It was a delayed start to the 2021/22 Champions Hockey League season for Red Bull Salzburg, but after playing their first two games, they’re in prime position as they look to progress to the next round.
With meetings against Frisk Asker of Norway and Polish side JKH GKS Jastrzębie, they sit top of Group H with back-to-back regulation wins.
For forward Peter Schneider, it’s been an impressive start personally for his new club.
The 30-year-old joined Salzburg this summer, having previously performed well in the CHL with two other sides and already has three-points in two-games to start the season, after Salzburg won both their opening games on the road.
“Of course, that’s what we came here to do to win those two games.” Schneider said following their second game, a 3-2 win over Jastrzębie.
“I think the game today was a lot tighter than we wanted, I have to give it to them, they did really well."
“We obviously didn’t play our best game, but in the end, I think we deserved to win and I’m happy that we did.”
Salzburg took a commanding victory in their opening game, winning 6-2 against Frisk Asker, but it was much closer against Jastrzębie, as they had to rely on Schneider to tie the game in the second period, and then Benjamin Nissner struck with just under 10 minutes remaining to seal the regulation win and leave their road trip with a full complement of six points.
Despite returning home with maximum points, Schneider feels the team still has things to work on.
“We just wanted to play our game and we didn’t play our game in the beginning.
"We turned pucks back and turned pucks over and that fed right into their game, and I think we have to be a lot better next weekend if we want to win."
Salzburg face the same opponent at home this week, before facing HC Bolzano next month, but they’re not getting ahead of themselves just yet.
“I think we focus game to game, so now we’re focussed on Friday and our next game to win that.”
After many hockey leagues were either shut down or played with minimal or no fans last year, for Schneider and Salzburg, they’re excited to finally get to play in front of their home fans when they return this week.
“It’s awesome, we missed it so much. It doesn’t matter if you’re at home or on the road it’s just awesome to have people watching again, it’s a totally different atmosphere and we’re happy that it’s possible again.
“We only had one pre-season game there and I’m super excited to go back there for a real game now.”