2011–12 Austrian Hockey League season
# 2011–12 Austrian Hockey League season

The 2011–12 Austrian Hockey League was a season of the Austrian Hockey League (known as Erste Bank Eishockey Liga - or EBEL league - for sponsorship reasons). The Black Wings Linz won their second Austrian championship after 2003 by defeating the EC KAC in the Playoff-Final four games to one.

## Teams

| Team | City/Area | Arena | Capacity | Founded | Joined EBEL |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Red Bull Salzburg | Salzburg | Eisarena Salzburg | 3,600 | 1977 | |
| Graz 99ers | Graz | Eisstadion Graz Liebenau | 4,050 | 1999 | |
| EC KAC | Klagenfurt | Stadthalle Klagenfurt | 5,500 | 1909 | |
| Black Wings Linz | Linz | Keine Sorgen Eisarena Linz | 3,800 | 1992 | |
| Vienna Capitals | Vienna | Albert Schultz Eishalle | 4,500 | 2000 | |
| Villacher SV | Villach | Villacher Stadthalle | 4,800 | 1923 | |
| Acroni Jesenice | Jesenice | Dvorana Podmežakla | 6,000 | 1948 | 2006/07 |
| Olimpija Ljubljana | Ljubljana | Dvorana Tivoli | 4,500 | 1929 | 2007/08 |
| SAPA Fehérvár AV 19 | Székesfehérvár | Ifjabb Ocskay Gábor Ice Hall | 3,600 | 1960 | 2007/08 |
| KHL Medveščak Zagreb | Zagreb | Dom Sportova / Arena Zagreb | 6,000 / 15,024 | 1961 | 2009/10 |
| Orli Znojmo | Znojmo | Hostan Arena | 5,500 | 1933 | 2011/12 |

## Regular season

### Regular season

After 40 regular season games, the league was divided into two mid-season groups, who played games amongst each other. The first six teams qualified into the playoffs, but played a further 10 games each in the Placement Round to decide the best rankings. Earlier points were annulled, except for the 1st team receiving +4, the 2nd +3, the 3rd + 2, and the 4th +1 extra initial point(s) for this phase.

The last 5 teams played 8 games each in the Qualifying Round to reach the remaining two playoff spots. Earlier points were annulled except for the 7th receiving + 3, the 8th + 2, and the 9th + 1 extra initial point(s) for this phase. In the playoff games the better placed team at the end of these mid-season groups will have the right to play at home first. In the quarterfinals the 1st ranked team will play against the 8th ranked team, 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th, 4th vs 5th - each in a best-of-seven series.

* Key to colours in group tables
* Top six placed teams advanced to the Placement Round
* Last five placed teams advanced to the Qualifying Round

| R | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Black Wings Linz | 40 | 29 | 11 | 4 | 147 | 104 | 62 |
| 2 | KHL Medveščak Zagreb | 40 | 24 | 16 | 6 | 135 | 99 | 54 |
| 3 | Red Bull Salzburg | 40 | 24 | 16 | 3 | 144 | 129 | 51 |
| 4 | EC KAC | 40 | 22 | 18 | 4 | 124 | 114 | 48 |
| 5 | Olimpija Ljubljana | 40 | 21 | 19 | 3 | 122 | 119 | 45 |
| 6 | SAPA Fehérvár AV 19 | 40 | 20 | 20 | 4 | 132 | 122 | 44 |
| 7 | Villacher SV | 40 | 21 | 19 | 0 | 112 | 101 | 42 |
| 8 | Vienna Capitals | 40 | 17 | 23 | 6 | 120 | 136 | 40 |
| 9 | Graz 99ers | 40 | 19 | 21 | 1 | 112 | 123 | 39 |
| 10 | Orli Znojmo | 40 | 14 | 26 | 6 | 100 | 137 | 34 |
| 11 | Jesenice | 40 | 9 | 31 | 7 | 82 | 146 | 25 |

### Placement Round

EHC Black Wings Linz started with +4, KHL Medveščak Zagreb with +3, EC Red Bull Salzburg with +2 and EC KAC with +1 points.

| R | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Black Wings Linz | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 29 | 16 |
| 2 | KHL Medveščak Zagreb | 10 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 31 | 29 | 14 |
| 3 | SAPA Fehérvár AV 19 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 37 | 26 | 14 |
| 4 | Red Bull Salzburg | 10 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 32 | 42 | 11 |
| 5 | EC KAC | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 26 | 28 | 9 |
| 6 | Olimpija Ljubljana | 10 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 35 | 39 | 9 |

### Qualifying round

Villacher SV started with +3, Vienna Capitals with + 2 and the Graz 99ers with +1 points.

* Key to colours in group tables
* Top two placed teams advanced to Playoffs

| R | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Orli Znojmo | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 22 | 11 |
| 2 | Vienna Capitals | 8 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 30 | 20 | 11 |
| 3 | Villacher SV | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 18 | 11 |
| 4 | Graz 99ers | 8 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 18 | 10 |
| 5 | Jesenice | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 33 | 6 |

## Playoffs

In the semifinals the four winners of the quarterfinals will play as follows: the best ranked club (in the regular season) of the four semifinalists will play against the worst ranked club, the second best ranked club against the second worst ranked club - each in a best-of-seven series. The two winners of the semifinals will play a best-of-seven series in the final round.

If a playoff game is undecided at the end of the regular time after a 17 minutes break a 20-minute "Sudden Victory Overtime" will be played. Should the game still be undecided after the first overtime period after another 17 minutes break a second 20-minute "Sudden Victory Overtime" will be played and so on until the deciding goal is scored. Each team may only use four skaters; however, at least three skaters must be used.

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | | | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Black Wings Linz | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Vienna Capitals | 3 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Vienna Capitals | 3 | | | 1 | Black Wings Linz | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | 6 | Olimpija Ljubljana | 1 | | | |
| 2 | KHL Medveščak | 4 | | | 6 | Olimpija Ljubljana | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Orli Znojmo | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Orli Znojmo | 0 | | | | | | 1 | Black Wings Linz | 4 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 1 | Black Wings Linz | 4 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 5 | EC KAC | 1 |
| 3 | SAPA Fehérvár AV 19 | 2 | | | | | | | | | 5 | EC KAC | 1 |
| 6 | Olimpija Ljubljana | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Olimpija Ljubljana | 4 | | | 2 | KHL Medveščak | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | 5 | EC KAC | 4 | | | |
| 4 | Red Bull Salzburg | 2 | | | 5 | EC KAC | 4 | | | |
| 5 | EC KAC | 4 | | | | | | | | |
