2002–03 Austrian Hockey League season

The Austrian Hockey League 2002/2003 was held with eight clubs. Master was the first time in club history, the EHC Black Wings Linz, the defending champion EC VSV defeated in the final.

  • Table 2.1 after the regular season
  • 3.1 Playoff Tree
  • 3.2 quarterfinals
  • 3.3 Semi-finals
  • 3.4 final

General

Participant

After the previous season of EK Zell am See was staying for financial reasons voluntarily in the National League. The KSV hockey club had after placement as bottom club also must start the transition to the second division. With the National League champion EC meltdown Feldkirch but also another club was added.

Ranked according to previous placement

  • EC VSV ( defending champion, coach Greg Holst )
  • EHC Linz ( coach Stanislav Barda )
  • EC KAC ( Coach: Lars Bergström )
  • Vienna Capitals ( Coach: Kurt Harand )
  • EHC Lustenau ( Coach: Eric LeGros )
  • EC Graz 99ers ( Coach: Ken Tyler )
  • HC Innsbruck ( Trainer:? )
  • EC meltdown Feldkirch ( Coach: Bob Leslie )

Mode

The eight teams played in the regular season each 6 times against each other, after the first half of the season the points were halved. In the event of a tie, a 5 -minute extension ( sudden victory overtime ) was played with four field players. Ended goalless these decided a penalty shootout. The determined winners received two points, the loser one.

Subsequently, a play-off was played, all encounters were held in the best of five - mode. In the quarterfinals, the first of the basic passage met on the 8th, the 2nd to the 7th, the 3rd to the 6th and the 4th on the 5th

Regular season

Table after the regular season

Playoffs

Playoff Tree

Quarterfinals

The quarter-finals brought largely victories of the favorites. Leaders Linz EHC Lustenau defeated the 3-0 wins and secured himself as the HC Innsbruck ahead of schedule to participate in the semi-finals. The series between the EC VSV and Vienna Capitals ran over the full length and was eventually won with three home wins from EC VSV. More surprising was the only series between Feldkirch and EC KAC. The Klagenfurt brought to the home advantage in the first game and could eventually also gain the necessary third victory in the third match on foreign ice.

For the EHC Lustenau the 0:4 defeat in Linz was the last appearance to date in the Premier League, as the team descended on the season in the second division, where she is still active today.

Semifinal

The semi-finals brought from Linz view few surprises. The EC KAC was clearly defeated 3-0 victories, with only the second game in Carinthia brought a close result. Somewhat surprising was the second series, where the EC VSV won the opening match in Innsbruck and then no longer gave the home field advantage won out of hand. In order to defend the title for the Carinthia was in the range of possibility.

Final

In the final, the EHC Linz won against the defending champions from Carinthia and overtook their first championship in the capital of Upper Austria. Although the first game was lost yet in the shootout, after a recent 2-0 (Kent Salfi on the part of Villach is the only shooter was the one who had taken), the Linzer conquered the home field advantage already in the following match in Villach back and equalized in the series of. Again, the Linzer had initially awarded a 2-0 lead, but a late goal by Andreas Judex one minute and 34 seconds before the end, ensured the success.

In the third encounter, it was the Villach who gave away a lead. After the Carinthian had a 0-1 transformed into a guide, turned the Linzer the game in the second section and met again in the final period, finally, to the final score of 4-2. The match puck in Villach was eventually highly competitive. Once there was a balanced intermediate score of 2-2 after 46 minutes, Mark Szucs scored on 53 minutes to finally Game Winning Goal. The Empty Net Goal by Ralph intra Nuovo had only statistical value.

Statistics

  • Note: The listed statistics cover both the regular season and the playoffs, because separate statistics are not currently available.

Championship Final

Cadre of the Austrian master

Goalkeeper Pavel Nešťák, Michael Mayer, Philip Hollinger

Defender: Mario Berger, Sven Klimbacher, Jan Krulis, Petr Kuchyna, Robert Lukas, Michael Mayr, Thomas Pepper, Mike Shea, Reid Simonton, Philipp Wieltsch

Attacker: Thomas Eich Berger, Alexander Holzleitner, Ralph intra Nuovo, Andreas Judex, Philipp Lukas, Rick Nasheim, Georg upper Mayr, Markus Peintner, Christian Perthaler, Martin Pewal, Ray Podloski, Patrick Steinmayr, Mark Szucs

Trainer Team: Stanislav Barda

HC TWK Innsbruck Daniel Gauthier Johan Molin Andrew Verner Claus Dalpiaz Kai Fischer HDD Olimpija Ljubljana
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