Villach

In the ICE Hockey League, EC VSV plays in Carinthia, a region where the club has its own distinct history. The Kärntner Derby against EC KAC from nearby Klagenfurt is a fixture where pride matters as much as standings.

The Eagles, as they're known locally, grew out of the ice hockey section of the wider Villacher Sportverein club, joining the Austrian federation on a provisional basis in 1924 before gaining full membership two years later. The club has been one of the reference points of Austrian hockey without ever needing a rebrand or a merger to get there — through years of sponsor-driven name changes, from Kirschbaumer to Heraklith to Panaceo, the identity underneath stayed the same.

No family sums up that continuity better than the Rafls. Peter Raffl spent 22 years at the club, and his sons Michael and Thomas grew up inside it before Michael went on to a career in the NHL, one of several Villach products, alongside Michael Grabner, who left Carinthia for North American ice and came back into the club's story as a reference point for what the youth system can produce.

Games are played at the Stadthalle Villach, a 4,500-seat arena that fills up fastest whenever KAC is the visitor. For a club with this much silverware in its past, the current task is a familiar one for a mid-sized hockey town: stay competitive in the league table and give the derby crowd a result worth the noise.