WEV cele­brate home debut against Maribor – HC Kufstein face EHC Lustenau in marquee clash

Wiener Eislauf-Verein vs. HDK Maribor

Sat., 30 November 2024, 19:30 pm, WEV Arena, Lothringerstraße 22

The Wiener Eislauf-Verein are eagerly awaiting their long-awaited home debut against HDK Maribor in the atmospheric WEV Arena in front of Vienna Concert Hall. A technical issue prevented Vienna's home debut against Kapfenberg in mid-November, but the first home game is now finally set to take place. 

WEV most recently celebrated a convincing 5:0 away win at ATSE Graz and currently sit second in the table behind the Sharks Gmunden, level on points with the Foxes from Štajerska. The clash with the Slovenian league newcomers will be a key one in the battle for a good starting position to reach the play-offs. 

WEV head coach Philipp Ullrich knows the visitors' strengths: "After the last game at ATSE, in which we really found our game, especially from the second period onwards, we are delighted that things are finally getting underway at home and that we can show our loyal fans what WEV stand for. Maribor are a very dangerous offensive team, and we need to be alert on every shift against them in order to succeed."

Maribor had last weekend off. In their most recent game, the team from the Drava city pushed league leaders Gmunden all the way in a narrow 2:3 defeat at Ledena dvorana Maribor. They have two wins and four losses to their name. One of those came in overtime in the first meeting with WEV in mid-October, so the clash in the Austrian capital also offers Maribor the prospect of revenge. 

Maribor head coach Jure Verlič knows what his team need to do against WEV: "Every game in the league is tough, especially when we play away from home. Vienna are a very fast team with many good young skaters. We need to play smart with the puck, avoid too many turnovers and not give them too many chances!"

ATSE Graz vs. KSV Kängurus

Sat., 30 November 2024, 19:30 pm, Merkur Eisstadion

The ATSE Graz face champions Kapfenberger SV. Nobody would have thought that, after five games, this fixture could be a meeting between fourth and fifth in the East Division, but that is exactly what it is: The defending champions most recently suffered a 3:7 defeat at home to league leaders Sharks Gmunden and currently have six points from two wins and three losses. 

Graz, who face the Kängurus for the first time this season, are also in urgent need of points: The Eggenberg side lost 0:5 at home to WEV last Saturday. Three consecutive defeats followed their convincing win over Maribor on National Day. The clash between last season's semi-final opponents is a genuine six-pointer and already extremely important for Graz in terms of reaching the play-offs.

ATSE head coach Markus Losch are looking to put recent results behind them: "On Saturday, we want to try to turn around the ‘poor’ results of the previous weeks. At the moment, we are going through a mixed spell. We need to learn from it and go fully on the attack again against KSV on Saturday. We know Kapfenberg's strengths, but you can see how close the league is this season and that all teams have strengthened well. I think it will be a hard battle and we will do everything we can to win again!"

UEHV CAM4DENT Sharks Gmunden have a bye. The league leaders are back in action at WEV on 07 December.

West Division:

EHC Crocodiles Kundl vs. WSG Swarovski Wattens Penguins

Fri, 29 November 2024, at 19:30, Eisarena Kundl

The EHC Crocodiles Kundl host the WSG Swarovski Wattens Penguins in a back-to-back match in the West Division as early as Friday. Last Friday, the Crocodiles suffered a 0:2 defeat in snowfall at Wattens' Alpenstadion and now have the chance to gain revenge just one week later. 

Kundl made a strong start to the new campaign, recording four wins – two of them in overtime against Kufstein and Hohenems – and just one defeat in their opening five games, but have most recently left the ice as losers twice. As a result, the Crocodiles have slipped to fourth place in the tightly contested West group behind leaders Lustenau and now face a hugely important home game against fifth-placed Wattens. 

Kundl chairman Gerhard Maier is demanding a response from his team: "Friday's game is all about making amends for all the players. Last week's performance was unfortunately very poor, which is why we want to and will show our true colours in the return game on Friday!"

The Penguins, who had to make five consecutive road trips to Vorarlberg at the start of the season and made a mixed start to their comeback campaign, demonstrated their home strength with the 9:2 win against Dornbirn and the 2:0 victory over Kundl. With six points from their last two games, the Penguins have closed the gap to the playoff places in the standings. 

