Bregenzerwald, Sterzing and Salzburg with big wins in battle for playoff spots

The EC-KAC booked a good start and had a first big chance in the first minute. But the best opportunity in the starting minutes had Samuel Soramies for the Red Bulls, but he couldn’t beat the keeper. Other than Simon Hammerle who opened the scoring for the KAC after assist of Tommaso Topatigh. Only 80 seconds later the hosts doubled the lead Christian Jennes couldn’t convert a rebound, but Michael Kernberger pursued and succeeded with a pcuk towards the goal, which was deflected by a Red Bulls Player. In the 14th minutes Lucas Birnbaums opened the scoring for the guests. He scored a slap shot from the blue line. In the second period Salzburg had more chances, but didn’t find the equalizer. In the final period Salzburg created chance after chance and scored in their eighths powerplay of the games. Daniel Wachter found Nico Feldner who tied the game. Five minutes before the end of the game Florian Vorauer captured the led for Slzburg for the first time of the game. The KAC had one final big chance to the equalizer when playing with six players, but Goaly Nicolas Wieser proofed his reactions and saved the win for the guests.

 

The hosts started strong into the Slovenian Derby and put high pressure on Jesenice. In the elevenths minute Koren opened the scoring for Jlubljana in powerplay. In the second period Jesenice stroke back extremely strong. 27 times they shot onto the goal of Robert Kristan and it was only a question of time, till they scored the equalizer. It was Jaka Sodja in the 31st minute after an assist of Sturm. Jesenice was pushed by this goal and scored two more times in the second. First Alagic captured the lead then Magovac increased to 3:1 in double powerplay. But Jesenice didn’t stop in the third and Sodja  even incresead to 4:1. Chvatal narrowed the gap five minutes later to 2:4 but didn’t manage to bring his team back into the game. Magovac brought the early decision in the 55th minute and Brus scored for the final result of 6:2

Great shot of Rittner Buam who won with a clear 3: 0 the derby against Pustertal. With this victory, Ritten always leaded the AHL and also earned the first place in Group A of IHL ELITE. Thanks to the three points conquered, the Rittner Buam surpassed the Wolves in final ranking for IHL ELITE. In this way the combinations for the Final Four Scudetto of the IHL ELITE are decided: Ritten - Sterzing and Asiago - Val Pustertal. Andreas Alber, Max Ploner and Kevin Fink awere absent for the hosts while the Wolves were without Benno Obermair and Thomas Erlacher. The Ritten made the first goal of the game thanks to the skill of Alex Frei who also demonstrated a lot of technique in his personal action. The Pustertal, instead, clashed with the “wall” of Patrick Killen. During the second period, Armin Helfer hit a pole while the home team doubled thanks to a fast action ended with the goal under the crossbar of Ivan Tauferer. Shortly after the middle game the third goal of Buam arrived with a nice action of the fourth line and the goal of Alexander Eisath. During the third time the Val Pusteria tried to reopen the game but the defense of the Renon was very solid. The Rittne won for 3:0 thanks to a great penalty killing combined with a great determination. Patrick Killen earned the third consecutive shutout, the fifth of the season. Next weekend the Rittner Buam will be in Belarus for the Continental Cup Final. 

 

The hosts started strong and put a lot of pressure onto Lustenau. At the end pf the period Lustenau found their rhythm but didn’t manage to score as well. In the second period it was again Zell who took control and managed to take the lead in the 24th minute after a goal of Grabmayr. Moments later Jeff Ulmer tied the game. The hosts recaptured the lead in double powerplay: Patrick Gaffal converted a pass of Petr Vala. Tobi Dinhopel increased the lead to 3:1 for Zell. The hosts fought back into the game with two goals within 18 seconds of Winzig Stastny. In the final period Stastny scored for the first lead of Lustenau and Winzig even increased the lead. But the Eisbären didn’t give up even they were trailing by two goals. Vala narrowed the gap, before Andy Schwab scored the equalizer. Only 32 seconds before the end Zell got awarded a penalty shot. Gregor Koblar didn’t show his nerves and scored the game winning goal.

 

In the first period the hosts had the slightly better chances and opened the scoring. Daniel Ban took measure and scored for the 1:0. In the second period both team delivered a tough battle. It was again Daniel Ban who scored. In powerplay he doubled the lead. Christian Haidinger even increased to 3:0 for the hosts still in the second, it was the 100th goal of Bregenzerwald in this season. But Kitzbühel had the right answer: Eriksson narrowed the gap and Martin Gran even decreased to 3:2. In the final period it was an open game. But in crunch time Kitzbühel had to take a four minutes penalty. Bregenzerwald couldn’t score anymore but brought the lead over the time and celebrated the win. 

 

The goalkeeper of the Neumarkt was Samuel Donini while Phil Pietroniro (suspended) was absent for the visitors. The starting of the game was slow with the teams that produced few actions in the rispective attack zone. Then the teams could manage a powerplay each but none of the two teams took advantage of it. In the end, however, the Asiago could manage another powerplay: the Lions put a lot of pressure as they scored with Anthony Nigro who deposited the puck on the net after a pass behind the net just on the final whistle of the period. The second period was much more fought. Some occasions for two team and then also the crossbar of Nigro. The game then became nervous but the time was closed without goals. In the third fraction the game always remained very open for the result. The Neumarkt didn’t find the draw while Asiago scored the goal of safety with an empty net with Lorenzo Casetti less than two minutes from the end of the third time. Before the final whistle there was the third goal of the visitors with Giulio Scandella (again empty net). Asiago surpassed Wild Geese for 3:0 for the 11th consecutive victory.  Frederic Cloutier earned the 4th shutout of the season. 

