final, won 6:3 against the U13 side of the "Rockit-Apfel" Graz99 Juniors on Saturday, who had beaten EK Zeller Eisbären in the semi-finals. On Sunday, the Carinthians built a two-goal lead in the opening period through Caitlyn Vospernik on the power play (at 10) and Jakob Ratz (at 12).

Still in the first period, the Styrians pulled back to 1:2 through Niko Cizerl (at 19). In the second period, Cizerl again levelled the score at 2:2 during a 5:3 advantage (at 23). Just under three and a half minutes later, Cizerl completed his hat-trick for Graz and turned the game around single-handedly to make it 3:2 (at 27). Just as Niko Cizerl had done for Graz, Jakob Ratz left his mark on the game for KAC. With two goals in four minutes, Ratz first made it 3:3 (at 31) before completing his hat-trick that afternoon to turn the game back in Klagenfurt’s favour (at 35).

19 seconds before the end of the period, Max Leitgeb scored to make it 5:3 for KAC just before a power play expired (at 40), putting them on course to retain the title. 53 seconds from the end, the U13 side of KAC secured the championship when Ilja Kogler made it 6:3 on the power play (at 60).

Third place was secured by the U13 side of the EK Zeller Eisbären, which prevailed over the EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV in two games under the Champions Hockey League format, winning 11:8 overall (4:6 and 7:2).

ÖEHV U13 Championship – 2nd final:

EC KAC vs. "Rockit-Apfel" Graz99 Juniors 6:3 (2:1,3:2,1:0)

Sun, 15 March 2026, Klagenfurt, Heidi Horten Arena

EC KAC scorers: Caitlyn Vospernik (10 / PP1), Jakob Ratz (12, 31, 35), Max Leitgeb (40 / PP1), Ilja Kogler (60 / PP1)
"Rockit-Apfel" Graz99 Juniors scorer: Niko Cizerl (19, 23 / PP2, 27)

The EC KAC won the Best-of-Three series 2:0 and are Austrian champions of the ÖEHV U13 Championship 2025/2026.