Neumarkt grabs last playoff ticket in dramatic game

EK Zeller Eisbären – EC “Die Adler” Kitzbühel 7:2
The Derby started like a derby should start, with high intensity. The Zeller Eisbären controlled the game right from the beginning, but also produced some mistakes. So it was an open game with no goals in the first period. In the second period Zell executed much better. First Jan Polata captured the lead Two minutes later Alexander Fazokos increased the lead. The guests  managed to narrow the thanks a goal of Batna in powerplay, but before the end of the second period Herzog recreated the goals leaed. At the beginning of the final period Zell slowed down the game a bit. The guests capitalized on that and Saringer shot the 2:3. Zell increased the speed again with success. Gerd Kragl succeeded with a short hander. Franz Wilfan, Fazokas and Ober even stepped further and increased to the result of 7:2. It was not only the last game of Zell this season, it was also the last game of Igor Rataj who said goodbye with 266 points for the polar bears. 

 

The Juniors started with Axel Feichter in the goal and captured the lead after 10 minutes thanks a goal of Marek Valach from short distance. In the last minute of the first period Victor Östling scored after assist from Patrik Kitting the 2:0. Only 20 seconds later Diego Iori narrowed the gap and scored the 1:2. In the 28th minute Derek Eastman succeeded with 2:2. Only moments before the end of the second period Lukas Kainz recaptured the lead. In the final period Marek Valach brought the decision and created the result of 4:2. 

 

The Pustertal challenged Lustenau without the presence of Shayne Wiebe and Corey Pritz. Simon Busel was  the goalkeeper of Lustenau. After less than five minutes, the Wolves took the lead with an easy goal of Alex Meo De Lorenzo in front of the goal. But the game was absolutely real ones. The match became very hard and fought. The Lustenau put a lot of energy. The Pustertal controlled the game but couldn’t find then other goals in the Austrian defense. At the beginning of the second half Lustenau hit the bar. Shortly after Brunico doubled Armin Hofer shooted from distance, the puck was deflected by Raphael Andergassen in the front of front door. This was the crucial moment of the match because after this goal the Wolves run to victory. After mid-match Max Oberrauch did it all. The forward stole the puck to the opponents and then went to the score 3:0. The Pustertal continued their rule as they found the 4:0 with Wacey Rabbit with a great backhand shot. During the third period the Pustertal controlled the game as they didn’t risk anything. Patrick Bona built the last goal of the game with hard shot (5:0). Bruneck won in clear manner against Lions. Thomas Tragust collected the fifth shutotut of the season. The Pustertal earned the second place in the Master Round and the second right of choice in the Pick for a better goal difference against Asiago. Pusteral and Asiago closed the Master Round with same number of points. Lustenau closed the Master Round in six position after this defeat: Feldkirch won two games against Lustenau. 

 

Rittner Buam – Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 4:3 OT 

The Rittner Buam challenged Asiago in the last match of Master Round. The Renon has already earned the 1st place of the Master Round. The Asiago, however, could still earn the 2nd place in case of victory. The home team was without important players. The goalkeeper of Rittner Buam was Roland Fink. The first line of Ritten was absent: there weren’t Simon Kostner and the Ahlstrom twins, besides Eisath. Andreas Lutz was absent for Asiago. The beginning of the game was in favors of the home team. Alex Frei scored the first goal and then Matthias Fauster doubled after the middle. In both cases, the goals came from defensive errors of the guests. During the second period the game was more fun. Frederic Cloutier marked a big save. Then in the same action Kris Kolanos didn’t find the net after a big chance. Everything it happened in the last minutes of the period. Asiago didn’t find the goal in 2-man advantage but in the final seconds, Anthony Nigro scored from short distance. During the third period the Asiago played better but the Renon advanced in the result with a lucky goal of Markus Spinell. But Asiago reacted: Kolanos found the second goal. Then Anthony Nigro drew the result (3:3) when missing two minutes at the end of the period. During the overtime the guests didn’t finalized in powerplay a great chance with Giulio Scandella. Then Asiago did two errors. The guests took a penalty for many man on the ice. Then Sprukts scored the game winning goal after a mistake of yellow read in the change of the lines. Ritten won 4: 3 in overtime. The Asiago arrived in third place of the Master Round for a worst goal difference in direct duels against the HC Pustertal. 

