EHC LIWEST Black Wings left SAPA Fehervar AV19 a lifeline until the very end. The Black Wings had lead the game all the way. Starting with a powerplay goal by Franklin Macdonald and letting Michael Lebler, who hit it right in the top corner at the short side of the net. Marton Vas found the 2:1 late in the period to keep the visitors in the game. The game was played in a fair and disciplined manner, so basically the only thing to report on are in fact: goals.

And they came in the second, too: Greg Baumgartner buried a rebound in the net from Adrian Veidemans’ big blue line effort to open the period. League Top goalgetter Istvan Sofron got his 29th of the season in, reducing the deficit yet again. Mike Ouellette was in place to score the 4:2 on another Powerplay. Linz had more chances, but the Hungarian team stayed alive on the counter attack.

Justin Keller was the scorer of the 5:3 in the third, and Linz shifted to cruise control. Their ever-efficient Powerplay unit allowed Balasz Ladanyi to finish a counter attack with a fine wrister. Four minutes later, Csaba Kovacs added another, and all off a sudden, it was anyones’ game. The Devils pulled their goalie for an extra attacker in search of the equalizer, but it wasn’t meant to be as they hit the post seven second from time.

Red Bulls find back to winning ways in Overtime
Talk of the town had been Marty Turco, the 600-NHL-games-veteran, but he wasn’t cleared to play, so Josh Tordjman stepped up to protect EC Red Bull Salzburgs net. He was left alone by his team in the seventh minute as Ryan Kinasewich only had to deke past him and slot the puck home following a terrible turnover. The home side made use of a Dario Kostovic penalty to equalize when Tom Raffl picked out Ryan Kavanagh for his seventh of the season.

In the second period, Tordjman was at the center of attention when he should have covered the puck, but decided to play it, promptly being robbed in the corner by Andy Sertich. The Defender played it up for Adam Naglich, who in turn served Ivan Sijan, and the young talent chipped over the returning netminder.

At the start of the third (Thomas Höneckl had replaced Tordjman in the interval) Robert Kristan returned the favour: he let a puck slip and the score was 2:2 with Dominique Heinrich credited with the score. Things turned worse for the Bears: Frank Banham let a great chance slide, instead, Raffl picked out Robbie Earl from behind the net, and the much sough-after forward gave his team the lead. Matt Siddall took the visitors to Overtime with a top-corner-rifle, but in extra time, the Red Bulls gained the extra point: A slap shot by Doug Lynch found the net to give them the extra point that saw them move up to fifth in the Placement Round of Erste Bank Eishockey Liga.

Hughes downs Klagenfurt
The duel of dragons started slowly. First half of the period only saw two chances. In the third minute, Miha Verlic got denied by Andy Chiodo. And on the other side Thomas Koch suffered the same faith by J.P. Lamoureux. In the thirteenth minute, EC-KAC got in front out of nothing. Ziga Pance lost the puck in the offensive zone and a quick counter followed: Herbert Ratz got a shot on target and Lamoureux saved. But John Lammers was there to collect the rebound and slide it over the line before the home defender slid in the net trying to prevent the shot. The referees went to take a look on the monitor just in case before confirming the goal stands. 50 seconds later the only expulsion of the first 20 minutes came up as Johannes Reichel got sent to the sin bin for interference. Scott Hotham tried his luck from the blue line but Andy Chiodo was ready.

The second period started with more tempo. In the 25th minute, Ziga Pance set up John Hughes in a fast play but the league's leading sniper missed the target. On the other side Manuel Geier's blueliner got stopped by J.P. Lamoureux. As the half time mark went by the green dragons got a two man advantage as Johannes Reichel and Kirk Furey were sent to the sin bin for hooking. It took Olimpija 50 seconds to capitalize on the advantage. In front of the net, Ziga Pance passed right to left to John Hughes who was left with an easy finish. As the KAC got back to full strength Manuel Geier found himself before J.P. Lamoureux but the dragons keeper made a reflex save. In the 34th minute, Joey Tenute commited a hooking foul. After a minute, Petr Sachl found John Hughes on the left. From a bad angle, green #72 beat Andy Chiodo on the near post. A minute later the red dragons got a first power play of their own. Just as it ended Thomas Hundertpfund got the puck alone before J.P. Lamoureux who made a big save.

Early in the third, Andrei Zyuzin recorded his first two penalty minutes in the league. After a minute the dragons netted their third power play goal of the game. Brock McBride got the puck between the slot, dribbled past the KAC defender and beat Andy Chiodo from close by. The visitors came closest late in the 45th minute when Mike Siklenka's blueliner hit the side of the post on a powerplay. As Olimpija got back to 5 only Andy Chiodo was keeping his side in it. Perfectly, he denied Eric Pance twice and Žiga Pance once. With just under 7 mintes to go, Ziga Pance made a crosscheck that was awarded a 2 minutes expulsion. KAC was circling around the greens net but lacked a finish as only Thomas Koch got a shot at Lamoureux. Looking for a goal that would bring them back in the game Manny Viveiros called out Andy Chiodo with 2:25 left in the game. 2 minutes later he gave his troops the final order calling a time out as well. But it was to no avail as the time run out and Olimpija celebrated a third home win in a row.

31.01.2012: EHC LIWEST Black Wings - SAPA Fehervar AV19 5:4 (2:1, 2:1, 1:1)
Goals Linz: 1:0 MacDonald (9./PP), 2:0 Lebler, M. (16.), 3:1 Baumgartner (22.), 4:2 Ouellette (33./PP), 5:2 Keller (44.),
Goals Szekesfehervar: 2:1 Vas (19.), 3:2 Sofron (24.), 5:3 Ladanyi (50./SH), 5:4 Kovacs (54.)

EC Red Bull Salzburg – KHL Medvescak Zagreb 4:3 OT (1:1, 0:1, 1:2)
Goals Salzburg: 1:1 Kavanagh (14./PP) 2:2 Heinrich (43./PP), 3:2 Earl (49.), 4:3 Lynch (62.)
Goals Zagreb: 0:1 Kinasewich (7.), 1:2 Sijan (27.), 3:3 Siddall (55.)

HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana - EC-KAC 3:1 (0:1, 2:0, 1:0)
Goal Ljubljana 1:1, 2:1 Hughes (31./pp2, 35./PP), 3:1 McBride (43./PP)
Goals Klagenfurt: 0:1 Lammers (13.)