 

The Broncos started to the attack as they put a lot of pressure on the opposing defense that fell after 13 minutes thanks to Ben Duffy's goal. Then the last minutes of the first period were in favor of the Gherdeina that went very close to the draw but the whistle saved the Broncos. During the second period the home team returned to play well but Linus Lundstrom scored the draw with a touch near the goal. But after three minutes the Broncos took again the lead with a nice action concluded by Felix Brunner. Then the home team advanced in the result with the goal of young Felix Tschimben at his first point of the season with a shot that rebounded from the boarding to the stick of the same player of the Broncos. In the third time the home team controlled the game as they scored two more goals with Ivan De Luca (in powerplay action) and Jure Sotlar. Sterzing won 5:1 as they confirmed the seventh place in the ranking of the AHL

 

Very fast start of the Fassa that played on equal terms with the opposing team. The Falcons were very determined but minute after minute the Cortina grew but did not found the tie. The first period ended without goals. In the second half the game was always fought. After three minutes the young Davide Schiavone scored the first goal of Fassa. Then the game was still poised with a very combative Fassa and a Cortina that still didn’t found the way to the goal for the saves of Gianni Scola. In the second half it was the doubling of the Falcons who scored in penalty killing the 2: 0 with Devin Di Diomete. The reaction of the Cortina there was but again the difference was a very generous Fassa and with a good Scola between the pipe. The Cortina returned to the goal after an abstinence of 10 periods (from 30 december) of play with the usual Riley Brace. The final of the game was a battle but the Falcons returned to victory (2:1) after 13 consecutive defeats. The Cortina slipped in ninth place, four points behind the 8th standings of the AHL after the fifth consecutive defeat.

 

Referees: BAJT, FICHTNER, Legat, Snoj

Goals RBJ: 1:0 Hammerle (7. Topatigh), 2:0 Kernberger (8. Jennes-

Goals RB2: 2:1 Birnbaum (14. Baltram, Wappis), 2:2 Feldner (44./pp. Wachter- Eder), 2:3 Eder (Wachter-Egger)

 

Referees: LEGA, MISCHIATTI, Arlic, Markizeti

Goals HKO: 1:0 Koren (12./pp1 Hebar-Selan), 2:4 Chvatal (49. Snoj- Cepon), 

Goals JES: 1:1 Sodja (31. Sturm- Planko), 1:2 Alagic (37. Logar-Planko), 1:3 Magovac (40./pp2 Tavzelj- Cimzar), 1:4 Sodja (44.), 2:5 Magovac (55./pp1 Cimzar- Basic), 2:6 Brus (68.)

 

Referees: PIANEZZE, SUPPER, Bedana, Oberhuber

Goals RIT: 1:0 Frei (14.); 2:0 I.Tauferer (23./S.Kostner-C.Borgatello); 3:0 A.Eisath (33./H.Tauferer-C.Vigl);

 

Referees: MOSCHEN, VIRTA, Bärnthaler, Gatol

Goals EHC: 1:1 Ulmer (31. Koczera-DeSantis), 2:3 Winzig (38./pp1 Tschernutter-Wilfan), 3:3 Stastny (38. Koczera- Slivnik), 4:3 Koczera (49./pp2 DeSantis- Ulmer), 5:3 Winzig (50. Hrdina- Wilfan)

Goals EKZ: 0:1 Grabmayr (24. Volgger-Wilfan), 1:2 Gaffal (34./pp2 Vala), 1:3 Dinhopel (35./pp1 Wilfan- Koblar), 5:4 Vala (52. Widen- Kolar), 5:5 Schwab (53. Widen- Vala), 5:6 Koblar (60./ps)

 

Referees: STRASSER, WIDMANN, Bedynek, Martin

Goals ECB: 1:0 Ban D. (5. Wolf), 2:0 Ban D. (24./pp1 Waldhauser), 3:0 Haidinger (35. Ban- Fussenegger), 

Goals KEC: 3:1 Eriksson (36. Gran-Hochfilzer), 3:2 Gran (Eriksson-Hochfilzer)

 

Referees: FAJDIGA, LESNIAK, M. Cristeli, Stefenelli

Goals ASH: 0:1 Nigro (19./PP1/Bardaro-Scandella); 0:2 Casetti (58./EN/Nigro); 0:3 Scandella (59./EN/Bardaro-Miglioranzi)

 

Referees: DURCHNER, LENDL, Rigoni, Wiest

Goals WSV: 1:0 Duffy (13./Brunner-Sotlar); 2:1 F. Brunner (Duffy-Sotlar); 3:1 Tschimben (36./Gschnizter-Clementi); 4:1 I. De Luca (45./PP1/Hackhofer-Duffy); 5:1 Sotlar (49./Duffy); 

Goal GHE: 1:1 Lundstrom (24./A.Vinatzer-Eastman); 

Referees: HOLZER, LAZZERI, F. Giacomozzi, Kalb

Goals FAS: 1:0 Schiavone (23./Klimiceck-Di Diomete); 2:0 Di Diomete (42./SH1/Rothstein); 

Goal COR; 2:1 Brace (52./Torquato – Caletti);