Release from 10.02.2025

Alps Hockey League starts into the intermediate round

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In the Alps Hockey League, the top five teams after the regular season will play for the pick and home rights for the play-offs from Tuesday. While Zell am See will face Jesenice in the Master Round opener, Kitzbühel travels to Klobenstein. The race for the remaining quarter-final places will continue in the two qualifying groups.

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The Master Round kicks off with a clash between league leaders Zell am See and former champions Jesenice. The team from Pinzgau won the AHL regular season for the first time and heads into the second championship phase with a two-point lead over the Slovenians. Both teams are in good form: Zell am See won their last five league games, Jesenice decided four out of five in their favour. There have already been three head-to-head encounters this season, with the Polar Bears coming out on top twice. The hosts could be missing several regular players due to illness.

Ritten and Kitzbühel face each other in the second game of the Master Round. The South Tyroleans secured second place with a clear home victory over Celje. Kitzbühel won the Austrian AHL title at the weekend with a victory over Zell am See in the final. Head coach Marco Pewal's team also emerged victorious in the last four league games. Kitzbühel even won the first two season meetings with Ritten, with the last match-up a month ago going to the reigning champions.

Race for three remaining play-off places
The remaining eight teams (6 - 13 after the rgular season) are divided into two qualifying rounds and also receive bonus points based on their regular season ranking (3-2-1-0 each). After a round robin, the three best teams from the qualifying groups play in best-of-three series for the three remaining playoff spots (first against third and second against second).

In Qualification Round A, Sterzing goes into the race as the frontrunner. The Broncos have won their last six games and were only knocked out of the top five by Cortina on the last day of the regular season. Head coach Johan Sjöquist's team will kick off their campaign in Merano. The eagles have recently suffered five defeats in a row.

Val Gardena will host the Red Bull Hockey Juniors. The South Tyroleans finished the regular season in last place and need to make up one place in order to reach the pre-playoffs. Both teams won their last game, before that they each suffered five defeats in a row. Val Gardena won the first two duels of the season, with the Juniors coming away with an overtime victory in the last match-up.

Sisak have three bonus points at the start of Qualification Round B. The Croatians, who even topped the table for a while in their debut season, face Celje on Tuesday. The Slovenians have recently suffered five defeats in a row. Sisak have won the three head-to-head meetings so far.

Bregenzerwald and Unterland face each other in the second game of the group. While the team from Vorarlberg have only won one of their last six games, the Cavaliers have won five in a row. The South Tyroleans have also held the upper hand in all three season duels - each time with a one-goal difference.

Alps Hockey League
Tue, 11.02.2025
Master Round:
19:30: EK Die Zeller Eisbären - SIJ Acroni Jesenice
Referees: MEIXNER, WIDMANN, Telesklav, Wendner

20:00: Rittner Buam SkyAlps - Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel
Referees: BENVEGNU, SORAPERRA, Fecchio, Ilmer

Qualification Round A:
20:30: HC Meran/o Pircher - Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan
Referees: LEGA, STEFENELLI, Cusin, Formaioni

20:30: HC Gherdeina valgardena.it - Red Bull Hockey Juniors
Referees: HUBER, MOSCHEN, Rinker, Strimitzer

Qualification Round B:
19:30: EC Bregenzerwald - Hockey Unterland Cavaliers
Referees: HOLZER, SPIEGEL, Divis, Jäger

19:30: KHL Sisak - HK RST Pellet Celje
Referees: BAJT, METZINGER, Knez, Markizeti

>> All games will be shown on valcome.tv