Bolzano wins preseason opener | Salzburg defeats Berlin

Augsburg Panthers - HK SŽ Olimpija Ljubljana 5:2 (0:1, 2:0, 3:1)
At the Brauhaus Cup in Landshut, Ljubljana fought a semi-final duel with the DEL team from Augsburg. Rok Kapel gave the Slovenians the lead after only 84 seconds with a powerplay marker, and the score was 1:0 at the first intermission. In a sometimes heated middle period, Augsburg turned the game around within three minutes, and in the final period the Germans even pulled ahead to 5:1. In the 57th minute, Ziga Pance scored another goal for the ICE representatives, who will face Ravensburg on Sunday.

HC Merano - HCB Südtirol Alperia 2:6 (1:1, 1:1, 0:4)
HCB Südtirol Alperia opened their preseason at the Hansjörg Brunner Memorial against host Meran. At the beginning, the Bolzano team still had the hard training of the last ten days in their legs, but still took the lead through Hannes Kasslatter (3rd). However, the team from the Alps Hockey League promptly equalised and early in the middle period they even turned the game in their favour. It took until the 36th minute when Brad Mc Clure made it 2:2. In the final period, the ICE team made things clear. Within five minutes Ryan Culkin (2) and Mike Halmo made it 5:2, Enrico Miglioranzi scored an empty netter for a 6:2 result. The Bolzano team will meet Kaufbeuren in the final on Sunday.

EHC Olten - EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV 4:2 (2:1, 2:1, 0:0)
In the second game of the preparation tournament in Wil, Switzerland, EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV had to admit defeat against EHC Olten with 2:4. Like the day before in the defeat against Rapperswil, the Carinthians conceded two goals in the first period, Dominik Grafenthin reduced the score to 1:2 in the eleventh minute. In the middle period, however, the Swiss increased the score to 4:1, a Sabolic goal at least brought Villacher back to within two goals. It was not enough to turn the game, a goalless third period sealed the defeat.

EC Red Bull Salzburg - Eisbären Berlin 1:0 OT (0:0, 0:0, 0:0)
In the duel of the two champions, EC Red Bull Salzburg met Eisbären Berlin in front of 1,600 spectators in the Salzburg Eisarena. After the championship banner of the win2day ICE Hockey League 2021/22 was ceremoniously raised under the roof of the arena, a lively game developed in which the hosts initially had the better chances. But Salzburg goalie Atte Tolvanen was also able to distinguish himself a few times. This was also the case in the second and third periods. Again and again one team took the initiative for a short time, but neither side could score. In the last two minutes, the air was really burning in front of the Berlin goal, the visitors had a bit of luck now, but after 60 minutes the score remained 0:0. In overtime, however, it was Mario Huber who scored after a 2 on 1 attack and thus sealed the narrow home victory.