To mark the anniversary for the Rauch Technology Sharks1 Gmunden, the championship game was held in the ÖEL (Austrian ice hockey league) on Saturday November 18th, 2023 in the Gmunden ice rink. With a great crowd, the Gmundner Haie won against the UHTDUKES Graz with a resounding victory of 9:0 goals.
From the first second, the Sharks’ will to win was clear. Rolling attacks with beautifully created scoring chances were unrewarded until the 18th minute of the game. But then it happened in the power play. Maurius Winkelmann to Bastian Szieber, passing the hard rubber disc to Albin Schuster and it was 1-0 for Gmunden. The 2-0 in the 19:08 minute was also a perfect power play goal by Bastian Szieber after a pass from Adrian Rosenberger and Jonas Kail. Then we went into the well-deserved third break.
Period two also began with a power play. This power play was also completed 29 seconds after kick-off by Laurens Ober (assistant Basti Szieber, Patrick Gaffal) to make it 3-0. The hall was boiling, the audience was thrilled. Just half a minute later, Felix Mayer (Maurius Winkelmann, Mario Pichler) made it 4-0. The Gmundners had the game completely in their hands at this point, attack after attack led to 5-0 by Albin Schuster after an assist from Patrick Gaffal in the 26th minute. Just three minutes later, Patrick Gaffal to Jonas Kail, who extended to Basti Szieber and the bell rang to make it 6-0 in the visitors’ box. In the 39th minute of the game, Patrick Gaffal himself slammed the puck into Graz’s goal after a pass from Jonas Kail and Markus Krotsch to make it 7-0. This was also the score at halftime after 40 minutes of play.
The last third was only 57 seconds old, Jonas Kail played the puck to Adrian Rosenberger, who saw Laurens Ober standing free, also got the puck and scored ice-cold to make it 8-0. Eric Hruby scored the final point to make it 9-0 after an assist from Alwin Schuster. The ice hockey fans in the stands sang “Oh how beautiful it is and a day as beautiful as today” and all stood in the stands applauding until the final whistle. Sharks goalkeeper Luka Gracnar played a key role in the victory, successfully fending off 38 shots on goal and celebrating the first shoot-out of the season.
Coach Gregor Baumgartner: “This victory was extremely important for my team, but there was no reason to be arrogant. In this league (except Kapfenberg) any team can defeat anyone. The Dukes hardly had anything to counter them today and so the Sharks were able to really show off their skills. Of course I congratulate on this victory and am also proud to be the coach of these boys. But the season is still young and the season goal of getting into the play-offs is within sight. With a complete squad like today, the hopes for this are justified!”
On November 25th, 2023 the Rauch Technology Sharks Gmunden will be traveling to Graz ATSE Graz and on Saturday December 2nd, 2023 the Sharks will host the team in third place in the table WEV Vienna. Game starts as usual at 6:15 p.m. The Sharks are looking forward to their loyal ice hockey fans!
