Bolzano also wins fourth Souty Tyrol derby of the season

The HCB Südtirol Alperia also prevailed over the HC Pustertal Wölfe in the fourth South Tyrol derby of the season. Overall, it was their fifth win in the eighth win2day ICE Hockey League duel. In a equal match, the Foxes took the lead in the eleventh minute through Domenico Alberga in the power play. Until three minutes before the end of the game, the score was 1:0 for the visitors, before they perfectly played out a counterattack in a shorthanded situation and made it 2:0 through Luca Frigo. Mitch Hults finally made everything clear with an empty-net goal. In the sold-out Intercable Arena, the fans of Pustertal had to accept the second home defeat in a row. In the standings, the Wolves remain in tenth place and thus in the pre-playoffs. League leader Bolzano is already four points ahead of the Tyroleans due to Innsbruck's defeat against Vienna. It was already the tenth victory of the Foxes from the past eleven games. In addition, Bolzano celebrated its second shutout in a row. Sam Harvey was in goal against Pustertal. The Canadian saved all 31 shots on his goal.

Finkelstein was man of the match in Capitals' win
Far away from a shutout were the goalkeepers of the HC TIWAG Innsbruck - Die Haie and spusu Vienna Capitals. In a high-scoring game, the visitors from Vienna narrowly prevailed 6:5 to celebrate their first win of the season over the Tyroleans. In the second game within 24 hours for the Capitals, they lost 2:3/SO at Asiago on Thursday, defenseman Ben Finkelstein was the man of the match. The US American, who has only been in Vienna since December 12th, 2022, scored a hat trick and also made one assist. In just thirteen games this season, the 25-year-old already has seven goals and ten assists. On the Innsbruck side, who are now four points behind leader Bolzano, Daniel Leavens scored twice. The Capitals are still sixth in the table and three points ahead of the seventh place.



KAC with shootout win
Seventh-placed EC-KAC lost an important point in the fight for direct playoff qualification at last-placed BEMER Pioneers Vorarlberg. Despite leading 2:1 and 3:2 in the meantime, the KAC only prevailed in the shootout. It was their first win in the third duel of the season with the league newcomer. In the shootout, Rihards Bukarts was the only player who score. It was a three-point game overall for Bukarts. While the Pioneers suffered their second loss in a row and remain ten points behind the pre-playoff spots in the standings, the KAC celebrated their first win after previously losing four straight.

VSV with fourth win in a row
The EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV was able to record its fourth win in a row. The fourth-placed team in the table thus already has a ten-point lead over the KAC. In the 3:2 win against the Moser Medical Graz99ers, a strong finish was particularly decisive. Twelve minutes before the end of regular playing time, Anthony Luciani scored to make it 2:1. The top goal scorer on the Eagles' side benefited from an eye-catching assist from Arturs Kulda. Chris Collins increased the lead to 3:1 two minutes before the end of the game with an empty-net goal, before Sam Antonitsch made the game exciting again in the last minute. In the end, however, VSV goalkeeper J.P. Lamoureux was not beaten again. For the 99ers it was the fourth defeat in a row. However, they are still in ninth place in the standings.



Fehérvár beat Olimpija
In the fifth game of the evening, Hydro Fehérvár AV19 beat the K SZ Olimpija with 5:2 and are now equal on points with seventh-placed KAC in the standings. The gap to the sixth place is still three points. Olimpija, which was leading 2:1 in the meantime, had to accept the fourth defeat in a row and is still twelfth in the table. The gap to the tenth place is already eight points. Man of the match was Timothy Campbell with two goals and a +/- statistic of +3.

WIN2DAY ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE | 20.01.2023:
EC IDM WÄRMEPUMPEN VSV – MOSER MEDICAL GRAZ99ERS 3:2 (1:1, 0:0, 2:1)
REFEREES: FICHTNER, GROZNIK, GATOL-SCHAFRANEK, HRIBAR. | Spectators: 2681
Goals VSV: 1:1 Rivett-Mattinen N. (7./PP2), 2:1 Luciani A. (49.), 3:1 Collins C. (59./EN)
Goals G99: 0:1 Ograjensek K. (5.), 3:2 Antonitsch S. (60.)

HC TIWAG INNSBRUCK – DIE HAIE – SPUSU VIENNA CAPITALS 5:6 (2:2, 2:4, 1:0)
REFEREES: TRILAR, ZRNIC, NOTHEGGER, WIMMLER. | Spectators: 2700
Goals HCI: 1:1 Helewka A. (9.), 2:2 Leavens D. (20./PP1), 3:2 Leavens D. (25.), 4:5 Lattner J. (33./PP1), 5:6 Feldner N. (50.)
Goals VIC: 0:1 Prokes R. (4.), 1:2 Finkelstein B. (12.), 3:3 Finkelstein B. (28./PP1), 3:4 Pilloni Y. (31.), 3:5 Sheppard J. (31.), 4:6 Finkelstein B. (38.)

HYDRO FEHÉRVÁR AV19 – HK SZ OLIMPIJA 5:2 (1:1, 2:1, 2:0)
REFEREES: HRONSKY, SIEGEL, KIS-KIRALY, MUZSIK. | Spectators: 2409
Goals AVS: 1:0 Campbell T. (2.), 2:2 Campbell T. (38.), 3:2 Leclerc G. (39.), 4:2 Nemeth K. (42.), 5:2 Erdely C. (53./PS)
Goals HKO: 1:1 Dodero C. (18.), 1:2 Vallerand M. (35.)

BEMER PIONEERS VORARLBERG – EC-KAC 3:4/SO (1:1, 1:2, 1:0)
REFEREES: HOLZER, NIKOLIC M., MARTIN, SPARER. | Spectators: 1509
Goals PIV: 1:0 Spannring P. (7./PP1), 2:2 Jacome J. (29.), 3:3 Jarusek R. (51./PP1)
Goals KAC: 1:1 Bukarts R. (8.), 1:2 Unterweger C. (26.), 2:3 Lessio L. (32.), 3:4 Bukarts R. (65./SO)

HC PUSTERTAL WÖLFE – HCB SÜDTIROL ALPERIA 0:3 (0:1, 0:0, 0:2)
REFEREES: OFNER, STERNAT, PARDATSCHER, SEEWALD E. | Spectators: 3104
Goals HCB: 0:1 Alberga D. (11./PP1), 0:2 Frigo L. (57./SH1), 0:3 Hults M. (59./EN)