At the Energie Steiermark Trophy this weekend, the newly formed 99ers ice hockey team is doing the dress rehearsal for the start of the ICEHL Bundesliga! However, the start went wrong, with the Graz ice hockey fans looking out of their depth in the 3-0 defeat against Nuremberg. The “Krone” was there live.
In the 3-0 opener against DEL club Nürnberg Icetigers (two-time runner-up and ninth last season), the fans saw that there was still some room for improvement before the home opener on Friday against the Vienna Caps. For the first time in Graz, coach Johan Pennerborn presented the new “lead wolves” he had selected, who, with a lot of experience, will lead the youngest 99ers team (25.88 years/average) for 17 years. The Graz fans were still a bit reserved during the visit, but The hard core as well as the 15 Nuremberg battle-goers studied the arrivals with interest: The new US captain Taylor Matson introduced himself as a hard worker who brought the goal scorer Tony Salinitri, recruited from Asiago, and ex-SHL shooting king Daniel Viksten into position in the first line should. Axel Wemmenborn (S) was teamed up with Dominik Grafenthin, who had returned from Villach. Despite a lot of willingness to fight, it will certainly still take patience until former AHL champions Craig Schira, Ludvig Jardenskog (S) and the defense become an insurmountable bulwark. Even if Norway’s ex-Olympic goalie Lars Volden, who is very fast despite his 190 cm, definitely has the potential to be a real support. “Ice time for the boys” 99ers manager Bernd Vollmann took the 0:3 (in just three minutes was sealed): “There’s still room for improvement, but it was better today than in the previous tests.” The fans’ wish in the original: “We’re hoping for a long season and hopefully our boys get ice time too!”
source site-12