Ingolstadt – Zürich 1:4 (end) | Stavanger – HC Pilsen 0:3 (end) | Kuopio – Skellefteå 1:2 (end)
Krefeld – Vitkovice 2:0 (end) | Košice – Linz 2:3 (end) | Salzburg – Sheffield 8:1 (end)
Fribourg – Munich 3:0 (end)
final
Red Bull Salzburg
8:1 (1:0, 3:1, 4:0)
Sheffield Steelers
Saturday 20.08.2016, 19:30 • Eisarena Salzburg • Champions League • Group P
     
    Welcome. Game starts at 19:30.
     
    Tonight at 19:30 the CHL adventure starts for the RBS team in the Salzburg ice arena versus Sheffield Steelers!

    It´s the second match between these two teams, several years ago they met in Grenoble, ending in a victory for the RedBull team.
    Steelers will play their 2nd match in this CHL season, they lost vs the strong HV 71 Jonkoping 3:5, so RBS should know, that British hockey has made enourmous developments in the last years.
    In England icehockey is now rather popular, it´s a bit a counter culture to Englands football.
    300 Steelers fans will arrive today and they will support their team!
    At 16:00 there will be a fantastic event for the fans, a competition between te Steelers and the Bulls fans. It will be in the smaller rink bersides the arena.

    Steelers are the number one in GBR, so there is no reason to underrate them, rbs captain mentioned in the media briefing, that they have learned their lessons from the last year, when they lost vs rather unknown opponents from Denmark and Norway (in the last 32 round).

    9 new players are in the entire roster of RBS, some are well known, like the former players Thomas Raffl and Michael Schiechl (he will miss the game cause of an upper body injury) or the Austrian No1 goalkeeper Bernhard Starkbaum, some will be known from the DEL.

    Let the ICE burn!!! We are looking for a exciting hockey match tonight!
     
    Warm-up in the Salzburg Eisarena, RBS in the blue-red jerseys, Steelers in white-orange ones. Between 2-300 friendly hockey fans will support their Steelers team.
     
    Starting lineups:

    Red Bull Salzburg: Starkbaum (Gracnar) – Raymond, Trattnig, Flood, Viveiros, Kutlak, Pallestrang, Roy – Raffl, Hughes, Duncan, Herburger, Olson, Thomas,Welser, Latusa, Hochkofler, Kristler, Cijan, Baltram.

    Sheffield Steelers: Mustukovs (Day) – Philips, Ratchuk, Bjorklund, O´Connor, Franzon, Fitzgerald, Sarch – Roy, Fretter, Armstrong, Valdix, Dowd, Nelson., Schultz, Mosienko, Desbiens, Kirk, Nilsson, Ferrara, Phillips.

    Referees: Piechaczek (GER), Trilar – Rakovic (Both SLO), Pardatscher (ITA).
     
    Nice, loud crowd on the B-side, there are the Steelers fans supporting their favourite team.
    Salzburg fans celebrate their comebacker Thomas Raff – he came this season back from North America – and the new headcoach Greg Poss.
     
    Champions Hockey League anthem was played in the boxes, here we go!!
     
    00:01
    Game started.
     
    00:28
    First shot by Johnny Hughes, easy save by Steelers goalkeeper.
     
    01:33
    Steelers first shot on Starkbaum was no problem for him. Both teams a bit carefully in the defense.
     
    03:14
    Big chance for RBS. Kristler shot directly on the upper body of Mustukovs!
     
    04:12
    Breakaway by Steelers, but Starkbaum could save the puck.
     
    05:07
    Nice check by steelers defender Bjorklund.
     
    05:34
    Again Kristlker alone in front of Mustukovs, but this time he couldnt control the puck!
     
    05:53
    Penalty for Sheffield Steelers (Schultz – 2 min., roughing).
     
    06:15
    RBS Powerplay, first shots not very dangerous.
     
    07:52
    Visiting team at full strength.
     
    08:26
    Steelers played a descent defense in the short handed situation, so there were no really thrilling chances for the rbS forwards.
     
    08:33
    Penalty for Red Bull Salzburg (Latusa – 2 min., boarding).
     
    09:18
    Now steelers powerplay, but they cant hold the puck in the offense zone.
     
    10:24
    Home team at full strength.
     
    10:54
    Although there were one powerplay on each side, in this time there were less chances than before, good defending systems.
     
    11:52
    Maybe now the biggest chance in the match: Raffl has been two metres in front of the goal, but he couldnt find the hole.
     
    13:53
    Penalty for Sheffield Steelers (Fitzgerald – 2 min., roughing).
     
    15:03
    Deflected shot by Raymond over thre goal!
     
    15:36
    Goal for Salzburg!
    BILL THOMAS shot the lead in the powerplay after an nice assist by Brett Olson!
    15:36 William THOMAS - 1:0
     
    17:13
    After a tricky play by Raffl, Hughes missed the net only about a few centimetres!
     
    19:00
    Last minute in the first period!
     
    19:23
    Starkbaum with a glove save.
     
    20:00
    1st period finished.
     
    Seven seconds before the siren, Raymond with another big chance after a breakaway!
    In the first period RBS was the better team, but Steelers with a strong defense, so there werent that much big chances on both sides.
     
    Shots on goal after 1st:
    RBS: 9 – SHE: 5
     
    Scorer Bill Thomas is one of the new players at RBS, he came from swedish club MODO Hockey.
     
