Guardians of Grail

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but offers NHL refugees opportunity to play
GRAZ, AUSTRIA-Locked-out NHLers Sam Gagner, Tyler Myers and Andrew Cogliano are meant to be playing before packed 20,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000-seat arenas, flying by chartered jets, swarmed by media and seen on nationwide highlight reels on the nightly basis.
Instead, these NHL refugees have migrated to the little-known Erste Bank Eishockey Liga to suit up for EC-KAC in Klagenfurt, Austria.
The 12-team Eishockey Liga, referred to as Austrian Hockey League in English, boasts eight teams in Austria,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], as well as clubs in Slovenia, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Recently, KAC travelled 200 kilometres south of Vienna for a game using the Moser Graz 99ers. The 99ers were without Buffalo Sabres sniper Thomas Vanek, who returned home for family reasons.
It was abundantly clear that this was not an NHL game. To begin with, as one example of how little notoriety NHL players receive in Austria, both Myers ("Mayers") and Gagner ("Gaggner") saw their names misspelled on the game-day program. Then there have been the two Graz players who have been instructed to stay for 5 minutes after warmup to slip around and collect all the pucks. And when that wasn't enough, amateur hockey players in full equipment consistently walked while watching crowd next to the ice surface to be able to pass through for an adjoining rink.
It's tough to say whether the Graz supporters were merely trying to keep warm after having to get up on concrete slabs or rotting wooden planks for the entire An hour or when they genuinely thought about their club. Regardless,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the atmosphere was raucous and relentless.
The arena now has wrinkles,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], small and slightly decrepit, the capacity crowd of 3,860 managed to get feel alive from the start. Almost all the spectators were seated somewhere of the ice surface, with no one behind the nets and also the other side reserved for 100 to 150 VIPs. Still,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the drumming, cheering, chanting and horns did not let in the entire game.
European hockey is known for its smaller players, bigger ice surface along with a style that emphasizes skill instead of physicality, yet 12 seconds in to the game a fight broke out behind KAC's net.
With the deafening crowd noise stoking their adrenalin,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], players from both squads went out of the way to finish checks or give an additional slash or cross-check after whistles. But more surprising than the concentration of the play was the officiating - the refs just let them play.
"Tonight was different,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," Gagner said following the game. "For the most part the league is highly skilled but tonight guys were running around trying to kill each other."
The reckless physicality finally claimed a victim midway with the third period - Buffalo's Myers. While chasing a puck behind his net, he crashed in to the end boards and twisted his left ankle. After being helped from the ice by two teammates, the six-foot-seven Myers was quick to shrug from the dangerous experience the ice.
"It's part of the game,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," he laughed. "I would rather it's more intense and physical; it prepares me that much more when ever I go back (towards the NHL)."
Cogliano added that even though physicality was "a little an excessive amount of tonight, everyone else was awesome. They're crazy here."
Graz came away with a 4-2 win inside a game that saw two fights,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], countless scrums and goblins crawling around the ice during intermission trying to scare the young fans.
Gagner scored a short-handed goal in the losing effort after Cogliano sprung him on a semi-breakaway late within the third,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
Two days later, Cogliano and Gagner headed 400 kms east for any date using the bottom-feeding Innsbruck Sharks. Myers, that has nine points in 16 games with KAC, stayed behind in Klagenfurt to rest his ankle.
Travel in the Eishockey Liga,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], as Cogliano attests, "is not NHL life. They travelled for just two ½ to 3 hours before stopping for supper. game. All told, Cogliano and Gagner travelled 18 hours in one day for just one game.
"It does indeed humble you," says Cogliano. "I know when I go back I won't be taking much for granted. I can tell myself playing even harder now (in the NHL) and ensure I'm fighting for my job every game because we now have it good back home. We all do things in the NHL that guys here wouldn't even imagine."
The overall game itself would be a mismatch akin to what can happen if the NFL team played against a CFL squad or when the Maple Leafs literally St. Mike's Majors,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
Innsbruck joined the very best league the very first time this season and so far the club has managed just four wins in 29 contests,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], surrendering typically more than five goals per game for the reason that stretch. With by far the cheapest operating budget within the league, the highest-paid Shark earns 40,000 euros ($51,000) a season. Conversely,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], KAC's top earner,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Austrian national team member Thomas Koch,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], makes roughly 280,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000 euros ($358,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000).
KAC jumped all around the overmatched Sharks, silencing the sparse crowd and dominating from beginning to end on the way to an 8-1 victory. Gagner collected an objective as well as an assist, while Cogliano picked up two helpers.
Gagner presently has with 18 points (10 goals) in 18 games, while Cogliano has collected six points,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], including two game-winning goals,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], in just seven contests.
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