Austrian side Villach SV have had a tough two weeks in the Champions Hockey League. Across Game Days 1-3, the ICE club lost all three of their games and had looked out of form, but Game Day 4 saw them pick up their first points of the season with a huge 6-2 win over group rivals Comarch Cracovia.
"It's great," started Villach's Marco Richter, "we'd lost a few games back-to-back so for us to bounce back with a win in front of our home fans is a really good feeling!"
"I think we played aggressively, we tried to hold the puck for longer periods of play and overall be more confident,” explained the 26-year-old.
It only took Villach eight minutes to get on the scoreboard when Benjamin Lanzinger redirected a powerful wrister from the circle into the back of the visiting team's net to put his side 1-0 up.
Not three minutes later, Villach were at it again, this time Chris Collins scoring. He fired at Cracovia's Rok Stojanovic from point-blank range, but only managed to hit the netminder. Luckily for him, the puck rebounded perfectly to his stick and his second attempt sailed past the goaltender.
Cracovia cut the deficit in half at 15:44, before offering Villach two powerplay opportunities late in the opening period.
The second period, played entirely with the score 2-1 in Villach's favour, saw Cracovia offer Villach two man-advantages whilst they themselves tested their special unit late into the second frame and early into the third.
At 45:03, Vojtěch Polák found the back of the Villach net for the second time of the night to tie the game 2-2 much to the delight of the Polish team's bench and fans but Cracovia's mood was about to change quick, as a huge second half of the third period for Villach saw them score four to seal a 6-2 victory in front of their faithful home fans to end their unsuccessful run.
“We focused on blocking shots and penalty killing, I think we killed off all of their powerplays – that was really important,” ended Richter.
"I think we were on their level"Comarch Cracovia's Vojtěch Polák
Cracovia's Vojtěch Polák scored both his side's goals of the game but was critical of his team's performance in the final period: "We gave them almost all the goals," he started, "we had moments when we could’ve scored goals but we didn’t use the opportunities, that cost us."
Despite the 6-2 scoreline, it wasn't such a one-sided game, which is something Polák is quick to point out: "I think the result is harsh," he said, "I think we were on their level, sometimes even better. Like 10 minutes to go the score was 2-2... but hey, that’s hockey!"
But overall he summarised the first four CHL Game Days as a "great experience" for his side and noted they "have to take in everything" whilst they can.