Wyatt Ege & Co. had to admit defeat. © F. Pessentheiner

HC Pustertal's worries are not getting any smaller

The situation at HC Pustertal remains tense: At EC KAC, Raphael Andergassen & Co. were unable to break free on Thursday evening, instead failing to score a goal for the second time in the current season.

28 December 2023

Although HC Pustertal recently suffered a painful 3:6 defeat against Pioneers Vorarlberg, there was healthy optimism in the Heidi Horten Arena. On the one hand, because the Wolves won both duels of the season against the KAC. On the other hand, because the Black and Yellows made people sit up and take notice with their last four away wins in a row. This evening, however, everything was different: The Red Jackets impressively demonstrated why they are in second place in the table, while the Wolves revealed their well-known weaknesses. The final score of 2-0 in favor of the home side reflected the balance of power.

Valtonen was able to rely on Mikael Frycklund and Raphael Andergassen again in Klagenfurt. The greater width in attack certainly had a positive effect - even if there was a lack of creativity in the forward game. However, the big problem child remains defense and assignment in your own zone. The KAC team always found a lot of freedom and should have made the result much higher. It was only thanks to another extremely strong Andreas Bernard that the Wolves stayed in the game until the end.

Zach Sill & Co. always stuck with Sebastian Dahm. © F. Pessentheiner

What remains is the realization that the HCP loses a lot of quality without its thinker and leader, who goes by the name of Rick Schofield. His absence has a significant impact in all game situations and cannot be compensated for. From HCP's perspective, it remains to be hoped that the Canadian will recover from his injury as quickly as possible and can help the team to a top 6 place. A groundbreaking game to achieve this goal will take place on Saturday when Villacher SV visits the Intercable (19.45 p.m.).

EC KAC – HC Pustertal 2:0

KAC: Dahm (Vorauer); Unterweger-Jensen Aabo, Strong-Postma, Sablattnig-Maier, Vallant; Ganahl-Mursak-Petersen, Haudum-Herburger-Kraus, Bischofberger-Hundredppound-Fraser, Schwinger-van Ee-Witting.
coach: Furey

HCP: Bernard (Smith); Stanton-Messner, Althuber-Ege, Glira-Atwal; Morley-Frycklund-Akeson, Mantinger-Andergassen-Petan, Hannoun-Sill-Ikonen, Deluca-Berger-Hasler, Öhler.
coach: Valtonen

Gates: 1:0 Bischofberger (9.51), 2:0 Herburger (30.16)

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