KAC advances against Salzburg in the ICE-ICEHL finals series

Kuwait Airways FC goalkeeper Sebastian Dahm and his teammates lead the final series against Salzburg. © APA/EXPA/Johan Gruder

KAC took the lead in the final series of the Ice Hockey League with its second straight win against Red Bull Salzburg.

April 9, 2024

From: Abba

On Tuesday, the defending champions deservedly won a thrilling duel in front of 4,397 spectators in Klagenfurt with a score of 4:2 (0:2.3:0.1:0) despite trailing 2-0 and putting them in a best-of-seven series to 2. :1. The Final Four will be played again on Friday (7.30pm) in the Salzburg Volksgarten.

As happened in the second confrontation that took place on Sunday, in which the Kuwaiti club won 5-2 away from home, Salzburg took an early lead. It took nearly four minutes at the Heidi Horten Arena for captain Thomas Raffl to grab the ball in the corner and slot it past the opponent's goal via the skate of KAC defender Jan Mursac (fourth place). Raffl strengthened his lead as the most successful final scorer according to Puls24 statistics with his 16th goal, ahead of Thomas Koch (14).

The Red Jackets, whose captain Thomas Hundertfond returned after injury, equalized several times in the first third. But Nicholas Krauss and Raphael Herberger failed several times. Instead, the Bulls celebrated again, with Troy Burke happily doubling the lead after a one-on-one four-on-four shot with a shot over the hand of Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Sebastian Dahm (17).

KAC turns the game around in the middle third

In the middle third, KAC pressed to score the first goal and the goal was scored immediately. Lucas Hadum hit a volley from long range on the power play (23). Shortly afterwards, Salzburg goalkeeper Ate Tolvanen held the lead ahead of Paul Postma, Clemens Unterweger and Matthew Fraser, among others. Carinthians' pressing phase ended in an entertaining match as Manuel Ganal scored the equalizer again on the power play (33rd). Shortly before the third break, Masak evaded three opponents with a counterattack and gave the best team in the regular half the lead for the first time that evening (39th).

Celebrations at KAC: Carinthians turned the game around in the middle third. © APA/EXPA/Johan Gruder

KAC also dominated the match in the final third, cheered on by the home team's fans. Salzburg had a good chance through Cameron Schilling, but Dahm blocked it in the 46th minute. Towards the end of the match, the visitors became a bit more attacking, but they were no longer able to equalize against Klagenfurt, who was defensively solid. Shortly before the end, Dahm made saves with the tip of his skate against Drake Remscha (59') and Johannes Bischofberger and scored the empty goal for the final score (60).