A sweating with fan choirs: HCB fulfills its duty

It was seen as a mandatory task, but it also turned out to be a must-win: The HCB beat the Black Wings 4-0 on Friday. Victory was never up for debate against the sometimes shockingly weak bottom team, even though the game was open until the end due to the many missed opportunities for Bolzano. The Foxes are still in first place in the table and are now 1 points ahead of the KAC and 5 points ahead of the Vienna Capitals. It is also the Viennese who will be playing in the Eiswelle on Saturday at 6 p.m., just a few hours after the Linz game. Fan chants via loudspeaker It will be a thrilling summit, that much is certain. The Foxes can also rely on a certain amount of support from the fans. Because no spectators are currently allowed, the chants of the infamous Bolzano supporters will be heard over the loudspeaker system during the game, thus ensuring at least a hint of normality in the ice wave.

This new loudspeaker gadget only has one small defect: when Bolzano scores, there are no loud cries of celebration and the volume is always the same, so to speak. Under normal conditions on Friday, the roar of the fans would have started after just 118 seconds: After a rebound, Marco Insam was in the right place and gave the Foxes an early lead. A single shot on goal from Linz What happened next can certainly be described as strange. The match was hard to beat in terms of one-sidedness in the first third. Bozen put Linz goalie Luka Gracnar under constant fire, and at the end of the period the Foxes had 26 (!) shots. You could feel sorry for the hopelessly overwhelmed guests – who started with only 3 lines. Luckily for them, the Foxes were far too lax with their chances and were often too playful in front of the opponent's goal. By the way, Linz shot at Justin Fazio's goal for the first time in the 17th minute (he again replaced the injured Leland Irving). This was to be the Austrians' only shot in this third.

Matteo Pietroniro made his debut in the Foxes jersey. © Vanna Antonello

This picture changed a little in the middle section. The Linzers were now able to make the game a little more balanced, but there were no clear chances. League top scorer Dragan Umicevic also had nothing to do against the HCB defense (in which Matteo Pietroniro made a solid and inconspicuous debut). Otherwise, the Foxes continued to dominate the game, but were too careless with their chances.

Because a 1-0 lead is always tricky, the game was open until the final third. Only then did the Foxes crank up the number of hits again and decide the game. It was Daniel Frank who poked the disc past Gracnar from close range (44'), a little later Mike Halmo made it 3-0 (55') in the power play after a fine combination via Dustin Gazley and Anthony Bardaro, before Brett Findlay a few Seconds before the end he made it 4-0 via Empty Net (60.)

Now it's time for the Foxes to regenerate well: just 19 hours after the final siren, the duel against Vienna is already on the agenda. HCB Südtirol Alperia – Black Wings Linz 4:0 HSBC: Fazio (Tava); Fournier-Plastino, Robertson-Youds, Pietroniro-Di Perna, Deluca-Gios; Halmo-Catenacci-Gazley, Giliati-Alberga-Insam, Frank-Bernard-Miceli, Frigo-Findlay-Bardardo

Black Wings: Gracnar (Kickert); Bartulis-Beaudoin, Piche-Dorion, Tikkinen-Kragl; matzkah; Kozek-Brucker-Umicevic, Lebler-Palletier-Lahoda, Neubauer-Frunschlag-Bretschneider, Mitsch

Gates: 1:0 Insam (1.58), 2:0 Frank (43.59), 3:0 Halmo (54.37), 4:0 Findlay (59.46) The other games Bratislava – KAC 1:3 0:1 Geier (32.35), 0:2 Würschl (45.45), 1:2 Culkin (47.33), 1:3 Ticar (59.33)

Dornbirn – Salzburg 2:3 aet 1:0 Woger (7.32), 1:1 Skille (8.55), 1:2 Schütz (23.10), 2:2 Woger (32.58), 2:3 Hughes (62.02)

SP G U V TV P 1. HCB South Tyrol 16 13 0 3 59:28 40 2. Klagenfurt 19 11 0 8 50:36 35 3. Vienna Capitals 17 12 0 5 60:41 34 4. Fehervar 21 11 0 10 69:69 34 5. Salzburg 15 10 0 5 57:38 30 6. Graz99ers 19 10 0 9 62:66 30 7. Dornbirn 19 9 0 10 52:57 26 8. Innsbruck 19 8 0 11 64:68 24 9. Bratislava 19 7 0 12 50:66 20 10. Villach 19 6 0 13 45:67 19 11. Linz 21 5 0 16 42:74 14

ICE Regular Season ICE	SP	TV	P
1. Klagenfurt	47	183:101	102
2. Fehervar	46	146:126	89
3. Salzburg	46	142:107	87
4. HCB South Tyrol	46	137:125	76
5. Linz	46	146:116	75
6. Villach	46	155:136	74
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A sweating with fan choirs: HCB fulfills its duty

Warming up for the top game: HCB Südtirol Alperia didn't produce a masterful performance against the Black Wings from Linz on Friday evening, but in the end they still scored 3 important points. The next game is coming up in just a few hours - and this one is tough.

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