Asiago fixes quarterfinal qualification

Asiago needed a point in the Veneto derby at Cortina to secure an early quarterfinal spot. After a goalless first period, Giordano Finoro gave the visitors the lead in the 24th minute. In the final period, the Italian champions dominated the action, but Cortina scored the only goal: Riccardo Lacedelli tied it in the 47th minute at one. That was the score going into overtime, in which Anthony Salinitri ensured the decision in favour of Asiago. The red and yellow team thus won their seventh game in the Masterround and their tenth success in a row against Cortina. Head coach Ivo Machacka's team slipped down to fifth place in the standings.



EHC Lustenau, on the other hand, climbed to fourth place with a 5:3 home win over Fassa. Although the efficient Italians took a 2:0 lead in the first period, the Vorarlbergers managed to equalise in the middle period. After the visitors regained the lead through Daniel Tedesco, who was involved in all three Fassa goals, the EHC really got going. Within three minutes, goals by Koczera and Hrdina turned the game in favour of the home side. In the 13th AHL duel, Lustenau celebrated the eleventh victory over the Falcons, who now have to go to the pre-playoffs.

For the Rittner Buam, the return game against Jesenice ended with a 2:7 defeat. The Heiskanen team, which even took the lead, kept up with the Slovenian club for 53 minutes. Then Sotlar scored after a great Svetina assist. Now the resistance of Ritten was broken, Jesenice scored three more goals in the final phase with Sotlar, Brus and Elo.

Salzburg and Gardena in the pre-playoffs
In Qualification Round A, the Red Bull Hockey Juniors qualified for the pre-playoffs with a strong 3:1 win over the Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan. Although the game took place almost exclusively in the defensive zone of the visitors from Sterzing in the first period, the hosts could not score any goals. In the middle period it was the 20-year-old Slovakian Lipiansky who netted the overdue 1:0 lead. Finally, the Red Bulls added a second in the 58th minute by Bader, before Niklas Salo made the game exciting again 81 seconds later with the 1:2. But the visitors did not get the chance to equalise as Rasmus Lahnaviik made the final score 51 seconds before the end. The Broncos are still in third place, but only three points ahead of the EC-KAC Future Team. The Carinthians won clearly against Kitzbühel with 6:0. After a goalless first period, the KAC scored four goals in the middle period. This was the preliminary decision. In the 56th minute Nal Brodnik scored his second goal of the game for the final result. It was only the fourth win in the 16th duel with Kitzbühel for Klagenfurt. The Tyroleans now have no chance of making the pre-playoffs.

In Qualification Round B, Val Gardena secured first place with a 3:1 victory over Feldkirch and thus secured their pre-playoff ticket early. Although the South Tyroleans clearly set the tone in the first two periods, VEU forward Lukas Kaider scored the first goal in the 27th minute. Eleven seconds before the end of the second, David Galassiti equalised on power play. After Samuel Moroder gave the home side the lead for the first time in the 50th minute, Maks Selan decided the game with another power play goal. Feldkirch remains in second place in the table as Zell am See beat Steel Wings Linz in the chasing duel. The hosts, started with high intensity and also fought their way into the lead through Christian Jennes in the first period. After the Upper Austrians had equalised in the meantime, Daniel Ban restored the lead in the 34th minute. Captain Hubert Berger, on his comeback, was responsible for the decision. The 26-year-old finished a nice play with a man advantage for the final 3:1 score. As a result, the Salzburgers pushed the visitors from Linz out of third place in the standings.

Alps Hockey League | 24.02.2022:
Master Round:
EHC Lustenau – SHC Fassa Falcons 5:3 (0:2,1:0,4:1)
Referees: HOLZER, LAZZERI, Pace, Spiegel.
Goals: 0:1 FAS Mcparland S. (05:05 / Tedesco D. ,Felicetti L. / EQ), 0:2 FAS Lindgren E. (19:14 / Mcparland S. ,Tedesco D. / EQ), 1:2 EHC Giftopoulos R. (34:19 / Wallenta E. ,D'Alvise C. / PP), 2:2 EHC Wallenta E. (43:10 / unassisted / EQ), 2:3 FAS Tedesco D. (49:55 / Lindgren E. ,Deluca A. / EQ), 3:3 EHC Koczera P. (50:17 / D'Alvise C. ,Wilfan M. / EQ), 4:3 EHC Hrdina S. (53:34 / Haberl L. ,Moosbrugger L. / EQ), 5:3 EHC Haberl L. (57:18 / Wüstner R. ,Moosbrugger L. / EQ)

