The Prep Stars continued their unbeaten streak, picking up a point against the Graz 99ers on Saturday here at the Klenkdome. With the tie, the Stars now move even with the Vienna Capitals, with 3 games in hand, it leaves the Stars in good position.

The game opened promising, with the Stars playing well and commanding respect from the 99ers, but it was the 99ers getting on the board first as a goalmouth scramble created by poor defensive zone coverage and a lost puck from the perspective of Johann Bauer led to the first goal just four and a half minutes into the game. The Stars responded immediately, however, as Marco Richter benefitted from a great dump off of the stick of Nikolaus Houben, and the forecheck of Niki Kraus. Richter picked up the loose puck after Kraus separated the man from the puck and wrapped it around through the wickets of the Graz goaltender. Just over seven minutes later, the 99ers again took advantage of some sloppy backside pressure to chip a puck past Bauer regaining their lead. Not long after that, however, Niki Kraus responded for the Stars on a nifty backdoor play by Richter as the two combined again to draw the hometeam even. The rest of the period was scoreless, and heading into the dressing room, the two teams were all notched up at two.

At the start of the second period, the Stars made a goaltending change as Sandro Aeschlimann spelled off Bauer. The Stars, however, didn’t manage to execute the game plan as effectively as asked, and the 99ers again took advantage of sloppy defensive play to bury one behind the Stars’ Swiss netminder. Despite sending lots of pucks towards the goal, it seemed that Kurat had lady luck at his side. After forty minutes, the Stars trailed 3-2.

Coming into the third period, the Stars were expecting to climb their way back shift by shift. A solid forecheck and limited defensive zone play was critical, and it resulted in Daniel Leisser chipping a puck past a defender, and then beating Kurat out after the loose puck. As the Graz goalie did his best to take the net away, the big, rangy winger from Vienna calmly stepped around the beleaguered goaltender and wristed the puck into the empty goal to again pull the Stars even. The rest of the third period the Stars sent a flurry of offensive bursts towards the net, but were unable to capitalize against the 99ers, as the teams settled for a 3-3 tie.

After the game, the Stars coach felt that the Stars persistence led him to believe they would never be out of the game. “We played hard tonight, and despite being tied after one, I thought we carried the play for the most part. We had chances and were unable to beat their goaltender, but we were defending well down low, we created offensive opportunities from good speed… we just couldn’t bury,” explained O’Leary. When asked about the decision to pull Bauer, O’Leary was clear that he has faith in the young man from Amstetten, but the coach felt tonight was just not Bauer’s night. “I thought that he was fighting it a bit in warm-up; confidence is a funny thing. Johann really is a good goaltender when his confidence is high, and he’ll be back there. I just thought that it was the right thing, and after talking it over (with goaltending coach Christian Cseh) we felt that it was the right thing to do.” The young coach reiterated, however, that Bauer is heavily relied on, and will be back in the saddle tomorrow as the Stars host their rival, the Vienna Capitals. “Johann’s right back at it tomorrow, and we know he’s going to be stellar in there.”

The Stars host the Caps in the second installment of this full-fledged rivalry at 13:30 in the Klenkdome. 

L.A. Stars Prep 3 vs. Graz 99ers 3 (2:2; 0:1; 1:0)