“Once Linza, always Linza,” chanted the hundreds of fans who had traveled in the direction of the Black Wings crackers after the end of the game. For the last time this season! Because it ended with a clear 1:5 in Salzburg, meaning the quarter-final series clearly went to the reigning champions 4:1.
The final siren sounded exactly at 9:40 p.m., it was quarter-final 5 between defending ice hockey champions Salzburg and the Black Wings and the season was over. In the final duel, the Eisbullen once again trampled Linz into the ground at home, winning 5-1! You could feel sorry for the away fans. For the third time within a week, hundreds had accompanied their cracks despite the 0:4 and 1:5 defeats in the first away games – and had to quickly bury all their hopes: Linz wanted to take few penalties – it was already in the 5th minute, said MacKenzie , Bourke rounded the box and scored the “can opener” for Red Bull to make it 1-0. Rasmus Tirronen wanted to produce a better goalie performance – but the Finn shoveled a target shot into his goal from behind the extended goal line – 0:2 (12th). What a “cookie” from a goalkeeper who found his master in Salzburg’s Finnish colleague Atte Tolvanen. Tirronen substitutedTolvanen held and held against Romig & Co, who also made a poor shot. “The many penalties and the inefficiency were decisive in the series,” said disappointed striker Nico Feldner at the end. His team, which was often a step slower, continued to waste opportunities and collect penalties in the second third. The champion of the last two years also showed once again how it works in the power play – after Nissner’s 3:0 (27th), Mario Huber increased it to 4:0 (37th)! Whereupon Tirronen left the ice in exasperation and backup Thomas Höneckl came in. Bozen also scored the consolation goal in the final period in the semi-finals for the EHC, which ultimately lost 5-1. “Bitter! I think we deserved more,” said Romig at the end. “The games here were closer than the results,” said coach Philipp Lukas after the end of the season – which also affected VSV with a 1-2 defeat in Bolzano. Vorarlberg shortened the lead to 2:3 with a 6:1 (!) at KAC, Fehervar also leads 3:2 after the 3:2 over Pustertal. While the Linz ice hockey fans can only look forward to the Austrian national team’s World Cup preparation game against the Czech Republic on April 20th in Linz.
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