After losing in Klagenfurt 7 - 4 two weeks earlier, the Under-15 48er/Stars knew they had to win by more than three goals to be able to control their own destiny should the two teams remain tied at the close of this Championship round.

The young Stars went to work and controlled much of the first period, missing what seemed to be too many good scoring opportunities before Niki Kraus finally put them on the board on their second power play opportunity of the night. On a nice set up in front from Vicky Hummel and Sam Antonitsh, Kraus beat the KAC goalie on the short side to give his team a one goal lead. Although KAC had some good chances of their own they were fortunate to only be down one.

The second period started off with a home team power play which looked promising but was unsuccessful. Shortly after the guests returned to full strength, Fritz Schroeder took a long stretch pass from Fabian Tomanek and buried a high shot to the stick side off the right wing to put the 48er/Stars up by two. The teams battled back and forth for the next five minute before Philipp Kreuzer took matters into his own hands and scored three times, twice unassisted and once off a nice pass from Antonitisch to give the home squad a comfortable five goal lead. After Kreuzers natural hat trick a devastated KAC team had to look on to see Schroeder score his second of the frame from Weber and Jo Jo Leitner to go down by six and it looked like they were ready to throw in the towel. To their credit they managed to score twice late in the period and let the home team know they would not go down that easily.

With a 6 – 2 lead heading into the third period the 48er Stars needed to get the game back into their own hands and were reminded by a concerned coach that the game was not over and they needed to regain their focus, stay on the defensive side of the puck and not give KAC any odd man opportunities.

When the team came back onto the ice in the third and one could sense that they were ready to pick up the tempo once more. In the 43rd minute Fabian Tomanek shelved a high wrist shot over the KAC goalies glove hand after stealing a lose puck at the offensive blue line. A visibly deflated KAC team worked hard but found no recipe for their stronger, faster, and defensively committed opponent. The 48er/Stars could have easily scored a few more goals but missed the chance to add to the lead and with only a minute and a half left to play KAC scored late to once again cutting the lead back to four. The home team stayed cool and did not allow KAC another opportunity and with Philipp Kreuzer notching his fourth with a second to go off of a Richter feed the game was over.

“It was great to see how well the team played under the pressure of a must win situation and these are the kinds of games that will build a players character. These games are very valuable, force players to extend themselves and get away from their comfort zones. This is the kind of competition in which they will grow! I was very pleased with the way we played, our passing and vision of the ice seemed much improved. I am happy for the team they fully deserved this victory,” voiced a smiling coach Vorlicek. The U15 squad is off to Lustenau and Innsbruck next weekend and will hope to carry on where the left off today!