Juniors win for the first time at Ljubljana

HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice - S.G. Cortina Hafro 3:2
Jesenice are still on the rise and celebrated their sixth win in a row with a 3:2 victory against Cortina. Patrik Rajsar gave the home side the lead after just four minutes. Andrej Hebar even increased it before the break - 16:3 shots on goal after the first period. But Cortina came back in the middle period. Phil Pietroniro (29th) reduced the deficit on power play and Francesco Ademi even managed to equalise in the 37th minute. But only two minutes later Jaka Sodja put Jesenice back in the lead - the 21-year-old recently scored his first hat trick in the Alps Hockey League and now has a six-game scoring streak. In the third period, the Italians had more of the game, but the equaliser did not come this time. With the 3-2 win, the Slovenians moved up to third in the standings, while Cortina remain in eighth place.

HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana - Red Bull Hockey Juniors 2:5
HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana missed the jump to the top of the table in their home game against Red Bull Hockey Juniors. The home side got off to a flying start with Anze Ropret scoring just ten seconds into the game. But David Rattensberger equalised in the eleventh minute. Only 24 seconds after Ziga Pance had taken Olimpija's lead again, Jakub Borzecki made it 2:2, and that's how it stayed after 20 minutes. As the game progressed, the home side fired 39 shots at the Salzburg goal, but netminder Florian Bugl saved them all. The Red Bulls, on the other hand, were responsible for the goals: Samuel Dube (35th) turned the game around in the power play with the only goal in the middle period. In the 42nd minute it was again Dube who made it 2:4. Josef Eham then scored an empty netter to make it 2:5. With the first win in the sixth attempt at the Tivoli, the Juniors moed up to fifth place. After four victories Olimpija had to admit defeat again - it was also only the second home defeat this season.

Rittner Buam - VEU Feldkirch 2:1 OT
With only three lines but newcomer Linus Lundström the VEU started in Klobenstein. In the first 20 minutes both teams found numerous opportunities. The protagonists in this opening period were clearly the two goalkeepers, who saved 12 (Treibenreif) and 15 shots (Caffi) and ensured that the score remained 0-0 until the break. This score did not change in the middle period. New arrival Lundström missed the best chance for the visitors. For the home side, however, none of 19 shots found their way into the net. Five minutes into the final period, the hosts promptly took advantage of their first power play when Spinell buried the puck into the far corner. Five minutes before the siren, however, the Vorarlberg side came back, also in powerplay, with a goal by Martin Mairitsch. Half a minute before the end, Stanley conceded a two-minute penalty. The Ritten team could not make use of the advantage in regulation time, but in overtime Tudin scored the 2:1 game winner after 74 seconds. For Ritten it was the fourth victory in a row.

HC Gherdeina valgardena.it - Steel Wings Linz 7:1
After four defeats in a row, Val Gardena got back on track against last-place Linz in the coaching debut of Finn Joni Petrell. Daniel Costa scored the only goal in a relatively even first period. Shortly after the restart, Julian Pauschenwein, who played for Austria at the U20 World Championship in Canada, equalised. As the middle period progressed, however, the home side set the course for victory. Willeit, Messner, Galassiti and Sullmann with a brace made it 6:1 with their five goals in just under twelve minutes. With two minutes to go Matt Wilkins rounded off the scoring to make it 7:1. Gröden, who thus won all three AHL duels with the Upper Austrians, moved up to eleventh place in the standings with this victory.

Alps Hockey League:
21.01.2021: HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice – S.G. Cortina Hafro 3:2 (2:0,1:2,0:0)
Referees: LESNIAK, REZEK, Arlic, Bergant.
Goals Jesenice: 1:0 JES Rajsar P. (04:02 / Glavic G. ,Svetina E. / EQ), 2:0 JES Hebar A. (18:07 / Svetina E. ,Sodja J. / PP), 3:2 JES Sodja J. (38:35 / Stojan N. ,Jezovsek Z. / EQ)
Goals Cortina: 2:1 SGC Pietroniro P. (28:03 / Cordiano M. ,Cazzola M. / PP), 2:2 SGC Adami F. (36:30 / De zanna R. ,Alvera T. / EQ)

21.01.2021: HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana – Red Bull Hockey Juniors 2:5 (2:2,0:1,0:2)
Referees: FAJDIGA, PAHOR, Javornik, Pagon. 
Goals Ljubljana: 1:0 HKO Ropret A. (00:10 / Cimzar T. ,Sever M. / EQ), 2:1 HKO Pance Z. (16:09 / Magovac A. ,Music A. / PP)
Goals Salzburg: 1:1 RBJ Rattensberger D. (10:41 / Leonhardt D. / EQ), 2:2 RBJ Borzecki J. (16:33 / Leonhardt D. / EQ), 2:3 RBJ Dube S. (34:22 / Alberg M. / PP), 2:4 RBJ Dube S. (41:39 / Stapelfeldt P. / EQ), 2:5 RBJ Eham J. (58:08 / unassisted / EQ)

21.01.2021: Rittner Buam – VEU Feldkirch 2:1 OT (0:0,0:0,1:1,1:0) 
Referees: GIACOMOZZI, PINIE, Mantovani, Piras. 
Goals Ritten: 1:0 RIT Spinell M. (46:02 / Tudin D. / PP), 2:1 RIT Tudin D. (61:14 / Lutz A. ,Kostner S. / PP)
Goal Feldkirch: 1:1 VEU Mairitsch M. (55:04 / Stanley D. / PP)

21.01.2021: HC Gherdeina valgardena.it – Steel Wings Linz 7:1 (1:0,5:1,1:0) 
Referees: LEGA, STEFENELLI, Bedana, Cristeli.
Goals Gherdeina: 1:0 GHE Costa D. (14:14 / Wilkins M. ,Sullmann Pilser M. / EQ) 2:1 GHE Willeit C. (26:31 / McGowan B. ,Sullmann Pilser M. / PP), 3:1 GHE Sullmann Pilser M. (30:42 / McGowan B. ,Wilkins M. / EQ), 4:1 GHE Sullmann Pilser M. (32:21 / Nedved O. / PP), 5:1 GHE Messner L. (34:47 / Brugnoli J. / EQ), 6:1 GHE Galassiti D. (37:49 / Tomasini P. ,Sölva M. / EQ), 7:1 GHE Wilkins M. (58:05 / McGowan B. ,Sullmann Pilser M. / EQ)
Goal Linz: 1:1 SWL Pauschenwein J. (23:08 / unassisted / EQ)

Photo: HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana