U-15 Tigers-Stars News

The U15 Stars win 3 - 2 against the Black wings of Linz in the third game of their best of three series to take third place honors in the U15 Austrian Championship.

In a very exciting and entertaining hockey match the first period showed just how close the game was going to be. The stars failed to capitalize on thier many opportunities and Linz was unable to get one by goalie Maxi Wehrhan on thier dangerous counter attacks. The period end in a scoreless draw.

The second proved to be the difference in this contest. A determined Florian Baltram opened the scoring when he broke out of his zone with help from Paul Hochman and Simon Wolf and raced up the ice beating one defender wide and driving to the net and slipping the puck past the Linz netminder. The Black Wings did equalize though on a short handed break but only for a shor time as Baltram again tallied from Max Paczkowski and Emil Sztatecsny to put them back out in front. When Marcel Hack banged in a rebound with Paczkowski and Daniil Ovchinnikov setting up the play the stage was set for the final frame with the road team up by two.

Linz managed to capitalize on a Stars penalty to cut into the lead early in the frame but some great penalty killing and determination would not let the Stars be denied their victory on this day and a jubilant Stars squad accepted thier third place medals and trophy.

Coaches Comments:

I would just like to say a special thanks to the managers Gregor Sztatecsny and Julika Prosenz for the super effort and support all season. Also I would like to give a big thanks to coaches Thomas Wehrhan and Craig Streu who were instrumental in forming this team. And lastly thanks to a great group of boys who came together to play some spirited and exciting games, to some great young 1998s who improved steadily throughout the season and a group of players who although had very little practice time together still came up with some incredible games and showed just what they could do under some difficult circumstances. I am proud to have been your coach! All the Best in the future!!

In a tight battle with the Black Wings of Linz, the U15 Stars split the first of three games at home winning on Saturday 6 - 3 and losing the second on sunday 9 - 5.

Saturdays game put the young Stars in a position to end the series early and take the third place trophy for the U15 league but a sloppy second game gives Linz the chance to clinch at home this coming Wednesday evening.

The solid effort on Saturday could not be repeated Sunday although going out in front 3 -1 early some unnecessary defensive lapses let Linz catch up and go ahead 4 - 3 going into the second. Goals by Baltram, Pazckowski and Gutestam gave the Stars lots of jump early but the Black Wings duo of Houdum and Hase were unstopable and when the game was over had 12 points between them to lead thier team to the convincing win. Florian Baltrams scored two more goals for his hattrick but it did little to ease the pain of defeat and the Stars will have to wait until Wednesday for the rematch.

Coaches comments:

We are playing at two ends of the spectrum with some great playmaking on the one hand and then some unbeleivable miscues on the other. We had our moments but could not regain the form from Saturday and we on the wrong side of the puck on too many occasions taday. We worked hard but not very smart for the most part and failed to make the easy plays when they were there. the big difference once more was the Linz Powerplay that scored four times to our once. We seem to be up and down like a jojo and can't maintain a constant effort for sixty minutes. We will just have to bear down once more and play a solid game  in Linz if we want to take third spot. The boys have at least put themselves in a position to do so and I know the boys will give it thier best shot!

Final Scores:

Saturday Stars 6 - Linz 3 (2 - 0, 2 - 2, 2 - 1)

Sunday   Stars 5 - Linz 9 (3 - 4, 0 - 1, 2 - 4)

The Stars/Tigers run to the Austrian U15 Championship came to a screaching halt yesterday afternoon in Vienna when they were defeated 6 - 1 by a more determined and spirited Vienna Jr. Capital team that deserved to move into the final.

The game was not what the Stars expected or wanted and they failed to once again capitalize on their offense in both 5 on 5 and powerplay situations. When Florian Baltram scored late in the first to get them back to 1 - 2 the game could have turned for the better but a weak defensive zone pass gave the Caps the puck and they promptly punished the Stars with the 3 -1 goal. Just a few minutes later a bad angle shot beat the Stars netminder for a 4 - 1 Caps lead and to make matters even worse another lose shot snuck through and gave the Jr. Caps a unsurmountable 5 - 1 lead they would not give up.

The rest of the third period was merely cosmetic as the Stars although working hard, had no chance against a much stronger and energetic Caps group who scored their sixth goal late to add insult to injury and celebrate a stunning victory over a totally demoralized Stars Team.

Coaches Comments:

This is a bitter pill to swallow for the team and the staff as it was not the loss but the way we lost which really hurt. I hope the boys managed to take something from this experience and losing does teach us a lot about ourselves. We were not able to recapture the spirit we had last Sunday and we did not have the energy level needed to compete. The bottom line was the Jr. Caps wanted to win much more than we did and once down we reverted to the old habits we are all trying to get away from. We were weak in almost every aspect of the game and it looked as if we accepted losing too easily.