 

The most important game of the day was played in Wurth Arena in Neumarkt that for this game has so many spectators. The Wild Goose challenged the Broncos. The winning team goes to the playoffs. The loser team will end the season. The game was in pure style playoffs from the first faceoff. For this game, didn’t miss any ingredient: speed, hit, nervousness and so much energy. The Sterzing immediately did the first goal. The Broncos went to offense after a wrong backward pass of the home team. The top scorer Francis Verreault-Paul took advantage of this situation and scored the first goal. But the Neumarkt recovered shortly after the disadvantage. During the first powerplay available it was a great shot from the blue line by Christian Willeit. The puck was deflected by Florian Wieser and the puck went under the crossbar. Then again Neumarkt that transformed another powerplay. Linus Lundstrom collected a rebound and then marked the advantage. During the second period the game was always hard fought. Matthew Peiti found the third goal with a shot from the slot after the end of a powerplay. But Sterzing from the middle of the match changed the pace as they put a lot of pressure. Francis Verreault-Paul reduced the deficit after an attack a bit confused (starting from the corner of the ice rink in the difensive zone of Neumarkt). The second half ended with the Neumarkt ahead (3:2) In the third time the battle continued as the other two periods. There were a lot of chance of both side of the rink. A puck didn’t came out form Neumarkt defensive zone. Michael Messner pulled (like an assist) from the distance as he found surprisingly the equalizer. Stofner also hit the post for the Broncos. When overtime was next to come, there was a turning point of the game. When missing only 14 seconds at the end of the game, Ratislav Gaspar served a “gold” puck to Matthew Peiti who made no mistake in the front of the net. The Neumarkt won 4:3 as the Wild Geese earned the playoffs. The Broncos ended the season.

Jesenice still hopped before the final dual to win and climb on the third place of Master round. Therefore, they played more aggressively and created some good opportunities. They were efficient in power play and thus they achieve two goals. First of all, with a bit of luck despite Nate DiCasmirro, later on Jaka Ankerst was precise. At the beginning of the second third, Feldkirch attacked and after a few minutes of pressure on the goal of Jesenice.  Feldkirch didn’t manage to score but Jesenice did. After a quick and accurately counterattack Marjan Manfreda scored. The last minutes of the second part belonged to Feldkirch. They hit the post, and later dropped to 3:1 by Martin Mairitsch.  If the first two-thirds belonged to the home team, it was completely different in the last part. Feldkirch played better, Jesenice did it worse. From the minute to minute it seemed bigger desire at guests, that were slowly chased, caught and then overtook the Steelers. After the extraordinary turnaround, they celebrated and ended Master round with a victory. There was no joy in Jesenice, as they have lost two games in succession. After remarkable turnaround, Feldkirch goes to play off more confident

After reaching the playoffs mathematically, Cortina played in Alleghe the last second phase game against the Bregenzerwald. The Cortina was on the ice with several absent. The opponent took advantage in the second half of the first period in special team’s situations, when in the space of two minutes David Mitgutsch and Maximilian Hohenegg scored the first two goals. The second period saw a Cortina looking for a possible comeback, however, but Andreas Judex scored the third goals for austrian team as he put a heavy stone on the final result. In the last part of the game the guests took off in the result with two more goals. Philipp Koczera and Philip Putnik increased the result until 5:0 that was the final score. For second time in Group A the ECB won the match against Cortina. For the Finnish netminder Misa Pietila was the first shutout and the first victory on the road fo of the season the entire team. 

