The KAC lived up to its role as favorite in the quarter-final series of the ICE Hockey League against the Pioneers Vorarlberg!
The basic round winner won 5-1 (2-1, 1-0, 2-0) in the Feldkirch Vorarlberghalle on Wednesday evening and won the “Best-Of-Seven” series 4-2 early. Vorarlberg’s 6-1 away win in Klagenfurt was just a brief flare-up. The Klagenfurt team didn’t let the biggest defeat of the season and the biggest playoff defeat in 25 years throw them off course. This was made clear by a dream start in game number 6. After just 50 seconds, Nicholas Petersen scored for the guests, who were also able to celebrate the second goal from Finn van Ee (3rd). Pioneers goalgetter Steven Owre scored the next goal (7th/PP), which was the home team’s only result. Paul Postma (22nd) and again Petersen (46th) as well as Manuel Ganahl (56th/EN) in the final section made things clear. The KAC also won the third away game in the playoffs. “We made it to the semi-finals, so we did everything right!” “Of course there is relief now. Feldkirch threw everything into it and was difficult to play against. But we made it to the semi-finals, so we did everything right,” summed up KAC captain Thomas Hundertpfund in the Puls24 interview. For those in tenth place in the regular round, however, the season ends after the quarter-finals. Regardless, it can be classified in the “successful” category. “We are eliminated, but it still feels like a victory. We stuck together brutally as a team, and the hall thanks us with a standing ovation,” said Pioneers player Alexander Pallestrang. 3890 fans attended the last game of the season.Pustertal Wolves earn their 7th game against FehervarIn the duel between Pustertal and Fehervar, the home club also left the ice as winners in the sixth game. The South Tyroleans fended off the Hungarians’ “match puck” in front of their own crowd in Brunico with a 4-2 win. This means that for only the third time in league history a playoff series could only end with home wins. So far this has only been the case in the 2011 semi-finals between Salzburg and the Vienna Capitals and in the 2015 quarter-finals between the Black Wings Linz and HCB Südtirol. For this to happen a third time, Fehervar would have to secure promotion to the semi-finals in the decider in Szekesfehervar on Saturday (5.30 p.m.).
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