Victory against the KAC

Thomas Raffl: Championship title a “mental feat”

Thomas Raffl(Bild: GEPA pictures)

For Thomas Raffl, winning the ice hockey championship title was also a "mental feat of strength". The EC Red Bull Salzburg captain recalled the bitter 4-1 defeat at home to the KAC on Tuesday, which made a seventh game necessary. In this game, Salzburg shone on Friday evening in Klagenfurt with a 6:2 (2:0,2:0,2:2) victory and secured their third title in a row. 

"It was such a close series. Going the full distance in the semi-final and now in the final too. That saps your strength and then you play against a team like Klagenfurt," said Raffl. "Respect to the KAC, who were the best team in the basic round and gave us an incredible final series at eye level."

Raffl was the player with the most experience of seventh games in a best-of-seven series on Friday. At 10:16 p.m., the most valuable player (MVP) in the play-off lifted the Karl Nedwed Trophy amid a concert of whistles directed at the visitors in the sold-out Heidi Horten Arena.

"It justfeels incredible"
 "There are so many emotions now, as we played with an incredible team performance after the last defeat in Salzburg today and deserved to win with a mental show of strength. It just feels incredible." It will be loud again at the champions' celebration on Saturday (today) from 1.30 pm in the Stiegl Brauwelt - but this time to the delight of the Salzburg team.