EC Red Bull Salzburg has scored at least three goals in each of their last five road games but they were only once able to win the game. On Sunday the champion suffered a 6:4 defeat in Klagenfurt and now they dropped to fifth. Maybe it’s the right time to welcome their favorite opponents because the Bulls have won all 13 home games against the Hungarians. „The young team of Klagenfurt fought hard and we were not able to build up a head of steam. In addition, we took too many penalties and were too far away from the opposing player. We let the defensive work slide, that’s a mental problem. We are making too many errors in all areas. The ten games of the placement round are very important because in the end it will be settled up and we want to have home advantage in the playoffs. Therefore, we need a victory over Fehervar. We have to be focused for 60 minutes”, explains Daniel Welser. Unfortunately for Salzburg, they are without Jeremy Williams, Rob Davison and Alexander Pallestrang. Markus Schlacher is rated doubtful.

SAPA Fehervar AV19 started the placement round with a 4:2 home victory over HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana. The Hungarian team will return to the road for Tuesday when they will face the Red Bulls in Salzburg. “We started the intermediary round as we planned. Against Ljubljana we played in high tempo throughout sixty minutes and our players did many nice things. We will face another tough challenge in Salzburg. Our plan is to continue collecting points but this will absolutely not be an easy task. We will need to work as much as we did against Olimpija. The extremely fast forwards from Salzburg might be able to pose quite a challenge for our defense. This is why our play without the puck as well as the front net coverage will be important. We must become more effective in power play as this could decide the final outcome of tomorrow’s game”, analyzes assistant coach Lajos Enekes. Istvan Sofron, who added another goal against Ljubljana, is the league’s leading goalscorer with 26 goals. There are no further injuries or sickness in the line-up. No major changes are expected in the playing squad and Adam Munro is likely to start in front of the Hungarian net.

Duel of contrasts
EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz defended the top of the league with a 2:0 win in Zagreb with Alex Westlund celebrating his fourth shutout of the season. The leaders want to continue their winning streak in their home game against Ljubljana, a team they have beaten twice this season. „We played a good road game but in the final period Medvescak had good goalscoring opportunities but they were not able to use them. Now we are focused on the game against Ljubljana. They have a good team, they are not among the best six teams of the league for nothing. We have to keep an eye on John Hughe because he is the pivotal element of their game. My team has to do a good job in the defense and in the offense we have to find a way to score”, explains head coach Rob Daum. New arrival Jan Axel Alavaara will make his debut. Pat Leahy (injured) and Justin Keller (suspended) are still out.
HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana is in search of a sense of achievement. After their playoff qualification, the Slovenes lost three consecutive games, scoring only four goals. On Sunday they were defeated by SAPA Fehervar and now the next hard task awaits them in Linz. “The guys try their best to win every single game. We had to fight hard to achieve our first goal, the playoff qualification. We were ready for that game but some mistakes in the defensive cost us a better result. We tried to bring about the rebound in the final period but we ran out of luck when Erik Pance hit the post. I know that my players are able to score goals, we showed it several times. It’s very simple: we have to get the puck in front of the goal and we have to believe in our strength. So we can win in Linz, too”, says head coach Hannu Järvenpää. Ales Music and Anze Ropret remain sidelined.

Tuesday, 24^th January 2012, 19:15
EC Red Bull Salzburg– SAPA Fehervar AV19 (226)
Referees: TRILAR, VEIT, Hribar, Siegl
Previous matches:
16.09.2011: EC Red Bull Salzburg – SAPA Fehervar AV19 5:2 (2:2, 2:0, 1:0)
21.10.2011: SAPA Fehervar AV19 – EC Red Bull Salzburg 3:2 n. V. (0:0, 1:0, 1:2, 1:0)
25.11.2011: EC Red Bull Salzburg – SAPA Fehervar AV19 3:2 (0:0, 1:1, 2:1)
30.12.2011: SAPA Fehervar AV19 – EC Red Bull Salzburg 1:4 (0:1, 1:1, 0:2)

EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz – HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana (228)
Referees: JELINEK, POTOCAN, Mathis, Smeibidlo.
Previous matches:
18.09.2011: EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz - HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana 4:2
(2:1, 2:1, 0:0)
25.10.2011: HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana – EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz 2:3
(0:1, 1:1, 1:1)
25.11.2011: EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz – HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana 4:0
(0:0, 3:0, 1:0)
30.12.2011: HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana – EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz 2:1 n. P. (0:1, 1:0, 0:0, 0:0, 1:0)