We are still a good group of players who now should slowly be beginning to unsterstand that good players do not make a good team and that individuals do not win games but teams do. Once we get that lesson into our heads we have the chance to move to the next level which we all want to do.

It is hard to find positives when you come off such a dissapointing loss but we hope that this experience sparks a new begining in the minds of many of our guys who may just hate losing enough now to finally make those changes needed to make them better players and teammates.

After a demoralizing loss to the Jr. Caps in U15 playoff action on Saturday, the Jr. Stars bounced back on Sunday with convincing 3 -1 win to even thier semifinal series.

After a scoreless first period in which the Stars dominated play the Stars continued their onslought of the Caps net and were rewarded for the efforts with a well executed powerplay goal in the 27th minute when Max Paczkowski passed the puck along the blue line to defensive partner Daniil Ovchinnikov who moved in and found Patrick Dieber who's onetimer beat the Caps goalie to the short side. Eight minutes later it would again be Dieber who took a nice pass from Sebastian Habernig and Tommy Zitz and buried his wrist shot behind the Caps keeper to give his team a two goal cushion going into the third.

A Strong team effort kept the pressure on the home team Caps who could not get thier offense moving until late in the game when a Stars penalty gave them the man advantage with just three and a half minutes to play. The Caps pulled their goalie to give them a two man advantage and scored on a rebound to put them just one down with just over two munites to play. A hectic last couple of minutes saw a Stars team who were not going to be denied in this game and who continued to check the Caps all over the ice and give them no chance for the equalizer. With a sixth attacker on the ice and an empty net Baltram slipped the puck to Moritz Matzka who fired a long shot into the open net to secure the win.

Coaches Comments:

We had strong efforts from all players on this day and were the better team. We could have easily scored two or three more goals but not doing so kept the Caps in the game and lead to the furious finish we did not want or need. We were very proud of the boys will to win and that made the difference in todays game. Usually the Hockey gods reward those that work the hardest and we really derserved the win today. We do not have much time to enjoy the victory as we meet the Caps again on Wednesday to decide the series and will need the same intensity and team spirit we show today to advance to the final. The game Wednesday should be a dandy!

In the opening game of the U15 playoff semifinal the Vienna Jr. Capitals defeted the LA Star/Tigers in a closely fought decision 3 - 2. In the best of three playoff series the Stars must now win two straight to advance to the finals.

The opening period started off very promising for the Stars with Philipp Pöschmann scoring at the two minute mark unassisted on a Stars powerplay but on a three on five later in the period the Stars could not escape the Caps pressure and surrendered the equalizer and had to take the 1 - 1 score into the first period break. 

The second period was very even with both teams giving up very few shots but it was the Caps that managed to break the tie and then go up by two before the period ended. The third period started with a Stars powerplay that would lead to the second Stars goal when Florian Baltram scored from Emil Sztatecsny and Max Paczkowski but in the ensuing 19 minutes the Caps would keep the away team off the board and protected thier one goal lead to the final buzzer.

Coaches Comments:

We were not able to pentrate the Caps defense today and did not get enough shots on goal. We did not take advantage of our powerplay opportunities and in the end that made the difference. We were not as sharp as we should have been and you have to credit the Caps who worked extremely hard to break down our offense limiting us to less the 15 shots. It was a tough loss but we have another chance tomorrow to get even in the second game of the best of three series. Sometimes you have to win the hard way and we will have to find a way to get more shots and traffic on net tomorrow if we are to be succesful. We hope to have  Pauli Sztatecsny and Simon Wolf back in the line-up tomorrow but have lost Tobias Lindmaier (broken collar bone) for the remainder of the season and wish him a speedy recorvery. Game time tomorrow is 17:50  and promises to be another nailbiter.

Caps 3 , Stars 2 (1 - 1, 2 - 0, 0 - 1)

After a rough start on Saturday in St. Pölten the U15 Star Tigers Combo defeated Innsbruck this afternoon at the Albert Schultz Halle in vienna 3 - 1 to advance to the Semi Finals for the austrian U15 Championship.

Saturday the Stars must have thought that they would walk over the happless HCI squad as they did the week before but as we all should know playoffs have their own laws and the young Stars were caught completely off guard and were fortuante to come away with an shoot out win in the first game.

After a 2 - 0 first period with Philipp Pöschmann scoring twice first from Max Paczkowski and Simon Wolf and then again from Daniil Ovchinnikov to take it into the intermission. The Stars thought that the second period  would be theirs but it would be the road team who took the game back and scored twice to keep the game close as Emil Sztatecsny put the Stars up by one 3 - 2 going into the second period break. It was certain that the home team would take over in the third but failed to capitalize on numerous opportunities with Huber coming up big for the Tirol Capital and with just 47 seconds left Ínnsbruck snuck one over the line to equal the score and take the Stars to a shoot out. Again Philipp Pöschmann came up bifg as he scored the winner with Sämi Prosenz stopping all three Innsbruck shots to secure the win!

