Juniors, Vipiteno and Cortina complete the Master Round

Vipiteno qualifies for the Master Round for the first time
The Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan celebrated an important 2:0 home win against the EC Bregenzerwald and thus qualified for the Master Round for the first time and for the playoffs for the sixth time in a row. Bregenzerwald already booked their playoff ticket in the 29th round. In a thrilling game, Adam Capannelli put the Broncos ahead in the seventh minute. Alex Zecchetto made it 2:0 in the 25th minute. WSV goalkeeper Jakob Rabanser saved all 24 shots on his goal and thus celebrated his third shutout of the season. Vipiteno overtook Bregenzerwald in the table with the win and finished the Regular Season in fourth place, taking a bonus point into the Master Round. Fifth-placed Bregenzerwald will start the Master Round without a bonus point.

Cortina and Red Bull Hockey Juniors also secure the Playoff tickets
In addition to Vipiteno, S.G. Cortina Hafro and the Red Bull Hockey Juniors also qualified for the Master Round and Playoffs on the last matchday of the Regular Season. Cortina, who went into the matchday in seventh place and moved up to the sixth due to Jesenice's defeat in Kitzbühel, trailed against the EHC Lustenau 2:3 after 40 minutes at home. However, last year's finalist turned up the heat in the final third and scored twice in the first 126 seconds to take a 4:3 lead. Diego Cuglietta increased the lead to 5:3 just one and a half minutes later. It was the third defeat in a row for Lustenau, who finished the Regular Season in twelfth place.

The Red Bull Hockey Juniors won 7:3 at the SHC Fassa Falcons and will therefore go into the Master Round as the third-best team. While Cortina does not receive a bonus point, the Juniors start the Intermediate Round with two bonus points. The Young Bulls were already 1:3 down against the Falcons after 23 minutes before they were able to turn the game around completely in the second period. They added three more goals in the final period. Fassa finished the Regular Season in thirteenth place and will play for one of the remaining two playoff tickets in Qualification Round B without bonus points.

Defending champion Jesenice has to go into the Qualification Round
Due to the 1:2 defeat of Alps Hockey League defending champion SIJ Acroni Jesenice at the EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel and at the same time a victory of Cortina against Lustenau, the Slovenians missed the Master Round and early playoff qualification. It was the thirteenth defeat of the season for Jesenice, who finished the regular season in seventh place and will therefore continue in Qualification Round A. Kitzbühel celebrated their third win in a row and will play for one of the remaining Playoff tickets in Qualification Round B as eighth after the Regular Season. The Tyroleans led 2:0 against Jesenice after just ten minutes, but Jesenice were able to reduce the deficit in the 32nd minute but were unable to avoid the defeat and thus missed the Master Round for the first time.

Regular season champion Ritten finished the Regular Season with a victory
With 23 wins and only seven defeats and a total of 69 points, the Rittner Buam SkyAlps finished the Regular Season in first place. In the final game, the South Tyroleans narrowly beat the EC-KAC Future Team 3:2. After a brace from Luka Gomboc, the South Tyroleans were already trailing 0:2 against the team at the bottom of the table. At the start of the final period, Stefan Quinz equalized with a brace within three minutes before Markus Spinell scored in the 47th minute to make it 3:2. Ritten thus take four bonus points into the Master Round.

The EK Die Zeller Eisbären receives three bonus points. The Salzburg team finished the Regular Season in second place with 61 points. In their last game, the Polar Bears lost 2:3 at home to the Hockey Unterland Cavaliers. It was the third win in a row for the Cavaliers, which lifted them up to the ninth place in the table which means they are be the second-best team in Qualification Round B with four bonus points. Florian Wieser scored a brace against Zell am See. It was the center's first brace of the season. All five goals were scored in the second period.

First win after regulation for Celje since November 17th
The HK RST Pellet Celje celebrated a clear 5:2 home win against the HC Gherdeina valgardena.it at the end of the Regular Season, giving the Slovenians their first win in regulation in the AHL since November 17. For Val Gardena, on the other hand, it was their first defeat after three wins in a row and six wins from their last seven games. As a result, the South Tyroleans slipped back to eleventh place in the table, which means they start the Qualification Round A in third place with two bonus points. Celje finished the Regular Season in 15th place and will also continue the season in Qualification Round A, but without bonus points. Celje took the lead against Gherdeina after just 15 seconds through Mark Cepon. Jure Sotlar was the only player to score twice.

In addition, the HC Meran/o Pircher prevailed against the Steel Wings LINZ AG with 5:4/OT. It was the sixth defeat in a row for the visitors from Upper Austria. Both teams will face each other again in Qualification Round A. Merano finished the Regular Season in tenth place and will receive three bonus points, while the Steel Wings finished 14th and will start the Intermediate Round without bonus points.

Teams in the Master Round:
1. Rittner Buam SkyAlps 4 points
2. EK Die Zeller Eisbären 3
3. Red Bull Hockey Juniors 2
4 Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 1
5. EC Bregenzerwald 0
6. S.G. Cortina Hafro 0

Teams in the Qualification Round A:
1. SIJ Acroni Jesenice 6 points
2. HC Meran/o Pircher 3
3. HC Gherdeina valgardena.it 2
4. Steel Wings LINZ AG 0
5. HK RST Pellet Celje 0

Teams in the Qualification Round B:
1. EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel 5 points
2. Hockey Unterland Cavaliers 4
3. EHC Lustenau 1
4. SHC Fassa Falcons 0
5. EC-KAC Future Team 0

Alps Hockey League | 05.01.2023
Rittner Buam SkyAlps - EC-KAC Future Team 3:2 (0:0, 0:1, 3:1)
Referees: KUMMER, PINIE, Fecchio, Wucherer | Spectators: 534
Goals RIT: 1:2 Quinz S. (41.), 2:2 Quinz S. (44. Kostner S.), 3:2 Spinell M. (47. Tauferer D. – Uffelmann H.)
Goals KFT: 0:1 Gomboc L. (28. Obersteiner D.), 0:2 Gomboc L. (41. Klassek T.)

Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan - EC Bregenzerwald 2:0 (1:0, 1:0, 0:0)
Referees: LEHNER, VIRTA, De Zordo, Moidl | Spectators: 567
Goals WSV: 1:0 Capannelli A. (7. Maylan J. – Messner M.), 2:0 Zecchetto A. (26. Gschliesser F. – Hasler L.)

HK RST Pellet Celje - HC Gherdeina valgardena.it 5:2 (1:1, 1:0, 3:1)
Referees: BAJT, WIDMANN, Arlic, Puff | Spectators: 200
Goals HKC: 1:0 Cepon M. (1. Mintautiskis M. – Povse J.), 2:1 Freidenfelds R. (32. Flajs J.), 3:1 Sotlar J. (41. Povse J. – Cepon M.), 4:1 Povse J. (49./PP1 Mintautiskis M. – Sirovnik N.), 5:2 Sotlar J. (59./EN Freidenfelds R.)
Goals GHE: 1:1 DeLuca A. (2. Schulze K. – Willeit C.), 4:2 Luisetti M. (51. Willeit C.)

EK Die Zeller Eisbären - Hockey Unterland Cavaliers 2:3 (0:0, 2:3, 0:0)
Referees: HLAVATY, VOICAN, Legat, Weiss | Spectators: 2009
Goals EKZ: 1:2 Wilenius T. (29. Huard N.) 2:3 Huard N. (38./PP1 Wilenius T. – Widen F.)
Goals HCU: 0:1 Galassiti G. (24. Pisetta T. – Zerbetto G.), 0:2 Wieser F. (24. Matonti M. – Nyman L.), 1:3 Wieser F. (32./PP1 Markkula M. (Brighenti T.)

EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel - SIJ Acroni Jesenice 2:1 (2:0, 0:1, 0:0)
Referees: BULOVEC, HOLZER, Bergant, Seewald | Spectators: 1044
Goals KEC: 1:0 Matzka M. (6. Rotter R. – Tschurnig J.), 2:0 Seto C. (10. Maxa A.)
Goals JES: 2:1 Cimzar T. (32./PP1 Logar M. – Selan M.)

S.G. Cortina Hafro - EHC Lustenau 5:3 (2:1, 0:2, 3:0)
Referees: LAZZERI, SCHAUER, Cristeli, Jäger | Spectators: 765
Goals SGC: 1:0 Cuglietta D. (2. Barnabo L. – De Zanna R.), 2:1 Sanna M. (14. Carozza M. – Cuglietta D.), 3:3 Sanna M. (42. Carozza M. – Seed J.), 4:3 Zanatta L. (43. Barnabo L. – Zardini Lacedelli N.), 5:3 Cuglietta D. (44. Sanna M. – Carozza M.)
Goals EHC: 1:1 Kukkola V. (6./PP1 Pietilä V. – Wilfan M.), 2:2 Kukkola V. (22. Haberl D. – Kutzer J.), 2:3 Haberl L. (38. Hrdina S. - Pakaslahti A.)

HC Meran/o Pircher - Steel Wings LINZ AG 5:4/OT (0:2, 4:2, 0:0)
Referees: LEGA, RUETZ, Cusin, Rinker | Spectators: 550
Goals HCM: 1:3 Pietroniro K. (22. Tomasini P. – McNally B.), 2:3 Anderson C. (26. Ritchie N. – Gellon D.), 3:4 Trivellato D. (33. Anderson C. – Ansoldi L.), 4:4 McNally B. (37. Garreffa J. – Ricci F.), 5:4 Anderson C. (65./OT/PP1 Ritchie N. – Borgatello C.)
Goals SWL: 0:1 Theirich M. (4. Saha M.), 0:2 Persson W. (18. Theirich M.), 0:3 Feldbaumer M. (22.), 2:4 Wilding S. (32. Söllinger P. – Koller E.)

SHC Fassa Falcons - Red Bull Hockey Juniors 3:7 (1:1, 2:3, 0:3)
Referees: BENVEGNU, STEFENELLI, Abeltino, Fleischmann | Spectators: 890
Goals FAS: 1:1 Vigl A. (18. Deluca A. – Defrancesco M.), 2:1 Selin S. (22./PP1 Biondi L.), 3:1 Biondi L. (24./PP1 Schiavone D. – Näslund V.)
Goals RBJ: 0:1 Sandholzer L. (18. Haiböck F. – Bosecker L.), 3:2 Myllymaa K. (28./PP1 Helander J. – Steffler D.), 3:3 Hörl L. (28./PP1), 3:4 Myllymaa K. (40./PP2 Helander J. – Steffler D.), 3:5 Murnieks D. (45. Kirchebner M.), 3:6 Murnieks D. (51. Vinzens P.), 3:7 Sandholzer L. (52. Ramoser J.)

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