Val Pusteria brings home a prestigious result from Vienna. – Hockey time
(MG) On the eighth attempt, Val Pusteria manages to overcome the Vienna Capitals, the only formation with which – so far – the Wolves have never managed to win. New signing Ziga Pavlin debuted in the guest ranks and sealed his debut with the first goal of the evening. The Slovenian – as you know – arrived to temporarily replace Emil Kristensen, and played on the second row with Nicholas Plastino.
The match begins with a penalty against the Caps: Rafael Rotter must serve two minutes for a hook with a stick. Under pressure from Wolves, the home side looked for a counter-run from Jérémy Grégoire’s shot that went wide. After a shot by Filip Ahl, the Power play ends without major problems for the home team. After a shot by Kainz well controlled by Sholl, and a shot by Harju off goal, Val Pusteria enjoys a second Power Play due to a foul by Nico Brunner and on numerical superiority, Val Pusteria finds the opening goal with a long shot by new signing Ziga Pavlin. The reaction of the Viennese is vehement and Sholl has his work cut out to keep his cage intact. Then, at 17:36 Grégoire was sent to the penalty bench and the Wolves exploited – again – their numerical superiority on the ice to double through Anthony Bardaro. The goal was born from a good action by Archambault who put the puck in front of goal; Bardaro finds the goal again after a very long fast and deflects the puck at the back of the bag.
The first half of the game, despite the greater pressure from the landlords, ends with the double advantage of the Wolves who – tightly closed in defense in front of an excellent Sholl – manage after so many difficulties to exploit the numerical superiority and (re) find the goal with I will bard.
The second half, on the other hand, is more balanced. The guests got off to a good start, first with Archambault and then with Harju looking for the 3:0. Then, around half an hour into the game, the match gets bubbly and three goals arrive. In the 29th Bradley serves Sheppard from behind the cage and the player confirms that his 394 NHL appearances have not been accidental, bagging the 1:2 goal. Immediately after Roy serves Archambault who scores the 1:3 goal. Not even the time to take notes that the Capitals shorten the distance thanks to a shot from distance by Finkelstein that surprises Sholl.
In the third drittel the Wolves keep the ice well and prevent the landlords from becoming dangerous. When necessary, Sholl keeps a good guard and it happens that Hartl and Preiser’s shots are blocked by the Danish goalkeeper.
Thus the match ends on 3:2 for the Wolves who take home three very precious points waiting to compete on Tuesday (17th) evening on the ice of the Hodegart and to host Bolzano on the 20th at the Intercable Arena.
Tender no. 274- day 40.
Saturday 14 January 2023 at 19:15 – Steffl Arena in Vienna
EV Spusu Vienna Capitals – HC Lupi Val Pusteria / Pustertal Wölfe 2:3 (0:2, 2:1, 0:0)
1st Referee Kristjian NIKOLIC, 2nd Referee Manuel NIKOLIC; Line Judges: Oto Durmis and Daniel Sparer.
Shots on goal: 34:24 (12:5, 15:15, 7:4) – Spectators: 3400
VIC Head Coach Dave Barr – Head Coach Tomek Valtonen.
EV Spusu Vienna Capitals: Goalkeepers: Bernhard Starkbaum – Stefan Steen (back up). 1st line: Mario Fischer, Ben Finkelstein – Max Zimmer, James Sheppard, Matt Bradley. 2nd row: Alex Wall, Dominic Hackl – Patrick Antal, Jérémy Grégoire, Niki Hartl, 3rd row: Lukas Piff, Nico Brunner- Lukas Kainz, Radek Prokes, Rafael Rotter. 4th line: Daniel Aschauer, Niklas Würschl – Mathias Böhm, Armin Preiser, Sascha Bauer.
HC Pustertal Wölfe – Val Pusteria: Goalkeepers: Thomas Sholl – Jakob Smith (back up). 1st line: Reece Willcox, Wyatt Ege – Filip Ahl, Johann Harju, Anthony Bardaro; 2nd line: Ziga Pavlin, Nicholas Plastino – Marc-Oliver Roy, Daniel Catenacci, Olivier Archambault; 3rd line: Daniel Glira, Matthew Spencer – Dante Hannoun, Raphael Andergassen, Ivan Deluca; 4th line: Marco Sanna, Ivan Althuber – Matthias Mantinger, Simon Berger, Stefan Spinell.
SCORERS: 13:07 0:1 GWG PP1 PUS Ziga Pavlin (Dante Hannoun – Johann Harju); 19:02 0:2 PP1 PUS Anthony Bardaro (Olivier Archambault – Daniel Catenacci); 28:22 1:2 EQ VIC James Sheppard (Matt Bradley – Max Zimmer); 29:10 1:3 GWG EQ PUS Olivier Archambault (Marc-Olivier Roy – Matt Spencer); 30:03 2:3 EQ VIC Ben Finkelstein (Radel Prokes).