Cortina new 4th in the table | First defeat for Asiago

No chance for Lustenau in Jesenice
The EHC Lustenau must continue to tremble for the direct playoff qualification. The team from Vorarlberg lost at HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice clearly with 2:5 and is only on fifth place in the table with 12 points. For Jesenice it was the second success in a row. In the table, last year's semifinalist is still in third place. Direct playoff qualification is not yet assured even for the Slovenians, who already led 4:0 against Lustenau after 25 minutes.

The last direct playoff spot is held by S.G. Cortina Hafro. The Italians celebrated a clear 6:1 away win at SHC Fassa Falcons and are one point ahead of Lustenau. For Cortina, where Mikael Johansson and Luca Barnabo scored twice, it was the third win from the past four games. Fassa is still waiting for its first win in the Master Round.

First defeat for Asiago
Migross Supermercati Asiago suffered its first defeat in the Master Round. Despite a 3:0 lead against the Rittner Buam, last year's finalist lost with 4:5 OT. The Buam quickly put the weak start behind them and were able to equalize the game within ten minutes in the second period. One minute before the end of the game Giordano Finoro put the hosts in the lead again. For the forward it was the second goal of the evening. But Ritten could answer again and thanks to MacGregor Sharp equalized again 21 seconds before the end of the game to prevail in the end after overtime. Because of the win, the Buam, who are in second place in the standings, came a big step closer to the playoffs.

Pre-Playoff ticket for Broncos
As the second team of Qualification Round A, the Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan solved the ticket for the pre-playoffs. The South Tyrolean team won clearly against the EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel with 5:2 and even moved up to second place in the table. For long stretches, the game at Sportpark Kitzbühel was very even. However, the home side never took the lead throughout the game, but were still within one goal of the Broncos in the 44th minute. As the bottom team in the standings, the Eagles no longer have a chance to make the pre-playoffs.
The EC Bregenzerwald, who lost at home against the Red Bull Hockey Juniors with 3:8, still has to fight for the pre-playoffs. They are third in the table and three points ahead of fourth-placed EC-KAC Future Team. The Young Bulls, on the other hand, will definitely finish Qualification Round A in first place. The ECB even got the better start in the game, leading 1:0 after ten minutes and going into the first break with the score of 1:1. But in the second period the guests pulled away to 5:2 to win 8:3 in the end.

Silver Caps surprise Feldkirch
The BEMER VEU Feldkirch suffered a setback in the fight for the pre-playoffs at the Vienna Capitals Silver. The team from Vorarlberg lost with 3:4 at the second last of the table of Qualification Round B and thus slipped out of the pre-playoff places. They are now two points behind third-placed Steel Wings Linz. The home side from the Austrian capital led 2:0 after just three minutes, but Feldkirch hit back and managed to turn the game around completely by the 31st minute. In the final period, however, it were again the Silver Caps who set the tone. Maximilian Kieweg finally scored the decisive goal in the power play three and a half minutes before the end of the game. While VCS won for the first time after three defeats in a row, Feldkirch lost for the second time in a row.

Steel Wings end dream of Meran/o
League newcomer HC Meran/o Pircher has no more chances for the pre-playoffs. The South Tyrolean team lost also in the fourth duel with the Steel Wings Linz (1:3) and are already six points behind the third place two matchdays before the end. For the Steel Wings, the win against Meran/o was enormously important. Since Feldkirch surprisingly lost at the Vienna Capitals Silver in the parallel game, the Steel Wings moved up to third place and would now be in the pre-playoffs. Man of the match was Stefan Gaffal, who scored twice.

Polar Bears defeat league leader
The EK Die Zeller Eisbären got an important victory in the fight for the pre-playoffs. The Polar Bears prevailed against the HC Gherdeina valgardena.it, leader of the Qualification Round B, with 5:2 and are as second in the table already three points ahead of the fourth place. In front of 1073 spectators, the home side was 2:0 in the lead after 36 minutes, before the guests from South Tyrol, who are already qualified for the Pre-Playoffs, scored for the first time. For Zell am See it was the third win in a row.

Alps Hockey League | 26.02.2022:
Master Round:
HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice - EHC Lustenau 5:2 (2:0, 2:0, 1:2)
Referees: LESNIAK, OREL, Bergant, Pötscher. | Spectators: 317
Goals JES: 1:0 Pance E. (4./PP1 Elo E. – Logar M.), 2:0 Sotlar J. (19./PP1 Svetina E. – Brus N.), 3:0 Sersen G. (23. Logar M. – Urukalo Z.), 4:0 Logar M. (25. Stojan N. – Pance E.), 5:1 Rajsar S. (58./PP1 Sotlar J. – Planko D.)
Goals EHC: 4:1 Puschnik K. (45. Giftopoulos R. – Krammer A.), 5:2 Slivnik D. (60. Haberl L. – D´Alvise C.)

Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey - Rittner Buam 4:5/OT (1:0, 2:3, 1:1)
Referees: LAZZERI, PINIE, Basso, Piras. | Spectators: 650
Goals ASH: 1:0 Miglioranzi E. (2. Salinitri A. – Magnabosco J.), 2:0 Finoro G. (23. Marchetti S. – Casetti L.), 3:0 Giliati S. (23. Tessari M. – Mantenuto D.), 4:3 Finoro G. (59. Ginnetti C. – Stevan M.)
Goals RIT: 3:1 Marzolini M. (30. Öhler M. – Öhler R.), 3:2 Fink K. (33. Prast J.), 3:3 Uusivirta L. (40. Kostner S. – Lutz A.), 4:4 Sharp M. (60. Uusivirta L. – Osburn Z.), 4:5 Sailio J. (62/OT Osburn Z. - Sharp M.)

SHC Fassa Falcons - S.G. Cortina Hafro 1:6 (0:1, 0:2, 1:3)
Referees: BENVEGNU, VIRTA, Mantovani, Rigoni. | Spectators: 325
Goal FAS: 1:6 Iori D. (55./PP1 McParland S. – Lindgren E.)
Goals SGC: 0:1 Adami F. (17. Zardini Lacedelli N. – Basaraba J.), 0:2 Johansson M. (38. Finucci C. – De Zanna R.), 0:3 Johansson M. (40. Lacedelli R. – Finucci C.), 0:4 Zardini Lacedelli N. (41. Finucci C. – Larcher E.), 0:5 Barnabo L. (42. De Zanna R. – Lacedelli G.), 0:6 Barnabo L. (46. Johansson M. – Colli A.)

Qualification Round A:
EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel - Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 2:5 (0:1, 1:2, 1:2)
Referees: HEINRICHER, WUNTSCHEK, Rinker, Tschrepitsch. | Spectators: 478
Goals KEC: 1:1 Jevdokimovs R. (30./PP1 Jabornik H. – Freidenfelds R.)
Goals WSV: 0:1 Cianfrone B. (19. Chiodo L. – Cristellon Y.), 1:2 Kofler T. (31. Salo N. – Gander M.), 1:3 Zecchetto A. (32./PP1 Cianfrone B. – Chiodo L.)

EC Bregenzerwald - Red Bull Hockey Juniors 3:8 (1:1, 1:4, 1:3)
Referees: LEGA, WALLNER, Bassani, Eisl. | Spectators: 700
Goals ECB: 1:0 Nyqvist J. (10./PP1 Lipsbergs R. – Lehtonen W.), 2:3 Ranftl F. (26./PP1 Schlögl R. – Lipsbergs R.), 3:7 Lipsbergs R. (47./PP1 Metzler J. – Pilgram G.)
Goals RBJ: 1:1 Purdeller T. (20./PP1 Lahnaviik R. – Bader Q.), 1:2 Lahnaviik R. (23. Heigl N. – Hörl L.), 1:3 Eham J. (26./SH1 Lahnaviik R.), 2:4 Eham J. (28. Bader Q. – Wimmer P.), 2:5 Lahnaviik R. (35. Heigl T. – Hengelmüller M.), 2:6 Eham J. (43. Lahnaviik R. – Heigl N.), 2:7 Heigl N. (45. Lehmus J. – Heigl T.), 3:8 Steffler D. (54. Heigl T. - Necesany L.)

Qualification Round B:
Steel Wings Linz - HC Meran/o Pircher 3:1 (1:1, 1:0, 1:0)
Referees: HLAVATY, Holzer T., Müller. White. | Spectators: 247
Goals SWL: 1:0 Gaffal S. (18. Lahtinen N. – Ekelund U.), 2:1 Farren K. (36. Granza I. – Stuart B.), 3:1 Gaffal S. (60. Lahtinen N. – Ekelund U.)
Goals HCM: 1:1 Ahlström O. (19./PP1 Borgatello C. – Ahlström V.)

Vienna Capitals Silver - BEMER VEU Feldkirch 4:3 (2:1, 0:2, 2:0)
Referees: BRUNNER, PODLESNIK, Matthey, Schweighofer. | Spectators: 91
Goals VCS: 1:0 Böhm M. (1. Posch B.), 2:0 Posch B. (3. Böhm P. – Ploner V.), 3:3 Böhm P. (42. Pallierer T.), 4:3 Kieweg M. (57./PP1 Maxa A. – Posch B.)
Goals VEU: 2:1 Muigg L. (17. Kail J. – Sticha T.), 2:2 Birnstill S. (28. Gehringer N. – Stanley D.), 2:3 Lebeda Y. (31. Kaider L.)

EK Die Zeller Eisbären - HC Gherdeina valgardena.it 5:2 (1:0, 2:2, 2:0)
Referees: EGGER, FAJDIGA, Cristeli, Javornik. | Spectators: 1073
Goals EKZ: 1:0 Neubauer H. (7. Rajala J. – Akerman J.), 2:0 Rajala J. (30./SH1 Schernthaner J.), 3:1 Sinegubovs A. (37./SH1 Berger H. – Schernthaner J.), 4:2 Pauliny A. (47. Berger H. – Hefke E.), 5:2 Neubauer H. (60./EN Ban D. – Rajala J.)
Goals GHE: 2:1 McGowan B. (37./PP1 Sullmann Pilser M.), 3:2 Oberrauch M. (39./PP1 Selan M.)