Release from 13.04.2021

First win of Lustenau I Asiago takes the lead

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On Tuesday night, both Slovenian teams lost at home in the semifinals of the Alps Hockey League. Defending champion HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana was surprisingly defeated by the EHC Lustenau with 1:2. HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice was defeated by Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey with 3:5. While Ljubljana is still in the lead against Lustenau in the "best-of-5" semi-final series and has already the next match puck on Thursday, Jesenice conceded the second defeat in a row against Asiago. The Italians therefore have the chance to fix the third final participation after 2017 and 2018 on Thursday.

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The EHC Lustenau surprisingly won with 2:1 in game three of the semifinal series against defending champion HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana, shorten the series to 1:2. For the EHC, it was the first win against HKO after four straight losses. In the playoffs, it was the Vorarlberg's first ever success over the Slovenians. Already in the season 2018/19, both teams faced each other in the semifinals. At that time, the "Dragons" celebrated three clear victories.

In this series everything looked like a sweep for Ljubljana too. After two clear victories at the start (4:2 & 8:0), they were also clear favorites in game three. However, Lustenau showed a strong improvement compared to game two and could keep up the resistance from the beginning. A very balanced first period ended without a goal. Big chances were scarce on both sides.

In the middle period, the 2019 AHL champion from Ljubljana had a number of scoring chances, but more goals were scored by the 2021 Austrian AHL champion from Lustenau. In the 26th minute of the game, Canadian Chris D'Alvise opened the scoring. It was the 35-years-old's seventh playoff goal of the season. No less than two minutes later, the hosts equalized. Nik Simsic scored after Miha Zajc's assist. Only five and a half minutes later, Timo Demuth scored to give the visitors the lead again. It was the first goal of the season for the 22-year-old center. In a very fair game, the referees only had to award four penalties in total, the hosts couldn't find an answer until the end and lost for the first time in this year's playoffs. Ljubljana's next match puck is already on Thursday, April 15th in Lustenau. The match will start at 19:30.

Asiago wins against Jesenice
With HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice also the second Slovenian team lost on Tuesday evening. For Jesenice, however, this defeat meant that opponent Migross Supermercati Asiago have a match puck on Thursday. The visitors from Italy won with 5:3 to take the 2:1 lead in the "best-of-5" series. It was the first away win in the fifth duel of the season between the two teams.

Asiago, which won game two with 4:1, took the momentum into the third match. The AHL champion of 2018 took the 1:0 lead after just five minutes of play with a goal from Alex Frei. It was the 27-year-old's seventh goal in this year's playoffs. After an assist from Frei, Davide Dal Sasso increased the lead to 2:0 already in the eighth minute of the game. The hosts were able to recover quickly from the shock of the early deficit and got one back in the 15th minute, thanks to a goal from Mirko Dumic.
In the second period, Jesenice clearly dominated the game. In total, they has 15 shots at the goal of Asiago goalkeeper Gianluca Vallini. Two of them found their way into the net. First, Jaka Sodja (35.) was successful in the power play. Then Jaka Sturm (39.) shot the Slovenians into the lead for the first time this evening. Thus, the runner-up after the regular season had turned the game around before the final period.

The visitors turned the game back in their favor right at the beginning of the last period. Alexander Gellert scored after three minutes and nine seconds to tie the game. Jose Magnabosco scored the winning goal just 30 seconds later. Jesenice tried everything to get back into the game, but Gianluca Vallini in the goal of Asiago saved all shots. The final decision was made by Michele Marchetti with an empty net 34 seconds before the end of the game. Asiago thus has a match puck on Thursday, April 15th and the chance to enter the final of the Alps Hockey League for the first time since 2018. The game will start at 19:00.

Alps Hockey League:
HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana – EHC Lustenau 1:2 (0:0, 1:2, 0:0)
Referees: PAHOR, REZEK, Arlic, Snoj.
Goal HKO: 1:1 Simsic N. (27. Zajc M. – Pulli J.)
Goals EHC: 0:1 D´Alvise C. (26. Wallenta E.), 1:2 Demuth T. (33. Hrdina S.)

HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice – Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 3:5 (1:2, 2:0, 0:3)
Referees: GROZNIK, LESNIAK, Bergant, Miklic.
Goals JES: 1:2 Dumic M. (15. Planko D. – Rajsar P.), 2:2 Sodja J. (35./PP1 Dumic M.), 3:2 Sturm J. (39. Svetina E. – Rajsar S.)
Goals ASH: 0:1 Frei A. (5. Gellert A. – Mantenuto D.), 0:2 Dal Sasso D. (8. Frei A.), 3:3 Gellert A. (44. McParland S. – Rosa M.), 3:4 Magnabosco J. (44. McParland S. – Rosa M.), 3:5 Marchetti M. (60./EN McParland S. – Rosa M.)

Copyright: HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana

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