It is the first international tournament, the Black Wings from Linz, Autria are competing in this weekend. And as the host of Continental Cup Group G the Black Wings are amongst the favorites to proceed to round 3!
Last regular season the team from Linz was almost unstoppable. They won the regular season in an impressive style and where the big favorites for the Austrian title. After sweeping the quarterfinals and the semifinals, they lost in the finals and where vice - champions of Austria. Now the new season in Austria is just 5 games old, and the Black Wings at least showed effective play: 4 wins in 5 games! Though the team from Linz is not as dominant as last season, the Black Wings at least have the best roster in Austrian Hockey League. In Goal they have Pavel Nestak (CZE), who was best goaltender in Austria last season. The defense is built by several key players and members of Austrian National Team. The real stregth of Linz lies in the offense! For the new season the Black Wings have Canadian Ralph Intranuovo, who came from DEL club Essen to Linz who is together with Marc Szücs one the fastest skaters in Austria. Together with Rick Nasheim, Philipp Lukas, Christian Perthaler and Ray Podloski these two build a very strong weapon. In their last game before Continental Cup the team from Linz beat the Vienna Capitals with 7:2 and showed how dangerous they can be. One key factor for Linz have always been the fans. Almost every home game is sold out (capacity of arena: 3.600), but at the Continental Cup this will not happen and the enthusastic crowd won't be that impressive as usually. The Black Wings want to show attractive hockey this weekend and if it is possible they are eager to win this group. But Czech coach Stanislav Barda has already hinted, that the others involved in the group are pretty good and it will be very, very hard to proceed! Linz will play its first game against Katowice on Friday at 20:30 CET and then on Saturday vs. Kazzinc. On the final day of cup action the Black Wings will have Grenoble as their opponents (15 CET).
Last regular season the team from Linz was almost unstoppable. They won the regular season in an impressive style and where the big favorites for the Austrian title. After sweeping the quarterfinals and the semifinals, they lost in the finals and where vice - champions of Austria. Now the new season in Austria is just 5 games old, and the Black Wings at least showed effective play: 4 wins in 5 games! Though the team from Linz is not as dominant as last season, the Black Wings at least have the best roster in Austrian Hockey League. In Goal they have Pavel Nestak (CZE), who was best goaltender in Austria last season. The defense is built by several key players and members of Austrian National Team. The real stregth of Linz lies in the offense! For the new season the Black Wings have Canadian Ralph Intranuovo, who came from DEL club Essen to Linz who is together with Marc Szücs one the fastest skaters in Austria. Together with Rick Nasheim, Philipp Lukas, Christian Perthaler and Ray Podloski these two build a very strong weapon. In their last game before Continental Cup the team from Linz beat the Vienna Capitals with 7:2 and showed how dangerous they can be. One key factor for Linz have always been the fans. Almost every home game is sold out (capacity of arena: 3.600), but at the Continental Cup this will not happen and the enthusastic crowd won't be that impressive as usually. The Black Wings want to show attractive hockey this weekend and if it is possible they are eager to win this group. But Czech coach Stanislav Barda has already hinted, that the others involved in the group are pretty good and it will be very, very hard to proceed! Linz will play its first game against Katowice on Friday at 20:30 CET and then on Saturday vs. Kazzinc. On the final day of cup action the Black Wings will have Grenoble as their opponents (15 CET).