Away wins at the start of the Pre-Playoffs

The HC Meran/o Pircher won its first postseason match in the Alps Hockey League with 6:3 at the EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel and thus has the first chance to secure its first quarter-final appearance on Thursday. In front of 1,019 fans, Kitzbühel quickly trailed 0:2. Kris Pietroniro scored in the sixth minute to make it 1:0 for the visitors, Brandon McNally increased the lead to 2:0 in the 14th minute in the power play. The home side got on the scoreboard for the first time in the 19th minute through Chris Seto. The Canadian scored again shortly after the restart. But Meran was unimpressed and pulled away to 4:2 in the second period. In the final period, the runner-up of Qualification Round B even increased the lead to 5:2 with a power-play goal. Although Henrik Hochfilzer was able to reduce the deficit to 3:5 with thirteen minutes to go, the South Tyroleans then played the game out skillfully and finally made it 6:3 with an empty-net goal one and a half minutes before the end of the game. Game two of the "best-of-3" series will take place on Thursday at 20:30 in Merano.

Narrow away win for Unterland
The away team also started the second pre-playoff series with a win. The Hockey Unterland Cavaliers narrowly won with 4:2 at HC Gherdeina valgardena.it. Aleksi Käyrä scored the 3:2 game-winner 19 seconds before the end of the second period. In the final period, the home side had chances to equalize in front of 943 fans, but Miro Markkula scored almost on the final buzzer to make it 4:2. Just under two minutes before the end, Joel Brugnoli (GHE) was sent to the penalty box for delaying the game, which is why the Qualification Round A winner had to play shorthanded instead of launching their final offensive. Although a HCU player was also sent to the penalty box a short time later, Val Gardena failed to equalize. The game actually started very well for Val Gardena. In the fifth minute, Hannes Kasslatter scored in the powerplay to make it 1:0, but the visitors promptly equalized just a minute and a half later. In the second period, Unterland took the lead before Val Gardena had a quick answer this time. Shortly before the end of the second period, however, the runner-up of Qualification Round B took the lead again and this time the "Furie" had no answer. As a result, the team from Neumarkt can secure their second quarter-final appearance in their second AHL season on Thursday at 20:00.

Alps Hockey League | 27.02.2024 | Pre-Playoffs 1:
EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel – HC Meran/o Pircher 3:6 (1:2, 1:2, 1:2)
Referees: BAJT, BULOVEC, Bergant, Jeram. | Spectators: 1019
Goals KEC: 1:2 Seto C. (19./PP1 Lehtonen W. – Egger L.), 2:2 Seto C. (22. Lehtonen W. – Fröwis J.), 3:5 Hochfilzer H. (47./PP1 Matzka M. – Fröwis J.)
Goals HCM: 0:1 Pietroniro K. (6. Brunner P. – Gellon D.), 0:2 McNally B. (14./PP1 Gellon D. – Garreffa J.), 2:3 Garreffa J. (28. Borgatello C.), 2:4 Brunner P. (30. Gellon D. – Tomasini P.), 2:5 Gellon D. (43./PP1 McNally B. – Ritchie N.), 3:6 Ansoldi L. (59./EN McNally B.)

HC Gherdeina valgardena.it – Hockey Unterland Cavaliers 2:4 (1:1, 1:2, 0:1)
Referees: PINIE, SCHAUER, Rinker, Seewald J. | Spectators: 943
Goals GHE: 1:0 Kasslatter H. (5./PP1 DeLuca A. – Luisetti M.), 2:2 Messner L. (26./PP1 Glück D. – Pitschieler S.)
Goals HCU: 1:1 Hällfors E. (6./PP1 Kaufmann M. – Käyrä A.), 1:2 Markkula M. (25. Hällfors E.), 2:3 Käyrä A. (40. Sullmann M. – Goldner L.), 2:4 Markkula M. (60./EN/SH1 Kaufmann M. – Brighenti D.)