Milan secured a narrow victory over Vorarlberg in the League of Hockey on Tuesday evening. The visitors completed their two-game campaign with a 5-4 win at the home rink. It was a result that kept their perfect start intact.
To be fair, the standings tell a straightforward story at this early stage of the competition. Milan sit third after two victories, while Vorarlberg languish in thirteenth with two defeats. Both sides remain on zero points, which tells you nothing meaningful about the season ahead.
The visitors had looked comfortable coming into this fixture. They beat Black Wings Linz 4-0 and TVK Innsbruck 3-1 in their previous outings. Vorarlberg's recent record shows more mixed fortunes, including a heavy 5-6 defeat to TVK Innsbruck back in March and a 1-3 loss to Graz 99ers last week.
And here's the thing about a scoreline like this. Milan finally found the net in the right order after building momentum through their opening games. The away end never stopped, though the data doesn't capture that atmosphere. They came for a cross they never reached, as the saying goes in other sports, but here they simply outscored their opponents.
Vorarlberg will need to regroup quickly. They've now played two matches without a result, and the gap between them and the top of the table could widen. The draw brought them together early in the season, but this was a match where Milan proved they belong at this level. By then, the visitors had already made their statement.