Wattens coach Manfred Burgstaller was highly satisfied after the home win, but knows that Kundl will approach their home game differently: "The win was hugely important for us and our confidence. We also know that Kundl are actually much stronger, but on that day everything simply went our way. Of course, we are aware that they will be very different at home on Friday, but our objective is to think only from game to game, and we want to and will make it as difficult as possible for them here too. The team is implementing the playing systems and instructions more and more, so we can compete with the top teams for a long time as well!"

HC Kufstein vs. EHC Lustenau

Sat, 30 November 2024, at 17:35, Eisarena Kufstein

The marquee matchup of the round in the West Division is HC Kufstein versus EHC Lustenau. With two consecutive wins against Hohenems and Dornbirn, the Dragons have worked their way up to third place in the standings. Now the league leaders from Vorarlberg arrive at just the right time to celebrate a hockey festival at Eisarena Kufstein. 

Those in charge at Kufstein are expecting a full house at Fischergries and have once again declared “Mission 1.000”. League newcomers Lustenau will be visiting the Pearl of Tyrol on the green Inn for the first time; the Lions eventually won the first meeting, which remained open for a long time, 4:0. 

Kufstein chairman Roland Luchner is eagerly anticipating the first home clash with the league leaders: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming Lustenau to the Kufstein Arena for the first time. I assume that the arena will be full again and that, with the fans behind us, we will put in a good performance. We always find it a little easier against the supposedly good teams. Hohenems showed at the weekend what is possible against Lustenau. Therefore, we are confident that we can certainly keep the points in Kufstein.”

The newcomers from the Ländle had made a commanding start to the Ö Eishockey Liga with seven wins from seven games, but last weekend, following the dramatic open-air derby in front of more than 1.300 fans against SC Hohenems and the narrow 2:3 defeat, they left the ice away from home without points for the first time this season. 

“We analysed the game against Hohenems and put it behind us. For most of the game, we were the team setting the tone, as underlined by the shot count of 51:18 in Lustenau’s favour. Unfortunately, we were too indecisive in front of the opposition goal. At the same time, Hohenems ruthlessly took the chances that came their way. We are now looking ahead and want to get back to winning ways in the away game against Kufstein,” said Dániel Fekete, head coach of EHC Lustenau.

Dornbirner EC vs. SC Samina Hohenems

Sun, 01 December 2024, 17:30, Messestadion Dornbirn

To conclude the round, Dornbirner EC host SC Samina Hohenems in the Vorarlberg derby at the Messestadion on the first Sunday of Advent. The Bulldogs pushed HC Kufstein all the way last weekend. Dornbirn led 2:0 and held a 3:3 scoreline for a long time, before the Dragons narrowly prevailed 5:4 in the final period. Against the side from the fortress town, Dornbirn picked up their only point to date at the beginning of November following a penalty shootout defeat. 

The local clash – the two home venues are only around seven road kilometres apart – against the Steinböcke is the first meeting of the current season. Dornbirn chairman Christof Schwendinger is hoping for an exciting game: “We are motivated underdogs against Hohenems, but we also want to upset the big teams and we are good at home. Our penalty killing is improving and we are continuing to hone the skills of the young players. We hope to make the game exciting so that the spectators see a great performance from us.”

The skating club from Hohenems head into the next Ländle derby full of confidence; last Saturday, the Emser celebrated a narrow 3:2 win over league leaders Lustenau in front of more than 1.300 fans and established themselves in second place in the Division West. 

Hohenems head coach Thomas Sticha warns his players against underestimating Dornbirn: “We would be ill-advised to take the game against the Bulldogs lightly. The Bulldogs are young and hungry and have gained confidence from their results so far. We will take the energy from last weekend’s derby win into this game and certainly will not take the game lightly.”

Ö Eishockey Liga - Division East:

ATSE Graz vs. KSV Kängurus

Sat, 30 November 2024, 19:30, Merkur Eisstadion

Wiener Eislauf-Verein vs. HDK Maribor

Sat, 30 November 2024, 19:30, WEV Arena, Lothringerstraße 22

UEHV CAM4DENT Sharks Gmunden have a bye.

Ö Eishockey Liga – Division West:

EHC Crocodiles Kundl vs. WSG Swarovski Wattens Penguins

Fri, 29 November 2024, 19:30, Eisarena Kundl

HC Kufstein vs. EHC Lustenau

Sat, 30 November 2024, 17:35, Eisarena Kufstein

Dornbirner EC vs. SC Samina Hohenems

Sun, 01 December 2024, 17:30, Messestadion Dornbirn

All Ö Eishockey Liga tables, statistics and fixtures in the Gamecentre

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