Good news is coming out of Austria as a 6-1 decision for Red Bull Salzburg against JKH GKS Jastrzębie has qualified the club for their sixth Playoffs appearance in the Champions Hockey League. True to their style, the Group H leaders have played to their strengths and maintained their dominant play of campaigns past.
Beginning with Ty Loney’s powerplay tally in their first match against Frisk Asker, the ICE-HL side have been on the board first in each contest and have rarely trailed.
Last night was no different: Mario Huber netted the opening goal midway through the middle period as Salzburg would eventually put half a dozen past the Polish champions.
"It's always nice to score. It makes me happy that the goal helped us," said Huber. But his individual effort would be nothing without the players around him as he goes on to say - "We played well as a team, so I'm proud of us as a group."
"We have to always take it as it is, play game by game and play all 60 minutes in each game to go even further in the season."Mario Huber
Jastrzębie tried to keep it interesting with an equaliser of their own, but Salzburg pulled away in the third, pelting the visitors with double-digit shots through the rest of the match culminating in five unanswered finishes.
"I think they tried their best, but in the end, they weren't able to keep pace with us anymore and were a little frustrated."
This isn't to say the Austrians had it easy in the early going. "It took a long time for the match to be decided. It was a tough fight for all three periods," admitted Huber who went on to praise his netminder, "In the 2nd period Nicolas Wieser made many important saves to keep us in the game."
"We simply kept playing our game and fired all the shots on their goalie."Mario Huber
Whereas their first meeting was a narrower affair, resulting in a 3-2 final score, the sides’ second battle was decisively won by the Austrians who never let their foot off the pedal. "We simply kept playing our game and fired all the shots on their goalie," explained Huber.
Following the success of their first leg of the tournament, Huber isn't taking anything for granted. Though they've achieved their first goal, he understands that "we have to always take it as it is, play game by game and play all 60 minutes in each game to go even further in the season."