Fassa clinches last pre-playoff spot

In the Masterround, three teams had a chance to take the lead in the standings on Thursday. HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice secured this with a clear 6:1 home victory over the Red Bull Hockey Juniors. Although the Austrians set the tone in the first period, Joonas Larinmaa gave the home side the lead in the 18th minute. Shortly after Thomas Heigl equalized. In the middle period, the Slovenians scored three goals within five minutes to take a 4:1 lead. That was the preliminary decision, in the end Jesenice won 6:1 and also took revenge for the 0:8 defeat in Salzburg.

Unterland recorded only their second win in the Masterround. The Cavaliers won 1:0 at Cortina. The two teams played an evenly matched duel in which the first nine powerplay situations could not be used. In the 56th minute, Filip Kokoska finally scored the decisive goal with a man advantage.

Fassa secures last pre-playoff ticket
The two games of Qualification Round A were attended by almost 3,000 fans. The direct duel for the remaining pre-playoff spot between Gardena and Fassa remained goalless for a long time. It was not until the 41st minute that Simon Pitschieler put the home side in the lead - at this point the hosts were firmly in the Pre-Playoff. But Fassa equalized in the 55th minute with a powerplay goal by Jesse Pesonen. The game went into overtime, here Diego Iori provided the decision. The 2:1 away win finally secured Fassa's participation in the pre-playoffs, where they will face Kitzbühel.

In the top match of group A, Zell am See and Sterzing acted with a lot of speed from the beginning. Despite numerous scoring opportunities on both sides, it took until the 16th minute when Broncos top scorer Remy Giftopoulos opened the scoring after wonderful assists by Maylan and Zecchetto. After the home side equalized in the final period, the South Tyroleans went ahead again. But only 41 seconds later Maximilian Egger equalized via rebound, Daniel Ban even put the home side in the lead for the first time in the 57th minute. In the end, Zell am See won 4:2 and secured the first place.

Eight KAC scorers in Merano
In Qualification Round B, the EC-KAC Future Team closed out the season with an 8:4 win in Merano. Nal Brodnik put the Carinthians in front with the only goal in the first period, and by the 48th minute the visitors had pulled away to a 5:1 lead. In the end, even eight different KAC players registered in the scorers' list. The Klagenfurt team thus finish the qualifying group in fourth place, while Meran remain in last place.

Alps Hockey League Schedule, 23.02.
Master Round:
HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice – Red Bull Hockey Juniors 6:1 (1:1,3:0,2:0)
Referees: BULOVEC, REZEK, Legat, Schonaklener
Goals 1:0 JES Larinmaa J. (17:23 / Polcs R. ,Blomberg N. / EQ), 1:1 RBJ Heigl T. (18:45 / Weber J. ,Predan A. / SH), 2:1 JES Larinmaa J. (34:50 / Pance E. ,Rajsar P. / EQ), 3:1 JES Svetina E. (35:39 / Logar M. / EQ), 4:1 JES Polcs R. (39:50 / Blomberg N. ,Larinmaa J. / EQ), 5:1 JES Lesnicar T. (45:16 / Kumanovic L. ,Svetina E. / EQ), 6:1 JES Pance E. (51:30 / Polcs R. ,Larinmaa J. / PP)

S.G. Cortina Hafro - Hockey Unterland Cavaliers 0:1 (0:0,0:0,0:1)
Referees: PINIE, VIRTA, De Zordo, Fleischmann
Goals 0:1 HCU Kokoska F. (55:58 / Nyman L. ,Haarala S. / PP)

Qualification Round A:
EK Die Zeller Eisbären - Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 4:2 (0:1,0:0,4:1)
Referees: LEHNER, RUETZ, Matthey, Voican
Goals 0:1 WSV Giftopoulos R. (15:50 / Maylan J. ,Zecchetto A. / EQ), 1:1 EKZ Neubauer H. (43:22 / Wilenius T. / 5:3 PP), 1:2 WSV Conci D. (45:07 / Jokinen J. / EQ), 2:2 EKZ Egger M. (45:48 / Berger H. ,Jennes C. / EQ), 3:2 EKZ Ban D. (56:01 / Artner F. ,Putnik P. / EQ), 4:2 EKZ Hämäläinen A. (58:42 / Wilenius T. ,Dinhopel T. / SH)

HC Gherdeina valgardena.it - SHC Fassa Falcons 1:2 OT (0:0,0:0,1:1,0:1)
Referees: BENVEGNU, MOSCHEN, Cristeli, Rigoni
Goals 1:0 GHE Pitschieler S. (40:49 / Kasslatter H. / EQ), 1:1 FAS Pesonen J. (54:40 / Deluca S. ,Pietroniro K. / PP), 1:2 FAS Iori D. (64:13 / Deluca S. ,Forte M. / EQ)

Qualification Round B:
HC Meran/o Pircher - EC-KAC Future Team 4:8 (0:1,1:2,3:5)
Referees: GIACOMOZZI, SORAPERRA, Bedana, Brondi
Goals 0:1 KFT Brodnik N. (15:14 / Witting S. ,Malle M. / EQ), 0:2 KFT van Ee F. (22:39 / Brodnik N. / EQ), 1:2 HCM Pföstl D. (34:25 / Tomasini P. ,Gellon D. / EQ), 1:3 KFT Siftar A. (35:29 / Gomboc L. ,Tialler C. / PP), 1:4 KFT Lippitsch J. (44:44 / Malle M. / EQ), 1:5 KFT Slivnik L. (47:27 / unassisted / EQ), 2:5 HCM Mitterer T. (48:20 / Berger J. / EQ), 2:6 KFT Tialler C. (49:19 / unassisted / EQ), 2:7 KFT Sablattnig T. (50:03 / Witting S. ,van Ee F. / EQ), 3:7 HCM Pföstl D. (50:26 / Chiodo L. ,Brunner P. / EQ), 4:7 HCM Chiodo L. (55:22 / Colella M. / EQ), 4:8 KFT Gomboc L. (57:58 / Tavzelj A. / EQ)

Photo: Doriano Brunel