HC Orli Znojmo tried to show to all spectators, who is the favorite of the match and had a strong pressure during the first minutes of the opening period. However, they didn't manage to pass accurately or hit the net in front of Michal Fikrt. The best opportunity came in the tenth minute, when Fikrt deflected David Hajek's shot and the puck hit the bar of the Slovenian goal. The game continued in the same way – chances for the home team, whose shots lacked accuracy. Except some mistakes in the offensive zone, the Eagles spent the rest of the first period with the puck on their sticks and for more, in the last minute Aleksandar Magovac received a minor penalty for slashing.
The power play for Znojmo at the start of the second period helped the Eagles a lot and even they didn't take advantage of it, they opened the scoreline just a minute later. Jan Seda scored the opener with a rebound on Martin Podesva's attempt in a breakaway. The away team was pushed deep in their zone and the Eagles had some more dangerous efforts, but they weren't able to beat Fikrt in the goal again. Besides that, they went down to three men when Martin Skadra and Stanek were sent off in the 29th minute. It didn't take the visitors much time until they equalized. Antti Pusa appeared alone in the place between the circles and comfortably finished into the open net. The home team had a two men advantage lately, but they didn't score, even though they had some great chances.
The final twenty minutes started even better for the home side. They took the lead in the 43rd minute after a huge error in the away defense with Mike Danton's assistance on Stanek's goal. The similar progress with the second period continued as Antonin Boruta got another penalty, but when Matevz Erman was saving his team against an opportunity of Kanko, both teams played at equal strength. In the 50th minute, the Eagles stroke again. Adam Havlik scored from the circles and Znojmo took a fine two-goal lead. Jiri Beroun then failed in a breakaway as one of the returning defenders jumped under his legs and poked out the puck. Jesenice tried to decrease the lead of the home team, but the Eagles defended well and Kacetl showed some great glove saves as well as Fikrt on the other side. Jan Lattner rounded off the scoring with a nice deke in the end of his breakaway.

VSV is back on track
In Villach, the two teams both started defensively but each one of them had one good goalscoring opportunity. On the one side Tomaz Razingar missed after a great solo attempt and on the other side Francois Fortier was not able to properly shoot from a promising position. In further consequence the goaltenders performed well and after a goalless first period the hosts piled the pressure. Benjamin Petrik, Robert Shearer, Shayne Toporowski and Markus Peintner missed chances with each passing minute, however it was Gerhard Unterluggauer who finally broke the spell after 29 minutes with a blue liner. The Carinthians controlled proceedings and the Caps were not able to counteract. At the end of the middle period they had their best chance but they couldn’t exploit a two men advantage. Villach built on their defense and tried their luck on breakaways. Ten minutes to the end of the game the visitors started a final attack but Bernhard Starkbaum was at his best. Mike Stewart’s team protected the lead to the end and is in good contention for a playoff spot.

27.01.2012: HC Orli Znojmo – HK Acroni Jesenice 4:1 (0:0, 1:1, 3:0)
Goals Znojmo: 1:0 Seda (24.), 2:1 Stanek (43.), 3:1 Havlik (50.), 4:1 Lattner (59.)
Goal Jesenice: 1:1 Pusa (30./PP2)

EC REKORD-Fenster VSV – UPC Vienna Capitals 1:0 (0:0, 1:0, 0:0)
Goal Villach: 1:0 Unterluggauer (29.)