HC Innsbruck's second home game of the season will see the Austrian team welcome the Belfast Giants from Northern Ireland for a heated 60-minute battle for points on Game Day 3 of the 2023/24 season of the Champions Hockey League.

Belfast enter the tie having suffered back-to-back defeats to Tappara Tampere and Lukko Rauma, with Greg Printz being the only Giants player to make the scoresheet so far in 2023/24. They faced Lukko for their season-opener and played a very levelled game against the Finns, recording more shots on goal and controlling long passages of play.

The Giants were disciplined, focused and strong on the puck. Greg Printz scored the first goal of the game in the second period before a Lukko equaliser on the powerplay would level the score some four minutes later. The Finns scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and added the third of the 3-1 game into the empty net in the final minute of the game.

Belfast's second game was the following day and saw them be completely outplayed by reigning CHL champs Tappara. The visitors struggled with penalty minutes, racking up a grand total of 16 as the Finns scored four on the man advantage. 

If the same Giants team we saw on Game Day 1 lines up in Innsbruck then we are in for one absolutely neck-and-neck game but if we see the tired and broken team that we witnessed in Tampere then this game can only go one way.

Many overlooked and underestimated Innsbruck heading into 2023/24 but they proved us all wrong from the get-go, picking up a huge 5-2 home win over Swiss champions Genève-Servette on their CHL debut. They followed that up with a 6-1 loss to EHC Biel-Bienne on the road and will definitely be looking to return to winning ways on home ice.

Corey Mackin was the sole goalscorer for Innsbruck in Switzerland in a game in which the visitors were just unable to match the firepower of Biel-Bienne. The Austrians struggled with their discipline, offering their counterparts a hefty nine powerplays (they converted on three of them). Playing so much of the game on the PK meant we didn't see much from Innsbruck up front so we have to revert back to Game Day 1 to see what Belfast will go up against.

And that's a whole different story. Innsbruck showed strength, determination, team spirit and a strong will as they fought their way back from 0-2 in the opening three minutes of the game to 5-2 when the final buzzer sounded. Mackin was on the scoresheet, as was a two-point Kevin Roy.

All in all - this is going to be one close game in Austria as both sides are looking for the W and all-important points and we think discipline will make or break this one.