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 tablesTop six placed teams advanced to the Placement Round Last five placed teams advanced to the Qualifying Round
Team 1Black Wings Linz 40 29 11 4 147 104 62 2KHL Medveščak Zagreb 40 24 16 6 135 99 54 3Red Bull Salzburg 40 24 16 3 144 129 51 4EC KAC 40 22 18 4 124 114 48 5Olimpija Ljubljana 40 21 19 3 122 119 45 6SAPA Fehérvár AV 19 40 20 20 4 132 122 44 7Villacher SV 40 21 19 0 112 101 42 8Vienna Capitals 40 17 23 6 120 136 40 9Graz 99ers 40 19 21 1 112 123 39 10Orli Znojmo 40 14 26 6 100 137 34 11Jesenice 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.
Team 1Black Wings Linz 10 6 4 0 32 29 2KHL Medveščak Zagreb 10 5 5 1 31 29 3SAPA Fehérvár AV 19 10 7 3 0 37 26 14 4Red Bull Salzburg 10 4 6 1 32 42 5EC KAC 10 4 6 0 26 28 6Olimpija 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 tablesTop two placed teams advanced to Playoffs
Team 1Orli Znojmo 8 5 3 1 28 22 11 2Vienna Capitals 8 4 4 1 30 20 3Villacher SV 8 4 4 0 16 18 4Graz 99ers 8 4 4 1 18 18 5Jesenice 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.
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