    20:01
    Start of 2nd period.
     
    21:15
    Penalty for Sheffield Steelers (Nelson – 2 min., tripping).
     
    22:14
    Goal for Salzburg!
    Salzburg scored in the power play by a MANUEL LATUSA. Nice play by Kutlak who made a perfect pass instead of the predicted slapshot from the blue line! Assisted by: Zdenek Kutlak, Raphael Herburger.
     
    23:14
    Goal for Salzburg!
    The next shot, the next goal! Second time goal by BILL THOMAS after assits by Brett Olson and Raphale Herburger!
     
    24:57
    Penalty for Red Bull Salzburg (Hochkofler – 2 min., holding).
     
    Now powerplay Steelers, they have to make more pressure now!
     
    26:07
    Goal for Sheffield!
    CHRISTOFFER BJÖRKLUND scored first goal for Sheffield and we have a thrillin hockey match again! Assisted by: Guillaume Desbiens, Jesse Schultz.
    26:07 Christoffer BJÖRKLUND - 3:1
     
    27:54
    After these crazy minutes now match is a bit cooled down, offsides on both sides.
     
    32:11
    Deflected shot by Hochkofler from RBS!
     
    35:16
    Big stick shaft save by Starkbaum after shot from Desbiens!
     
    37:58
    Goal for Salzburg!
    After much pressure time THOMAS RAFFL is back again and scores as ever, he made the 4:1 lead after assists by Ryan Duncan and Mathieu Roy!
     
    39:00
    Last minute in this fascinating second period.
     
    40:00
    2nd period finished.
     
    Salzburg has the 4-1 lead, but Steelers showed that they play good physical hockey, so match is still goin on.
     
    40:01
    Start of 3rd period.
     
    41:33
    Goal for Salzburg!
    3rd goal for BILL THOMAS and it is a hattrick! Assisted by Robert Raymond and Brett Olson!
    41:33 William THOMAS - 5:1
     
    44:14
    Penalty for Sheffield Steelers (O´Connor – 2 min., roughing).
     
    Powerplay Salzburg! Big chances in a row for Latusa, Pallestrang and Welser!
     
    46:14
    Visiting team at full strength.
     
    46:31
    Penalty for Sheffield Steelers (Fitzgerald – 2 min., tripping).
     
    Again powerplay RBS after the powerbreak!
     
    48:31
    Visiting team at full strength.
     
    50:00
    Ten minutes to go, Steelers are only rare times in this period in the front of rbs goalkeeper Starkbaum.
     
    51:04
    Goal for Salzburg!
    And BILL THOMAS again with his 4th goal in a delayed penalty situations. Assisted by Robert Raymond.
     
    52:58
    Penalty for Sheffield Steelers (Phillips – 2 min., roughing).
     
    53:55
    With the 5 goal lead RBS make a few awesome fancy trickplays – nice for the gallery!
     
    54:35
    Goal for Salzburg!
    JOHNNY HUGHES scores for the 7:1 in the powerplay! Assisted by Thomas Raffl!
     
    Salzburg crowd for standing ovations!
     
    55:22
    Penalty for Red Bull Salzburg (Ratchuk – 2 min. + 2 min., slashing).
     
    4 minutes powerplay for RBS, will there be the number 8?
     
    Independent of the result Steelers supporters are celebrating their team really fantastic!
     
    Last two minutes!
     
    Visiting team at full strength.
     
    59:39
    Goal for Salzburg!
    What a onetimer from the blueline! ALEXANDER PALLESTRANG scores for the 8:1 result assisted by Peter Hochkofler!
     
    Game over.
     
    Awesome performance in their first competition match by Red Bull Salzburg – 8:1 versus the Sheffield Steelers!
    Man of the match, for sure the 4 goal scorer Bill THOMAS!
    Fantastic 1st match in front of the home fans for Thomas and the whole team!

    Now we have two weeks off, next match in Salzburg in the CHL against the HV71 Jönkoping at september 7th!

    Good Night!
     
    Cheers to the Steelers fans, you were fantastic!!! (21:48:40)
    Recommend
    Commentary by

    Daniel Autengruber

    Goals & lineups Match log
    Goals and assists: 16. Thomas (Olson), 23. Latusa (Kutlak, Herburger), 24. Thomas (Herburger, Olson), 38. Raffl (Duncan, Roy), 42. Thomas (Raymond, Olson), 52. th (Raymond), 55. Hughes (Raffl), 60. Pallestrang (Hochkofler) – 27. Björklund (Desbiens, Schultz)

    Red Bull Salzburg: Starkbaum (Gracnar) – Raymond, Trattnig, Flood, Viveiros, Kutlak, Pallestrang, Roy – Raffl, Hughes, Duncan, Herburger, Olson, Thomas,Welser, Latusa, Hochkofler, Kristler, Cijan, Baltram
    Sheffield Steelers: Mustukovs (Day) – Philips, Ratchuk, Bjorklund, O´Connor, Franzon, Fitzgerald, Sarch – Roy, Fretter, Armstrong, Valdix, Dowd, Nelson., Schultz, Mosienko, Desbiens, Kirk, Nilsson, Ferrara, Phillips
    Referees: Piechaczek (GER), Trilar – Rakovic (Both SLO), Pardatscher (ITA)