Following the Arena Games, the city of Zagreb now has their next hype thanks to KHL Medvescak. HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana will be the first team to test their wits against the Bears on Friday. Bears‘ Defender Kenneth Macaulay was here for the last two season and loves the memories: „We’ve all played pond hockey and we love to play outdooors. It’s siply great fun. Even though -15 ° Celsius are expected, we’ll be prepared, in terms of playing and in terms of equipment. Could be the slightest bit chilly“, MacAulay grins. The Bears will play Michael Ouzas in the net, and MacAulay warns: “Olimpija are a quality team, with strengths in Offence and Defence. We’ll have to be prepared and play hard for 60 minutes.” A little look at the statistics might have had him rethink that one. The Bears have not won a game in Overtime, so maybe 65 minutes would be a better recipe. Joel Prpic and Slava trukhno remain sidelined.

HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana are a force at home and on the powerplay as the proved with their 3:1-home win against EC KAC on Tuesday night. On the road, things look less than impressive - the Dragons have lost their last three games, scoring only four goals in the process. Hannu Järvenpää has found the reason: „At times, we were not ready at the start of road games. The players know that and they also need to be ready from the first faceoff.” What about the freezing cold at the outdoor rink, though? Finn Järvenpää laughs it off: “We used to play out on the ponds and lakes all the time. I hit the post once at -35° and the puck burst. The colder the weather, the harder my players will have to work. They all look forward to the outdoor game.“ Anze Ropret, Ales Music and Igor Cvetek are out of the clash while Justin Taylor and Sergei Smirnov could both make a comeback.

KAC host Szekesfehervar
EC-KAC have gone on a cold streak, losing four games in a row. Reason are easy to find, if you only ask the players: ”We have to play harder and got to the net more. We need to get two men to the net and score the odd ugly goal to get us back on track. We don’t score goals on the powerplay and leak them when on the Penalty kill and that combination is often decisive. We know what we have to do – Changing that.” Dieter Kalt, Gregor Hager, Tyler Spurgeon and Stefan Geier have all returned to training, but are still not considered ready for Friday night.

SAPA Fehervar AV19 have lost in all thirteen attempts they made in Klagenfurt. The same was the case with Salzburg, though and most of us will remember their 7:1-pounding of the holders. Assistant Coach Lajos Enekes gives us his analysis: “Another long trip and another tough game awaits us on Friday. In Klagenfurt and against EC KAC we’ve been performing well so far this season and we would like to continue this in our upcoming game. It is a challenge to score against their strong, fast forwards and their well-balanced line-up. They are aggressive in the danger zones and by this they can be more effective than their opponents. Our goal is to dominate the danger zone of our own defensive area and have our high-scoring forwards score from the counterattacks. Our powerplay still needs improvement as this could decide games now and also play a key-role in the play-offs. Our penalty-killing has been good but we would also like to improve our reaction time during penalty-killing.”, said the assistant coach.

Slovak defenseman Juraj Durco who has been out two games due to injury is expected to return to the line-up and goalie Adam Munro is likely to be Sapa Fehérvár AV19’s starting goalie. As per ususal, watch out for Istvan Sofron (leading the league with 29 goals), and Derek Ryan, who’s second on that stat with 24 points. Marton Vas is sixth for points in the league with 46, meaning the team has enough firepower at their disposal.

Inter-Austrian Clash sees Turco-debut
EC Red Bull Salzburg are finally able to hand NHL-legend Marty Turco his first start in an Erste Bank Eishockey Liga-match. The Holders, who broke a five-game losing streak with an Overtime-Victory against Medvescak Zagreb now take on EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz. Steven Regier returns for the Red Bulls, who’re still without Jeremy Williams and Danny Bois (concussion), Rob Davison (lower body) und Alexander Pallestrang (Knee). Forward Manuel Latusa says: “It’s a top, top game on Friday. Marty will surely save those shots he can, and he will also save some you can’t expect any goalie to stop. Generally, we need to step up our team defense.“

Linz have a player that knows Turco from ten years ago, when they both ran out for Michigan K-Wings of the IHL. Gregor Baumgartner says: “I’m sure he’ll be a good addition for their, but we didn’t go into his presence in the team meeting. We need to create traffic in front of the net, but we would have done that with either other goalie.” Pat Leahy (hand) is out while Dan Oberkofler (calf) remains doubtful.

Friday, 03. February 2012, 19:15;
Live-TV: Sportklub (CRO).
KHL Medvescak Zagreb – HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana (247)
Referees: BOGEN, KINCSES, Mathis, Nagy
Previous matches:
30.09.2011: KHL Medvescak Zagreb – HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana 2:3 n. V. (2:2,0:0,0:0,0:1)
18.11.2011: HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana – KHL Medvescak Zagreb 1:2 (0:1,1:1,0:0)
09.12.2011: HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana – KHL Medvescak Zagreb 3:5 (2:2,1:1,0:2)
17.01.2012: KHL Medvescak Zagreb – HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana 5:2 (0:0,3:1,2:1)
27.01.2012: HDD TILIA Olimpija Ljubljana – KHL Medvescak Zagreb 6:4 (2:2,2:0,2:2)

EC-KAC – SAPA Fehervar AV19 (248)
Referees: KELLNER, VEIT, Hofer, Siegl
Previous matches:
25.09.2011: EC-KAC – SAPA Fehervar AV19 2:1 (0:0, 0:1, 2:0)
06.11.2011: SAPA Fehervar AV19 – EC-KAC 5:2 (1:0, 2:2, 2:0)
27.11.2011: SAPA Fehervar AV19 – EC-KAC 3:1 (2:0, 0:0, 1:1)
03.01.2012: EC-KAC – SAPA Fehervar AV19 4:3 n. V. (0:1, 1:2, 2:0, 1:0)
27.01.2012: SAPA Fehervar AV19 – EC-KAC 2:1 (2:1, 0:0, 0:0)

EC Red Bull Salzburg – EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz (246)
Referees: FUSSI, TRILAR, Hollenstein, Rakovic
Previous matches:
02.10.2011: EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz – EC Red Bull Salzburg 6:4 (4:2, 0:1, 2:1) 30.10.2011: EC Red Bull Salzburg – EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz 3:5 (1:2, 2:1, 0:2)
20.12.2011: EC Red Bull Salzburg – EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz 2:5 (1:2, 1:1, 0:2)
15.01.2012: EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz – EC Red Bull Salzburg 4:3 (1:1, 2:0, 1:2)
27.01.2012: EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz – EC Red Bull Salzburg 4:3 (0:2, 2:1, 2:0)