On Thursday, the Stars hit Zell Am See in league play. Johann Bauer got the nod in net, and the team was antsy to get their skates into game competition again. The lay-off seemed to take its toll, as the Stars boys out-chanced the Eisbären in the first period, but couldn’t beat the Zell Am See netminder. The score remained 0-0 through to the end of the first.

The Stars found themselves down by one mid-way through the second, but answered back quickly. Dylan Weber banked one in from a bad angle after his attempted pass careened off of a defender and found itself on his stick again. An assist was credited to Fabio Kläy.  Just 20 seconds later the Eisbären answered back to take a 2-1 lead. The torrid pace of scoring continued, as Stars forward Marco Richter got a great pass from Fritz Schroder and snuck one past the EK Zeller goalie. Stephan Fellinger gave the Stars the lead for the first time in the game with an unassisted tally before the end of the period, and the third began in a promising way, as the Stars held a 3-2 lead.

Fellinger, with his second of the game gave the Stars a two goal lead, and all seemed to be going in the right direction, despite numerous missed chances and quality opportunities gaffed by the Stars. Suddenly, the wheels fell off. With the Stars up on the powerplay, a miscue between two Stars players saw an Eisbären forward move in short-handed on Bauer. While the backchecking forward did his best to catch the Zell Am See forward, he accidently slid the puck past Bauer, who was sliding across the crease. This brought the Eisbären to within one. Next, as the Stars were short-handed, a Zell Am See defender blasted one past Bauer to even the score at 4. Finally, with 5 minutes to go in the game, the Stars gave up an even strength marker, and the game was all but over.  With Bauer pulled, the Stars could barely gain the Zell Am See zone, and as the final buzzer sounded, the game ended 5-4 in favour of Zell Am See.

The Stars limped their way into Feldkirch, AT, licking their wounds after missing a chance to pick-up two points against a league competitor, but there was little time to prepare, as an exhibition game with Feldkirch’s U-20 team was in the waiting. Bauer got the nod again in between the pipes, and from the drop of the puck, things looked like they were going in the same direction as the night before.

With the game just over 5 minutes in and the Stars trailing by two, O’Leary pulled Bauer in favour of Bryce Fink. The change seemed to revitalize the Stars, and they fought off a hungry Feldkirch team, ending the period down 2-0.

As the second period got underway, momentum swung in the Stars favour.  Sam Antonitsch opened the scoring for the Stars on the powerplay, with a nice deflection on a shot from Stefan Hrdina at the point. Dylan Weber then drew the Stars even with Feldkirch as he finished off a play from Swiss mate Fabio Kläy. As the period drew to a close, chances seemed even with neither team gaining an inch on the other.

As the third period began, Philipp Kreuzer, a Villach native, took the game over. Kreuzer opened the scoring in the period after a great tip pass from Sam Antonitsch and Dylan Weber. Kreuzer, again assisted by Weber, blew by the Feldkirch defender and slid the puck past the young netminder to put the Stars ahead by two. In fine fashion, Kreuzer finished off the hat-trick on a great pass from Fellinger, and suddenly the Stars were playing the way they had hoped to. The only damage done in the second or third by Feldkirch was a 5-on-3 tally near the end of the game, but with Fink shutting the door and Kreuzer’s arrival in the third, it was too much for the Feldkirch team.

“Tonight was a complete team effort; I was very happy with everyone,” piped up O’Leary. “We really were moving out there. After we pulled Johann in the first, guys seemed to respond. Even Kreuzer and Fellinger, who I sat in the first period and some of the second finally showed up, and it was great to watch. Hopefully, we can carry that type of momentum into our final games of the season here in our league, as that would be great.”

The Stars resume league play on Sunday for a Valentine’s Day match up with the Vienna Junior Caps.  Game time is 17:00 pm at Albert Schultz Halle in Vienna.