Kitzbühel and Lustenau clinch Pre-Playoff ticket | Ritten is new leader of the Master Round

With the EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel and EHC Lustenau the first two teams of Qualification Round B solved their ticket for the Pre-Playoffs on Thursday. While Kitzbühel narrowly won 1:0 at the EC-KAC Future Team after shootout, Lustenau celebrated a 4:1 home win over the HC Meran/o Pircher. The South Tyroleans are already eight points behind third-placed Bregenzerwald in fourth place, with a maximum of nine points still to be gained. With 16 points at the top of the table are the Eagles from Kitbühel, who only managed to beat last-placed Klagenfurt in the shootout thanks to a goal from Henrik Hochfilzer. Neither team managed to score in regular playing time nor in overtime. KFT goalie Florian Vorauer was able to save all 40 shots on his goal, KEC goalie Paul Mocher saved all 21 shots on goal. The EHC Lustenau follows one point behind Kitzbühel in second place and won the game against Meran/o thanks to three goals in the final period. After 40 minutes, the score was still tied 1:1.

Ritten is new leader of the Master Round
The Rittner Buam SkyAlps are the new leader of the Master Round. The Buam won against the Hockey Unterland Cavaliers with 3:0. Already in the second minute of the game the guests took the lead. The narrow lead lasted until about three minutes before the end of the game, before Markus Spinell increased the lead to 2:0. It was also the forward who scored the final score. Unterland is still in fifth place and has been waiting for a win for seven games across all competitions.

In the second match of the Master Round, S.G. Cortina Hafro celebrated a 2:1/OT victory over HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice. Thus Ritten, Cortina and Jesenice have twelve points. The Buam are only at the top of the table because of the better goal difference. For Cortina it was the second overtime win over Jesenice in the Master Round. The Slovenians, on the other hand, conceded their fourth defeat in the sixth game. Gregory Di Tomaso scored the game-winner in the 61st minute in the power play.

Important victory for Val Gardena
The EK Die Zeller Eisbären still has to wait for a fixed Pre-Playoff spot. The leader of Qualification Round A lost at the HC Gherdeina valgardena.it with 2:4, but still has four point lead over the second place and six points lead over the fourth place. New third is Val Gardena, who also benefited from Fassa's 1:2 home loss to the Steinbach Steel Wings Linz. The Falcons, in fourth, are now one point behind Val Gardena but have yet to play one more game than GHE.

Val Gardena started the game strongly against Zell am See and was already comfortably ahead with 3:0 after 44 minutes. However, 40 seconds before the end of the game, the guests came back to 2:3 before the Furie made everything clear with an empty-net goal. The Steinbach Steel Wings Linz were victorious for the first time in the Qualification Round. At Fassa, it was two power play goals that brought the decision in favor of the guests from Upper Austria. Fassa in turn lost for the first time in the fifth game. Against the Steel Wings it was the second defeat in the fourth duel of the season.

Alps Hockey League | 16.02.2022:
Master Round:
Hockey Unterland Cavaliers – Rittner Buam SkyAlps 0:3 (0:1, 0:0, 0:2)
Referees: BENVEGNU, LAZZERI, Bedana, De Zordo. | Spectators: 205
Goals RIT: 0:1 Tavi J. (2./PP1 Hofer A.), 0:2 Spinell M. (58.), 0:3 Spinell M. (60./EN Marzolini M.)

S.G. Cortina Hafro – HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice 2:1/OT (0:0, 1:1, 0:0)
Referees: MOSCHEN, STEFENELLI, Brondi, Cristeli. | Spectators: 456
Goals SGC: 1:0 Alvera´ T. (23. Cuglietta D. – Zardini Lacedelli N.), 2:1 Di Tomaso G. (61./OT/PP1)
Goals JES: 1:1 Kumanovic L. (35. Scap L.)

Qualification Round A:
SHC Fassa Falcons – Steinbach Steel Wings Linz 1:2 (0:1, 1:1, 0:0)
Referees: LEGA, PINIE, Fleischmann, Pace. | Spectators: 631
Goal FAS: 1:1 Pietroniro K. (28./PP1 Deluca S. – Iori D.)
Goals SWL: 0:1 Bucenieks K. (10./PP1 Wilding S. – Söllinger P.), 1:2 Mosaad B. (34./PP1 Kitt G. – Rappold K.)

HC Gherdeina valgardena.it – EK Die Zeller Eisbären 4:2 (1:0, 1:0, 2:2)
Referees: EGGER, GIACOMOZZI, Eisl, Rinker. | Spectators: 534
Goals GHE: 1:0 Brugnoli J. (5. Siironen T. – Sullmann Pilser M.), 2:0 Sullmann Pilser M. (32. Siironen T. – Kasslatter H.), 3:0 Pitschieler S. (44. Sullmann Pilser M. – Brugnoli J.), 4:2 Gibbon K. (60./EN Sullmann Pilser M. – Brugnoli J.)
Goals EKZ: 3:1 Wilenius T. (56. Akerman J. – Neubauer H.), 3:2 Berger H. (60. Ban D. – Dinhopel T.)

Qualification Round B:
EC-KAC Future Team – EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel 0:1/SO (0:0, 0:0, 0:0)
Referees: HLAVATY, REZEK, Bergant, Legat. | Spectators: 208
Goal KEC: 0:1 Hochfilzer H. (65./PS)

EHC Lustenau – HC Meran/o Pircher 4:1 (1:0, 0:1, 3:0)
Referees: BRUNNER, LEHNER, Matthey, Spiegel. | Spectators: 441
Goals EHC: 1:0 Hrdina S. (14. Hayes R. – Wilfan M.), 2:1 Gratzer S. (50. Haberl D.), 3:1 D´Alvise C. (55. Hayes R. – Wilfan M.), 4:1 Haberl L. (57. König D. – Larsen M.)
Goal HCM: 1:1 Tomasini P. (31./PP1 Gellon D. – Borgatello C.)