KAC begins season preparations with captain nearing return

Players from the KAC ice hockey team officially began preparations for the new season on Wednesday, ORF reported. Before their first league game, the team will play in the Champions Hockey League and hopes captain Thomas Hundertpfund can return soon.

Hundertpfund returned to the ice eight months after suffering a torn cruciate ligament. “I was very happy to be back on the ice with the whole team,” he said. He added that he currently felt no major shortcomings and hoped to resume full training and return to matches soon.

The captain aims to be back by the Champions Hockey League opener at the latest, in early September. Three of the team’s five new arrivals, William MacKinnon, Jacob Hudson and Mathias Göransson, took part in Wednesday’s training session.

“We had a really good first training session on the ice today. From tomorrow, we will also focus more on the playing system and tactics,” Göransson said. “We are on the right track. It is simply about being ready to work hard on ourselves every day.”

The KAC faces a tight schedule before its league opener in Salzburg on September 18, with preparatory matches and Champions Hockey League games ahead. Head coach Kirk Furey was nevertheless encouraged by the first session.

“For me, the pace was very good, the battles were very good, and I was very satisfied,” Furey said.

The team also set clear goals for the season. “No player comes to Klagenfurt if he does not say he wants to win. That remains the same every year,” defender Clemens Unterweger said. “Last year was of course very bitter in the quarter-finals. That does not change the fact that we came here this year to compete for the title.”