Big surprise of Kitzbühel against Pustertal I Seventh win in a row for Jesenice

Kitzbühel surprises league leader Pustertal
The EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel managed a big surprise at league leader HC Pustertal Wölfe. The Tyroleans won with 3:2 after a shootout and celebrated their first victory after twelve defeats in a row. The last win for the "Eagles" was on December 3rd at the Steel Wings Linz. It was already the third game in a row between Pustertal and Kitzbühel that was decided either in overtime or shootout. The away team always prevailed with 3:2. For the league leader from South Tyrol, it was the first home defeat of the season in the twelfth home game. In the standings, the lead over the first pursuer, HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana, is three points. Kitzbühel ranks 14th in the standings. The match started as expected. In the 14th minute, Raphael Andergassen scored the lead in the power play for PUS. The narrow lead lasted until the start of the final period, before Adam Havlik equalized in minute 43. In the 55th minute, Robin Gartner even put the KEC in the lead. Davide Conci, however, scored the equalizer for PUS just 51 seconds later. In the remaining minutes, as well as the overtime no team scored the decisive goal. The decision had to be made in the shootout, where Adam Havlik converted the decisive penalty in favor of Kitzbühel. In the thirteenth AHL duel between the two teams, it was the fifth win for the "Eagles".

Red Bull Hockey Juniors with second away win in a row
After the surprisingly clear 5:2 away win last Thursday at the HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana, the Red Bull Hockey Juniors also celebrated a victory away from home at the SHC Fassa Falcons. The Juniors prevailed with 7:4. For the „Falcons“ it was the second defeat in a row. At the beginning, the game was balanced. Until the 34th minute of the game the score was 2:2, before the guests scored three goals within six minutes. Fassa was unable to get back into the game, even though Joseph Mizzi scored a brace in the final period. For the 22-year-old, it was the season goals twelve and thirteen. On the side of RBJ, which ranks fifth in the standings, 18-year-old Maksymilian Szuber, who was in the U-20 squad of the German national team at the World Championship in Canada in December, scored a brace. It was only the second win for the Red Bull Hockey Juniors in their eleventh clash with Fassa, who are eleventh in the standings.

7th victory in a row for Jesenice
HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice continued its high flight and celebrated the seventh victory in a row at the Rittner Buam. For Ritten the 2:3 home defeat was the first defeat after four wins in a row. Jesenice is still in third place in the standings. The gap to Pustertal is only seven points. In addition, the Slovenians have played five games less than the South Tyroleans. Ritten is in tenth place in the standings. After a goalless first period, the guests took a 1:0 lead in the 30th minute of play. Andrej Hebar scored his sixth goal of the season. Zan Jezovsek increased the lead to 2:0 nine minutes later. Three seconds before the end of the middle period, the "Buam" managed to score the equalizer in the power play. Strengthened by this goal, Ritten came out of the break and scored the equalizer in minute 53. But only 78 seconds later the guests managed to take the lead again, which they did not give away until the end. The 21-year-old Aljosa Crnovic scored the game-winning goal. It was the second goal of the season for the Slovenian.

Overtime victory of the Broncos against Bregenzerwald
The Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan celebrated a narrow 3:2 home win after overtime against the EC Bregenzerwald. While the Broncos, who are still thirteenth in the standings, won for the second time in a row, it was the second defeat in a row for the EC Bregenzerwald. In their home arena it is already the fourth win in a row. Bregenzerwald, on the other hand, has been waiting for a win away from hom for five games. In the standings the "Wälder" are on the ninth place. The guests had the better start, taking the lead as early as the third minute of the game. Richard Schlögl scored his fourth goal of the season. The narrow lead lasted until the 43rd minute of play before Ryan Valentini equalized for the WSV. Just one minute later, the visitors took the lead again. This time Tuukka Rajamäki scored. In the ninth game for the ECB it was the second goal for the Finn. Only 32 seconds after the lead Sterzing could equalize again. Tommy Kruselburger made it 2:2 and in the overtime it was Dante Hannoun who decided the game in favor of the Broncos. It was the seventh goal of the season for the 22-year-old Canadian. In the H2H, the Broncos increased to 7:2. The last victory of Bregenzerwald over Sterzing was already more than three years ago (20.12.2017).

Cortina passes Feldkirch in the standings
S.G. Cortina Hafro defeated the VEU Feldkirch with 6:4 and overtook the VEU in the standings. With 34 points SGC is now seventh in the standings. The VEU is one point behind in eighth place, with two games less played. While Cortina won again after two defeats in a row, it was the third defeat in a row for the Vorarlberg team. The visitors led with 2:1 after the first period, but Cortina scored twice in the middle period to take a 3:2 lead. In the final period Cortina scored three times, Feldkich scored twice. On the SGC side, Remy Giftopoulos scored a brace in the final period. It was already the season goals 17 and 18 for the Canadian. The win gave Cortina a 6:5 lead in the H2H.

Lustenau wins at the KA2
The EHC Lustenau won with 4:2 at the EC-KAC II and celebrated the fourth win from the last five games. For the KA2 it was the third defeat from the last five games. In the first period of the game, the guests already pulled ahead to 2:0. In the middle period, the home side could strike twice and equalize the game. Thus, the decision had to be made in the final period. Dominik Oberscheider and Dominic Haberl (EN) scored for the EHC in the final period to make it 11:1 in the H2H. In the standings, Lustenau is in sixth place with 38 points. KA2 is 15th in the standings with thirteen points.