4 - 3 (2 - 0, 1 - 2, 0 - 1) 1 - 0 (penalty Shootout)

Sunday promissed to be another tough one with Innsbruck now believing and the Stars a little nervous after the close win the in the first game and as expected the game was much closer than it the Stars would have liked.

the Stars scored first when Baltram finished a nice thre way passing play from Paczkowski and Ovchinnikov but again the Stars could not manage to build up the lead and when a harmless point shot beat a screened Prosenz in net the stage was set for another nailbiter.

In the second it would be Sebastian Habernig who would score twice within two minutes. First on a one timer  from Paul Koudelka and then on a great feed in the slot from behind the net from Thomas Zitz and Paul Hochman to finally give the home team a bit of insurance going into the third up 3 - 1. Niether team would score in the third as Max Wehrhan taking over from a strong Sämi Prosenz in the Stars net, closed the door on a very good and disciplined Innsbruck team. The Stars now advance to the Semi Final with the first two of three games to be played next Saturday and Sunday in Vienna against the winner of the Vienna Jr. Caps - Graz 99er series which will be decided on Wednesday evening in Graz.

Tigers/ Stars 3 ,  Innsbruck 1 (1 - 1, 2 - 0, 0 - 0)

After a very slow start and some charged words from their coach during thefirst intermission the youngest Stars came out and scored 11 goals in the last two periods and dominated a much weaker HCI on sunday afternoon in the Tirolian capital.

The stars were lead by Max Paczkowski with an unbelievable 9 points (5 and 4), Daniil Ovchinnikov with 5 (2 and 3) and a host of others with multiple points. More than the score it was a relief to see that although the road team started slow they were able to put it into another gear which secured the win.

Due to the victory the first round of the playoffs will begin for the Tigers/Stars combo at home against this same HCI squad for the first two games and a third in Innsbruck if necessary. It will hopefully bring out the best in the Stars as they will have to repeat the impressive performance to advance to the semi finals.

First game this Saturday afternoon in St. Pölten at 15:30!

U-15 Stars give 110 Prosenz
29. Jan. 2012

With only 12 skaters and Sami Prosenz between the pipes the U15 Stars travelled to Villach to battle the undefeated VSV. With the school semester coming to an end the last thing these kids wanted to face was another test. But it seemed that the boys did some homework after last weeks loss in Vienna. With every test preparation is the key, with execution that key creates openings, and with desire we take advantage of those openings.

Florian  Baltram opened the scoring on a backhand after blocking a shot and outskating the Villacher. After some great saves by Sami “110” Prosenz, the Stars would add another when Emil Sztatescny and Ali Houben combined  to get Baltram his second on the rebound. 2-0 after the first period and time for a well deserved break and refill those water bottles.

The second period was again Star domination. It’s amazing what you can do when you skate and on this night we skated. Everyone was back checking, and forechecking, and when we had the puck we were moving it and getting pucks to the net. “Go With the Flo” Baltram would complete his natural hat trick and give the Stars a 3-0 lead after two.

The Third period started and you could see the 22 players on Villach had a little more gas in the tank than the 12 Star Players. We were forced to take a couple of penalties but did a great job killing a 3 v 5 and then when everything seemed to be back under control, an unforced turnover led to the first goal against. But when Daniil “ Chinny” Ovchinnikov shelved a rebound to regain the 3 goal lead everyone in the rink knew what team would go home with the points on this night.

Chinny would add another to make the final 5-1. For Villach it was their first loss of the Season and for the Stars not only an impressive win, but a much needed confidence booster for their next game tomorrow against Innsbruck.

COACHES COMMENTS: It was a great game and always a good feeling when you beat the top team in the league. We couldn't have done it without a great team effort and all 13 guys played their hearts out tonight. You don't really want to point out individuals on a night like this when everyone was so good but I must say I was really impressed with Lukas Wilding tonight.  He did a lot of great things on the penalty kill, and of course Sami Prosenz,  he just looked so confident out there, that was the best game I've seen him play, but again hats off to all the boys.

VSV:U15 STARS 1:5 (0:2,0:1,1:2)

After the last two less than optimistic outings the U15Star/Tiger combo felt they would right the ship and take a couple of points from KAC in Klagenfurt on Saturday afternoon. They would be in for a rude awakening and before tem minute mark of the first period they were down 0 - 3.  Some very sloppy play in thier own zone with weak passes and poor one on on play lead to the disasterous start. Patrick Dieber put his team on the baord finally to stop the bleeding at the twelve minute mark and the road team got some of their courage back and played with more determination only to have a bad give away in thier own zone lead to the fourth KAC goal with just one second on the clock.

