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GRAZ, AUSTRIA—Locked-out NHLers Sam Gagner, Tyler Myers and Andrew Cogliano are supposed to be playing in front of packed 20,000-seat arenas, flying by chartered jets, swarmed by media and seen on nationwide highlight reels on a nightly basis.
Instead, these NHL refugees have migrated to the little-known Erste Bank Eishockey Liga to suit up for EC-KAC in Klagenfurt, Austria.
The 12-team Eishockey Liga, known as the Austrian Hockey League in English, boasts eight teams in Austria, as well as clubs in Slovenia, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Recently, KAC travelled 200 kilometres south of Vienna for a game with the Moser Graz 99ers. The 99ers were without Buffalo Sabres sniper Thomas Vanek, who returned home for family reasons.
It was abundantly clear that this was not an NHL game. For starters, to illustrate how little notoriety NHL players receive in Austria, both Myers (“Mayers”) and Gagner (“Gaggner”) saw their names misspelled on the game-day program. Then there were the two Graz players who were forced to stay for five minutes after warmup to slide around and collect all the pucks. And if that wasn’t enough, amateur hockey players in full equipment consistently walked in front of the crowd next to the ice surface in order to pass through to an adjoining rink.
It’s difficult to say whether the Graz supporters were merely trying to keep warm after being forced to stand on concrete slabs or rotting wooden planks for the entire 60 minutes or if they genuinely cared about their club. In any case, the atmosphere was raucous and relentless.
The arena is old, small and slightly decrepit, yet the capacity crowd of 3,860 made it feel alive from the start. Nearly all the spectators were seated on one side of the ice surface, with no one behind the nets and the other side reserved for 100 to 150 VIPs. Still, the drumming, cheering, chanting and horns did not let up the entire game.
European hockey is known for its smaller players, bigger ice surface and a style that emphasizes skill rather than physicality, yet 12 seconds into the game a fight broke out behind KAC’s net.
With the deafening crowd noise stoking their adrenalin, players from both squads went out of their way to finish checks or give an extra slash or cross-check after whistles. But more surprising than the intensity of the play was the officiating — the refs just let them play.
“Tonight was different,” Gagner said after the game. “For the most part the league is highly skilled but tonight guys were running around trying to kill each other.”
The reckless physicality finally claimed a victim midway through the third period — Buffalo’s Myers. While chasing a puck behind his net, he crashed into the end boards and twisted his left ankle. After being helped off the ice by two teammates, the six-foot-seven Myers was quick to shrug off the dangerous play on the ice.
“It’s part of the game,” he laughed. “I would rather it be more intense and physical; it prepares me that much more for when I go back (to the NHL).”
Cogliano added that although the physicality was “a little too much tonight, the crowd was awesome. They’re crazy here.”
Graz came away with a 4-2 win in a game that saw two fights, countless scrums and goblins crawling around the ice during intermission trying to scare the young fans.
Gagner scored a short-handed goal in the losing effort after Cogliano sprung him on a semi-breakaway late in the third.
Two days later, Cogliano and Gagner headed 400 kms east for a date with the bottom-feeding Innsbruck Sharks. Myers, who has nine points in 16 games with KAC, stayed behind in Klagenfurt to rest his ankle.
Travel in the Eishockey Liga, as Cogliano attests, “is not NHL life. It’s tough.”
The KAC players awoke at 7:30 a.m. to make an 8:30 meeting at their home rink before personally loading their gear onto the team bus and leaving for Innsbruck at 9 a.m. The team travelled for 2 ½ to three hours before stopping for lunch. After an hour break, the bus continued onward and stopped again outside of Innsbruck for a coffee break before finally reaching the arena two hours before the 5:30 p.m. game. After the game, the team immediately hopped back onto the bus to return to Klagenfurt, arriving home shortly after 1 a.m. All told, Cogliano and Gagner travelled 18 hours in one day for one game.
“It really does humble you,” says Cogliano. “I know when I go back I won’t be taking much for granted. I can see myself playing even harder now (in the NHL) and make sure I’m fighting for my job every game because we have it really good back home. We do things in the NHL that guys here wouldn’t even imagine.”
The game itself was a mismatch akin to what might happen if an NFL team played against a CFL squad or if the Maple Leafs played the St. Mike’s Majors.
Innsbruck joined the top league for the first time this season and so far the club has managed just four wins in 29 contests, surrendering an average of more than five goals per game in that stretch. With by far the lowest operating budget in the league, the highest-paid Shark earns 40,000 euros ($51,000) a season. Conversely, KAC’s top earner, Austrian national team member Thomas Koch, makes roughly 280,000 euros ($358,000).
KAC jumped all over the overmatched Sharks, silencing the sparse crowd and dominating from start to finish on the way to an 8-1 victory. Gagner collected a goal and an assist, while Cogliano picked up two helpers.
Gagner now has with 18 points (10 goals) in 18 games, while Cogliano has collected six points, including two game-winning goals, in only seven contests.
Although Gagner and Cogliano admit the level of competition in the Eishockey Liga isn’t the highest, they both say it’s a competitive, skilled league.
“I don’t think the league gets the credit it deserves,” added Gagner. “It’s a good pace and there’s skill in this league. It should get more credit.”
And despite the gruelling road trips and tiny arenas, Austria offers these NHL refugees something North America cannot: a chance to play hockey.
Und ja, wir SIND so alt... 