Asiago fulfills duty at Steel Wings
Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey, fourth in the standings, managed the expected must-win at the Steel Wings Linz, bottom of the table. The Italians won with 4:1 and celebrated their fourth victory in a row. Nevertheless, the Linz team managed a respectable third period. They won the final period with 1:0. In the first two periods, however, only the guests scored. Marco Rosa scored a brace, Alex Frei and Steven McParland scored one goal each. On the Steel Wings' side, David Norris scored.

Alps Hockey League:
EC KAC II - EHC Lustenau 2:4 (0:2, 2:0, 0:2)
Referees: DURCHNER, LOICHT, Legat, Puff.
Goals KA2: 1:2 Hammerle V. (40. Hammerle S. – Würschl N.), 2:2 Witting S. (Pirmann M.)
Goals EHC: 0:1 Wilfan M. (10. D´Alvise C. – Grabher Meier M.), 0:2 Grabher Meier M. (16. Wilfan M. – Slivnik D.), 2:3 Oberscheider D. (50. D´Alvise C. – Demuth T.), 2:4 Haberl D. (60./EN Hrdina S.)

Steel Wings Linz - Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 1:4 (0:2, 0:2, 1:0)
Referees: HLAVATY, PODLESNIK, Schweighofer, Voican.
Goal SWL: 1:4 Norris D. (52.)
Goals ASH: 0:1 Rosa M. (4. Gellert A. – Marchetti S.), 0:2 Frei A. (12./PP1 Magnabosco J. – Rosa M.), 0:3 McParland S. (21. Magnabosco J. – Marchetti S.), 0:4 Rosa M. (31./SH1 McParland S. – Gellert A.)

Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan - EC Bregenzerwald 3:2 OT (0:1, 0:0, 2:1, 1:0)
Referees: BENVEGNU, MOSCHEN, Mantovani, Slaviero.
Goals WSV: 1:1 Valentini R. (43. Mantinger M. – Planatscher A.), 2:2 Kruselburger T. (44. Gander M. – Gschnitzer T.), 3:2 Hannoun D. (63./OT)
Goals ECB: 0:1 Schlögl R. (3. Rajamäki T. – Egger M.), 1:2 Rajamäki T. (44. Posch B.)

SHC Fassa Falcons - Red Bull Hockey Juniors 4:7 (1:1, 1:3, 2:3)
Referees: EGGER, PINIE; Piras, Ricco.
Goals FAS: 1:1 Iori D. (12./PP1 Hermansson M.), 2:2 Deluca A. (23. Rossi S.), 3:6 Mizzi J. (51./PP1 Tedesco D. – Hermansson M.), 4:6 (Mizzi J. (58./PP1 Hermansson M. – Iori D.)
Goals RBJ: 0:1 Szuber M. (9. Maier O. – Predan A.), 1:2 Wimmer P. (21. Rebernig M.), 2:3 Szuber M. (34. Maier O. – Predan A.), 2:4 Rebernig M. (37. Dube S. – Leonhardt D.), 2:5 Eham J. (41./PP1 Borzecki J.), 2:6 Dube S. (49./PP2 Alberg M.), 4:7 Predan A. (60./EN)

Rittner Buam - HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice 2:3 (0:0, 1:2, 1:1)
Referees: GIACOMOZZI, LEGA, De Zordo, Fleischmann.
Goals RIT: 1:2 Quinz S. (40./PP1 Tudin D. – Spinell M.), 2:2 Kostner S. (53. Lutz A. – Spinell M.)
Goals JES: 0:1 Hebar A. (30. Crnovic A. – Sturm J.), 0:2 Jezovsek Z. (39. Tomazevic B. – Sodja J.), 2:3 Crnovic A. (54. Rajsar P. – Svetina E.)

HC Pustertal Wölfe - EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel 2:3 SO (1:0, 0:0, 1:2, 0:0, 0:1)
Referees: LAZZERI, LOTTAROLI, Bedana, Da Pian.
Goals PUS: 1:0 Andergassen R. (14./PP1 Perlini B. – Althuber I.), 2:2 Conci D. (56. Hofer A. – Schweitzer V.)
Goals KEC: 1:1 Havlik A. (43./PP1 Wernerson L. – Wernerson P.), 1:2 Gartner R. (55. Wernerson L. – Wernerson P.), 2:3 Havlik A. (65./SO)

S.G. Cortina Hafro - VEU Feldkirch 6:4 (1:2, 2:0, 3:2)
Referees: STEFENELLI, VIRTA, Carrito, Cristeli.
Goals SGC: 1:0 Faloppa D. (8. Zanatta L.), 2:2 Moser A. (37. Cordiano M. – Zanatta M.), 3:2 Adami F. (38. Alvera T. – De Zanna R.), 4:2 Cazzola M. (48./PP1 Pietroniro P. – Zanatta L.), 5:3 Giftopoulos R. (58./SH1 Cazzola M. – Pietroniro C.), 6:4 Giftopoulos R. (60./EN Cazzola M. – Pietroniro C.)
Goals VEU: 1:1 Maritsch M. (12. Draschkowitz C. – Kohlmaier L.), 1:2 Puschnik K. (13. Stanley D. – Lundström L.), 4:3 Stanley D. (49. Puschnik K. – Lundström L.), 5:4 Mairitsch M. (59./PP1 Puschnik K. – Stanley D.)

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