Thurgau vs TWK Innsbruck

A scoreless first period saw five combined penalty minutes but no goals. Thurgau goalkeeper Santo Simmchen and Innsbruck's Samuel Harvey traded saves through a tight opening frame.

Thurgau broke the deadlock early in the second period. Kevin Haas opened the scoring on the power play at 21:04, converting after setup from Zachary Okabe and Daniel Ljunggren. It was the Swiss side's first power-play goal of the pre-season.

Okabe doubled the lead at 38:24, finishing at even strength with Haas and Ljunggren again providing the assists. Thurgau carried a 2-0 lead into the second intermission, outshooting Innsbruck through 40 minutes.

Innsbruck struck back early in the third. With Mischa Geisser in the box for Thurgau (slashing, 45:01), Steven Owre pulled one back on the power play at 45:48, assisted by Joel Messner — the same player who scored the winner in the first meeting.

Just 18 seconds later, while still on the penalty kill after a Brett Davis slashing call, Niklas Bretschneider rifled home a shorthanded goal at 48:06 to level the score at 2-2. The sequence flipped the match entirely: Thurgau had controlled the game for 38 minutes, and the lead evaporated in 138 seconds.

Neither side could break the deadlock in regulation. Davis, who had taken the penalty that led to Bretschneider's equaliser, made amends in overtime. The forward scored the game-winner at 64:07 on a feed from Nikita Scherbak, securing the sweep for the Haie.

Innsbruck's back-to-back goals in 138 seconds of the third period. Thurgau had not conceded in the first 45 minutes, but a power-play goal from Owre and a shorthanded strike from Bretschneider — scored while Davis sat in the box — erased the two-goal deficit and swung momentum decisively. Thurgau managed only three shots in the third period after registering 13 in the second.

• Brett Davis (TWK Innsbruck) — Player of the Match: Took the slashing penalty that led to the equaliser but redeemed himself with the overtime game-winner at 64:07. His goal completed the comeback and sealed the series sweep.

• Niklas Bretschneider (TWK Innsbruck): Scored the critical shorthanded equaliser at 48:06, turning the game on its head just 18 seconds after Owre's power-play goal.

• Kevin Haas (Thurgau): Opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 21:04 and assisted on Okabe's second-period marker. Haas was involved in both Thurgau goals.

• Zachary Okabe (Thurgau): Scored one goal (38:24) and assisted on Haas's opener. The Canadian forward was a consistent threat in the offensive zone through two periods.

Thurgau controlled the middle period, scoring twice on 13 shots while shutting Innsbruck out. But the flow reversed entirely in the third: Innsbruck scored twice in 138 seconds on just six shots, flipping a 2-0 deficit into a 2-2 tie. Power-play efficiency was even — both teams scored once with the man advantage — but the shorthanded goal from Bretschneider was the statistical outlier that decided the game. Each side spent 7:45 (Thurgau) and 6:47 (Innsbruck) on the power play, and both penalty kills operated at 75%, a reflection of the special-teams parity.

Innsbruck head into their pre-season schedule with two straight wins over Thurgau, building confidence ahead of the win2day ICE Hockey League season 2026/27. The Haie next face EV Regensburg on 4 September before a road test at Ravensburg Towerstars on 6 September.

For Thurgau, the result is a second narrow loss to higher-division opposition. The Swiss League side showed they can compete through 40 minutes but were punished for lapses in discipline and game management. Their next pre-season fixture has not been confirmed at the time of writing.

A pre-season tale of two games within one match. Thurgau were the better side for two periods, moving the puck efficiently and executing on the power play. But Innsbruck's composure in the third — scoring on the power play and shorthanded within two minutes — showed the quality gap that the ICE Hockey League represents. Davis's overtime winner was a fitting cap to a comeback built on resilience rather than dominance.