Rittner Buam – HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice 2:7 (1:1,0:2,1:4)
Referees: GIACOMOZZI, REZEK, Bergant, Fleiscgmann.
Goals: 1:0 RIT Sharp M. (03:09 / Lutz A. ,Kostner S. / PP), 1:1 JES Elo E. (05:28 / Logar M. ,Viikila J. / EQ), 1:2 JES Brus N. (24:21 / Planko D. ,Sotlar J. / PP), 1:3 JES Pance E. (34:47 / Viikila J. ,Logar M. / EQ), 2:3 RIT Öhler M. (46:20 / Osburn Z. ,Quinz S. / EQ), 2:4 JES Sotlar J. (52:51 / Svetina E. ,Ulamec L. / EQ), 2:5 JES Sotlar J. (54:22 / Planko D. ,Stojan N. / EQ), 2:6 JES Brus N. (56:35 / Scap L. ,Svetina E. / EQ), 2:7 JES Elo E. (57:19 / Viikila J. ,Pance E. / EQ)

Cortina Hafro Hockey – Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 1:2 OT (0:0,0:1,1:0,0:1)
Referees: BAJT, PAHOR, Bedana, De Zordo.
Goals: 0:1 ASH Finoro G. (23:56 / Vankus M. ,Stevan M. / EQ), 1:1 SGC Lacedelli R. (46:57 / Adami F. ,De zanna R. / EQ), 1:2 ASH Salinitri A. (63:44 / Iacobellis S. ,Magnabosco J. / EQ)

Qualification Round A:
EC-KAC Future Team – EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel 6:0 (0:0,4:0,2:0)
Referees: KUMMER, WIDMANN, Arlic, Snoj.
Goals: 1:0 KFT van Ee F. (26:59 / Hochegger F. ,Hammerle V. / EQ), 2:0 KFT Brodnik N. (35:00 / Theirich M. ,Lindner L. / EQ), 3:0 KFT Kramer N. (35:27 / unassisted / EQ), 4:0 KFT Theirich M. (37:54 / unassisted / EQ), 5:0 KFT van Ee F. (52:03 / Witting M. ,Witting S. / PP), 6:0 KFT Brodnik N. (55:08 / Theirich M. ,Malle M. / EQ)

Red Bull Hockey Juniors – Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 3:1 (0:0,1:0,2:1)
Referees: RUETZ, SCHAUER, Legat, Voican.
Goals: 1:0 RBJ Lipiansky L. (28:04 / Mastic M. ,Borzecki J. / EQ), 2:0 RBJ Bader Q. (57:20 / Purdeller T. ,Eham J. / EQ), 2:1 WSV Salo N. (58:41 / Messner M. / EQ), 3:1 RBJ Lahnaviik R. (59:09 / Heigl N. ,Heigl T. / EQ)

Qualification Round B:
EK Die Zeller Eisbären – Steel Wings Linz 3:1 (1:0,1:1,1:0)
Referees: BRUNNER, WALLNER, Kainberger, Matthey.
Goals: 1:0 EKZ Jennes C. (13:04 / Neubauer H. ,Rajala J. / EQ), 1:1 SWL Farren K. (30:00 / Kragl G. ,Stuart B. / EQ), 2:1 EKZ Ban D. (33:02 / Widen F. ,Schernthaner J. / EQ), 3:1 EKZ Berger H. (43:12 / Putnik P. ,Rappold K. / PP)

HC Gherdeina valgardena.it – BEMER VEU Feldkirch 3:1 (0:0,1:1,2:0)
Referees: HUBER A., SORAPERRA, Brondi, Huber J.
Goals: 0:1 VEU Kaider L. (26:54 / Bolterle P. ,Reinbacher T. / EQ), 1:1 GHE Galassiti D. (39:49 / Glück D. ,Korhonen V. / PP), 2:1 GHE Moroder S. (49:31 / Brugnoli J. ,Linder T. / EQ), 3:1 GHE Selan M. (57:18 / MC GOWAN B. ,Kasslatter H. / PP)

Photo: Vito de Romeo