To add insult to injury poor defensiv zone coverage early in the second lead to yet another KAC score and put the Stars even further behind and by far the worst effort of the season so far was to even get worse when a KAC player was allowed to wander into the slot and put a high shot to the blocker side to give his tema a 6 - 1 lead. The Stars puller there keeper Sämi Prosenz and replaced him with Maxi Wehrhan who played well but had to take another goal from a screened point shot to make it 7 - 1 Klagenfurt. A demoralized group continued to work and to thier credit did not quit! When Patrick Dieber got his second from Philipp Pöschmann and Jan Blüml the Stars at least had some hope and fought hard there rest of the period.

With nothing more to lose except thier pride the young Stars played a different game in the third. Prosenz went back in the net to regain some of his self confidence and when Dieber scored his third in a row on a great solo effort to bring the Stars to within four you could feel the energy come back into the team. Max Paczkowski grabbed a lose pcuk off a Dieber check at the offensive blueline and walked in alone to beat the KAC goalie and gave his team a realistic chance for a comeback now only being down 7 - 4 with six minutzes to go. When Phiipp Pöschmann scored from Dieber (his fifth point of the day) and Paczkowski on the power play just 8 secondes later, it looked like the comeback was within reach.  A turbulent last five minutes saw a different Stars team who were now full of energy and determination and out skated and out work thier opponents from Klagenfurt.  Unfortunately the chances the Stars had were not converted and the game ended 7 - 5 for the home team in what turned out to be a very exciting finish and as so often said in hockey had the Stars played the whole game with this much effort it would have been a different outcome.

Coaches Comments:

A bad first period lead to this defeat and we baisically beat ourselves once more. Terrible defensive zone work coupled with some unfortunate individual mistakes cost us this game. It is never nice to get beat like this and with these young players anything is possible as could be seen at the end of the game. I was happy that Prosenz came back strong after being pulled to shut out KAC in the third and a few of our guys played very well. Patrick Dieber and Moritz Matzka both had very strong games and even when you lose you can win and I though the third period showed us that when you never give up and play for your pride anything can happen. We did come up short, but we will be ready for this team next time out. We have a tough weekend ahead of us in Villach and at home against Innsbruck and it would be nice to continue where we left off in the third period today.

Final Score KAC 7 - Star/Tigers 5    (4 -1, 3 - 1, 0 - 3)

After starting the placement round with a win and tie, the U15 Stars were anything but dominant in a 6 - 4 loss to a much harder working Jr. Caps team in Vienna on Friday night. The two teams tied last Sunday with the Stars unable to take advantage of their many chances and again on Friday the problem remained the same. Hugo Jansons on a tight angle shot from Emil Sztatecsny opened the scoring eight minutes in on the powerplay, after a viscious Jr. Caps boarding call put Captain Paul Hochmann out of the game with a bruised neck. The Caps answered on a five on three powerplay late in the period to pull even.

The second period turned out to be the difference with the Caps scoring three in a row to go up 4 - 1 before Florian Baltram from Sebastian Habernig and Daniil Ovchinnikov got his team back to within two with just one second left on the clock. The Caps were the better team by far in the period and derserved to be out front. Poor passing coupled with far too much individual play and some very bad decisions left the Stars wondering just what went wrong.

The third would start with some life for the Stars after the late goal but they were again unable to capitalize on their chances and a bad cross zone pass sent a Caps player in all alone to put his team back up by three. When Baltram scored his second from Jansons and Lukas Wilding a spark of life seemed to come back to the team and it looked like they would turn things around. The Stars began to show how dominant they can be and had several man advantage opportunities but just could not get the put to drop. Moritz Matzka finally scored from Habernig and Thomas Zitz with nine minutes to go to get his team within one and the push was on. The Stars now threw everything they had at the Caps net, but it would be the Caps who would take advantage of one of the few chances they had to add to the lead once more. A furious last five minutes saw the Stars try everything to score but on this night they were not rewarded and had to suffer their first loss of the season to a Caps team who played harder and smarter when it counted and deserved the two points.

Coaches Comments:

It is hard to understand why the team came out flat today but these things happen. We were just not ready to play as was seen in our preperation prior to the on ice warm up and the warm up itself. The hockey gods tend favour the harder working group for the most part and it was the Caps on this night. Again, we reverted to carrying the puck instead of moving it and missed too many chances with poor shot selections and missing the net too often. We made an awful lot of individual mistakes tonight which seemed to be punished every time. We did not clear the puck when we had the chance and lost it on the oppositions blue line instead of getting it deep which really hurt us. Lets hope we can get rid of some of these bad habits we've been displaying of late and back to a better, harder working game with less individual play and more teamwork to put us back on the right track.

Final Score: 4 - 6 (1 - 1), (1 - 3), (2 - 2)