EC Red Bull Salzburg (13/13) – Hockey-News.info – All news about national and international ice hockey
The pre-season is coming to an end and the new ICEHL season is just around the corner. Time to take a look at the teams and delve into the squads the 13 clubs are starting the new season with. We introduce the squads, you do the evaluation: With our survey tool at the end of the article.
EC Red Bull Salzburg is one of the “teams to beat” in the upcoming season. Although the Red Bulls’ squad may have changed, head coach Matt McIlvane’s line-up is still full of quality. Of course you want to successfully defend your title, but whether you can lay down a flawless playoff sweep again remains to be seen. The Mozartstadters have already been crowned Austrian champions nine times, and in the last seven years they have won the ICEHL/EBEL three times. The ambitions and expectations are also correspondingly high in the Salzach – the reigning champions will open the win2day ICE Hockey League season 2022/23 on Friday with the duel against the spusu Vienna Capitals.
TRAINER
There was no change in the position of chief trainer. They agree to continue working together and this means that the American Matt McIlvane is in his fourth season as head coach of EC Red Bull Salzburg. The only 36-year-old can look back on a very successful coaching career: three DEL championships as an assistant coach at EHC Red Bull Munich, an Olympic silver medal with Germany at the games in Pyeongchang, and his first championship title with the Mozart city-dwellers last season.
His two assistant coaches, Ben Cooper and Sweden’s Daniel Petersson, also stayed on board. There was also no change in the position of goalie coach, Markus Kerschbaumer is leaving, like McIlvane, in his fourth season in the Salzburg state capital. Constancy in the coaching staff was also definitely set up.
GOALIE
After three seasons, Salzburg and the American Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, who will be the goalkeeper for Villacher SV again today, part ways. Between 2012 and 2016 he was between the posts for the Draustadt team. He made way for Atte Tolvanen, who was brought in from “JPL” at the end of September due to injury. The 27-year-old Finn turned out to be a real stroke of luck, delivering impressive stats in 27 games this season. A goals-against average of 1.96 and a catch rate of over 92% speak for themselves.
In the playoffs, he pushed both values down: Tolvanen conceded only 10 goals in eight playoff games, which ultimately resulted in an average of only 1.16 (!). Reason enough for those responsible to try to work with the Finn for a longer period of time. Atte Tolvanen’s contract was extended in mid-April. 28-year-old Kornbeuburger David Kickert came from Vienna and will act as Tolvanen’s backup and can draw on the experience of 196 ICEHL/EBEL games. For Kickert, Salzburg are his third employer in the domestic league after the Vienna Capitals and the Black Wings Linz.
DEFENDER
There have been some major changes on the defensive end as some of the cracks from last year’s lineup are no longer in the squad. TJ Brennan moved to Switzerland, Mike Dalhuisen to Bozen, Alexander Pallestrang to the ICEHL newcomer from Vorarlberg and also Keegan Kanzig, as well as Vince LoVerde (Kunlun Red Star) and Kilian Zündel (Ambri-Piotta) are no longer there. The Salzburgers are giving away a lot of quality and experience and it remains to be seen how the newcomers can fit in.
Four new Legionnaires have been added to the Defender lineup. After two years, 32-year-old Andrew MacWilliam is moving to Munich on the Salzach River. At the age of 35, Chay Genoway was hired by his nineteenth employer outside of North America. Genoway defended for the Swedish first division club Brynäs IF last year and collected 21 points in 51 parties there. With Dennis Robertson, an experienced ICEHL defender was brought on board. The 31-year-old Canadian was on the ice in 96 season games for HCB Südtirol Alperia between 2019 and 2021 and was able to show his offensive qualities there with 15 goals and 51. Most recently he was under contract with the Extraliga club HC Dynamo Pardubice.
The “Legio Quartet” is completed by 27-year-old Tyler Lewington, for whom Salzburg will be his first stop in Europe. Lewington has played at the AHL and NHL level since 2015, appearing in 341 AHL and 12 NHL games. Lewington is considered a legitimate defender who also brings some toughness. Remarkably, at the 2013 NHL Combine, Lewington excelled in fitness tests across the board – 16 reps on the 150-pound leg press, 42 push-ups, and also ranked #1 in the “push” strength measurement at 341 pounds.
But there are also well-known faces in Salzburg’s defence, because Dominique Heinrich, #2 in the All Time Games Played, is still under contract. After 577 games, the defender has a strong 308 points, and the Viennese are only 23 games short of equalizing Matthias Trattning’s 600-game record. In addition to Heinrich, four other Austro cracks will be used. Hometown boy Lukas Schreier made his debut for the Mozartstadt team in 2018/19, and Paul Stapelfeldt has also been part of the Red Bulls organization for many years. Devin Steffler is already in action for the RB Hockey Juniors, but will probably appear in one or the other game. The same applies to the only 20-year-old Philipp Wimmer.
Squad 2022/23 (under contract) | Goal: Atte Tolvanen, David Kickert Defense: Storm: |
Confirmed additions: | Dennis Robertson (Pardubice), David Kickert (Vienna Capitals), Troy Bourke (Oulun Karpät), Tyler Lewington (Boston Bruins), Chay Genoway (Brynas), Andrew MacWilliam (Munich) |
Confirmed Departures: | Kilian Zündel (Ambri/SUI), Layne Viveiros (Vienna Capitals), Florian Bugl, Jakub Borzecki, Brian Lebler (back to Linz after a loan), Danjo Leonhardt (Nuremberg), Nicolas Wieser (Graz99ers), JP Lamoureux (VSV), Alexander Pallestrang (Pioneers), Jan-Mikael Järvinen (FIN), Maxi Rebernig (fix after loan to VSV), TJ Brennan (Ajoie), Mike Dalhuisen (Bozen), Keegan Kanzig (end of career?), Vincent LoVerde (Kunlun Red Star) |
Possible additions/contract extensions: | |
Possible departures: |
STRIKER
The top performers from last year are on board again on offense, but Salzburg also had to accept one or two departures from the strikers. The German Danjo Leonhardt is moving to the Nürnberg Ice Tigers and Jan-Mikael Järvinen is also returning to his home country. The only striker to join is 28-year-old Center Troy Bourke, who joined Salzburg after two years at Schwenningen and one season at Kärpät Oulu. In his first three years in Europe, Bourke was able to impress with 114 points in 139 games. Peter Schneider led the Bulls last year with 52 points and has 148 points after 137 ICEHL games. Along with last year’s new signings Ty Loney and long-time bull Thomas Raffl, he will lead the Salzburg offensive. For the 36-year-old Raffl it is his 13th season with the Mozart townspeople. In his ICEHL/EBEL career he has collected 519 points in 660 games and been crowned champion five times.
In addition to Bourke and Loney, the Slovenian Aljaz Predan is the only legionnaire forward in the squad of head coach Matt McIlvane, the other squad places are filled by Austro cracks. Luca Auer was drafted by the Regina Pats today, but will play in Salzburg. Ali Wukovits and Benjamin Nissner fit into the team very well last year, with Nissner in particular convincing with 43 points in 48 games. Mario and Paul Huber are also there, as are Peter Hochkofler, Tim Harnisch and Florian Baltram, who has been a striker for the reigning champions since the 2015/16 season. Last year he celebrated his season with the best points with 22 points. Lucas Thaler recommended himself for a place in the first set last season, while 20-year-old Oskar Maier started the season in the Alps Hockey League, but will be one of the first appearances in the event of possible events.
Now it’s your turn: Where do you see EC Red Bull Salzburg in the coming season?
Image: GEPA images/ Gintare Karpaviciute