Top for a month

Pioneers continue their hunt for the Vienna Capitals

The Pioneers have won eight of their last eleven games.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Until shortly before Christmas, the Pioneers Vorarlberg's record in this ICE Hockey League was not even modest. In the 29 games up to December 21, they only managed five wins. With 20 points, the team from Feldkirch were bottom of the table, twelve points behind the tenth-placed Vienna Capitals. A month later, the world looks completely different.

The Pioneers have won eight of their last eleven games, making them the third-best team in the entire league. With only 21 goals conceded, the defense of head coach Dylan Stanley's squad has become the showpiece - only the KAC has conceded so few goals in the same period.

And suddenly things are also working in attack. As a result, they were able to beat "fearful opponents" such as Black Wings Linz - against whom they had gone scoreless in the first two games of the season and conceded eight goals - for the first time and reduce the gap to the Capitals to four points ahead of the final eight games of the basic round.

First win of the season against Villach needed 
The next step towards the pre-playoffs should be taken today. A win at home against VSV (16) and a loss for the Caps in their clash with champions Salzburg would bring them to within one point of the Viennese side. Something that not even the greatest optimists would have thought possible just over a month ago...