Ice hockey: Fehervar entered the final, Salzburg is champion
Fehervar used the first match puck to probable promotion to the final of the ICE Ice Hockey League. The Hungarians defeated VSV 4:1 (0:0, 2:1, 2:0) in Villach on Friday and won the “Best of seven” semi-final series with 4:1 victories. This leads to the final duel between Red Bull Salzburg, who have already been crowned Austrian champions, and the Hungarians. Game one will take place next Tuesday (April 5) in Salzburg.
Fehervar confidently against VSV
In contrast to the overtime defeat on Wednesday, VSV coach Rob Daum had league top scorer John Hughes and defender Jamie Fraser available again. However, the Villach could not use a lot of overtime in the first third. In a quick four minutes at the start of the game and at the finish after Fehervar’s one-one defender Josh Atkinson attacked Kevin Moderer with his fists and had to be in the dressing room with five minutes plus playing time (18th), VSV could only rarely test the strong goalkeeper Rasmus Tirronen. Shortly after the penalty expired, the Hungarians struck. Milan Horvath beat VSV goalie Tomi Karhunen with a long-range shot (24′). The VSV fought against the end of the season, but had to accept the 0:2 through Balint Magosi (35th). The shot didn’t seem untenable either. In the next power play, the Eagles managed to get the deserved goal. First, a Hughes shot from defender Gleason Fournier was fired in front of the empty goal (40′), but Benjamin Lanzinger scored 14 seconds before the second break to make it 2-1. In the final third, Fehervar didn’t allow much and pulled away to 3:1 through Csanad Erdely (48th). Erdely also scored the final point with a shot into the empty goal (60′).
New title for Salzburg
With the end of the VSV, the ninth Austrian championship title has been secured for Salzburg. The Bulls draw level with VEU Feldkirch, only record champions KAC (32) and WEV (14) are ahead of Salzburg. Coach Matt McIlvane’s team now wants to win and avoid the league for the first time since 2016, just as they did in 2014 and 2018 (against South Tyrol) after losing the league final with hanging heads as the red-white-red champions.