Red Bull Salzburg face Kasper's Rögle Ängelholm in the CHL round of sixteen

In the round of sixteen of the Champions Hockey League, Red Bull Salzburg will face reigning champions Rögle Ängelholm, where ÖEHV forward Marco Kasper has been making waves. Although Salzburg lost 2:3 to Fribourg Gottéron in a penalty shoot-out on Wednesday, the point earned after 60 minutes and their head-to-head record against the level-on-points Stavanger Oilers saw them progress in the standings.

13 October 20222 min read

The Swedes had already faced an ICE club in Fehérvár during the group stage. They came out on top in all their encounters against the Hungarians as well as their other two opponents. 18-year-old Marco Kasper, who was developed at EC KAC, has already recorded seven points for Rögle in the current CHL season (3 goals/4 assists). Should Salzburg progress to the quarter-finals, they would face Tappara Tampere (FIN) or HC Davos (SUI).

The round of sixteen, which consists of a first and second leg, will be played on 15th and 16th November or 22nd and 23rd November 2022.

A severely depleted EC Red Bull Salzburg team secured the necessary point to progress to the Champions Hockey League round of sixteen in their final group game at Fribourg-Gottéron.

In addition to the recovering Peter Schneider, Dominique Heinrich, Thomas Raffl, Lukas Schreier and Ty Loney, the Red Bulls were also without Mario Huber, Luca Auer, Ali Wukovits and David Kickert, all through illness.

Nevertheless, the significantly younger side began the decisive game for progression with hunger and plenty of pressure. 20-year-old Lucas Thaler gave the Red Bulls the lead in the seventh minute. However, a quick double from the Swiss side in the middle period put the pressure back on the reigning win2day ICE Hockey League champions.

Despite numerous chances, the equaliser initially proved elusive. In the 52nd minute, Peter Hochkofler forced overtime and brought relief. After a scoreless overtime period, Fribourg prevailed in the shoot-out.

However, Salzburg's progression had already been confirmed by that point, as the Stavanger Oilers defeated Ilves Tampere in the parallel game. Salzburg therefore finished Group E of the Champions Hockey League level on points with the Oilers, but claimed second place thanks to their superior head-to-head record.

VSV no match for Straubing

With no chance of qualifying for the Champions Hockey League round of sixteen, EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV travelled to Straubing for their final group game.

The “Adler” were without several injured regular players at the Pulverturm and also gave a number of established players time off.

As a result, the team fielded a significantly younger line-up. The young side, with Alexander Schmidt in goal, struggled to keep pace from the outset and were already trailing after three minutes.

As the game progressed, the Germans took increasingly greater control and ultimately secured a comfortable 8:0 victory.

For Villach, it was their fifth defeat in six group games. The “Adler” now exit Europe's premier competition in fourth place.

Kasper scores in Rögle victory

ÖEHV forward Marco Kasper scored the decisive goal to make it 4:2 in the 46th minute of Rögle BK's 4:3 away victory over the Lions Zürich, finishing a superb wraparound on the rebound after goaltender Šimon Hrubec had saved the initial attempt. Rögle finished the preliminary round top of Group D.