Referees: LOTTAROLI, MARRI, Bartl, Höller

Goal Rittner Buam: 1:0 Frei (4./Sprukts); 2:0 Fauster (11./Vigl-J.Kostner); 3:1 M.Spinell (52./F.Ebner-Frei); 4:3 Sprukts (64./PP1/Ebner); 

Goal Asiago: 2:1 Nigro (39./Kolanos-Scandella); 3:2 Kolanos (53./Nigro-Long); 3:3 Nigro (58./Long-M.Sullivan);

 

Referees: GASSER, STRASSER, Kalb, Pinie

Goals HC Pustertal: 1:0 A. De Lorenzo Meo (04./E.Thum); 2:0 R.Andergassen (27./Hofer-Bona); 3:0 Oberrauch (33.); 4:0 Rabbit (39./Bona-Helfer); 5:0 Bona (53./Oberrauch-Andergassen)

 

Referees: KUMMER, WALLUSCHNIG, Bärnthaler, Miklic

Goals Jesenice: 1:0 Di Casmirro (13./PP1/Pance-Berlisk) ; 2:0 Ankerst (18./PP1/Berlisk-Rajsar); 3:0 Manfreda (33:/Rajsar-Magovac); 

Goals Feldkirch: 3:1 Mairitsch (39./Spannring; 3:2 Parks (46./PP1/Birnstill-Fekete); 3:3 Maier (54./Riener-Fekete); 3:4 Pushnik (56./Birnstill); 

 

Referees: LAZZERI, MOSCHEN, Cirsteli C., Cristeli M.

Goals Neumarkt: 1:1 Wieser (6./PP1/Willeit-A.Sullmann); 2:1 Lundstrom (14./PP1/Nedved-Gabri); 3:1 M.Peiti (26./Lundstrom-Gaspar); 4:3 M.Peiti (59./Gaspar-Nedved); 

Goals Sterzing: 0:1 Verreault-Paul (1./Felicetti-Roupec); 3:2 Verreault-Paul (32./Bahensky); 3:3 Messner (49./Kofler-Stofner); 

 

Referees: KAMSEK, STERNAT, Arlic, Krausz

Goals Ek Zeller: 1:0 Polata (23./T.Dinhopel-J-Kolar); 2:0 Fazokas (24./F.Wilfan); 3:1 Herzog (38./F.Wilfan-Fazokas); 4:2 Kragl (49./SH1); 5:2 F.Wilfan (51./Krammer-F.Dinhopel); 6:2 Fazokas (55./F.Wilfan); 7:2 Ober (59./Stichauner-J.Kolar); 

Goals Kitzbühel; 2:1 O.Batna (33./PP1/P.Lenes); 3:2 Saringer (45./Hummer); 

 

Referees: PODLESNIK, VIRTA, Basso, Moisi

Goals Red Bulls: 1:0 M.Valach (9./Winkler-Wappis); 2:0 Ostling (19./Kittinger-Schwarz); 3:2 Kainz (34./Lahoda); 4:2 M.Valach (51./Postel-Schwarz); 

Goals Gherdeina: 2:1 Iori (19./I.Demetz-B.Kostner); 2:2 Eastman (28./Johansson-Straka); 

 

Referees: LEGA, WIDMANN, Bedynek, Giacomozzi

Goals EC Bregenzerwald: 0:1 Mitgutsch (11./PP1/Haidinger-M.Wolf); 0:2 Hohenegg (13./SH1/Koczera-Siutz); 0:3 Judex (37./Haidinger-Putnik); 0:4 Koczera (52./Poschmann-Siutz); 0:5 Putnik (54./Judex-Konradsheim); 

 

 

1. Rittner Buam 26 points (10 games)

2. HC Pustertal Wölfe 21 points (10 games)                                                                         

3. Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 21 points (10 games)

4. HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice 17 points (10 games)

5. VEU FBI Feldkirch 9 points (9 games)                                                               

6. EHC Alge Elastic Lustenau 9 points (9 games)

 

 

1. SG Cortina Hafro 22 points (8 games)

2. Red Bull Hockey Juniors 19 points (8 games)

3. HC Gherdeina valgardena.it 17 points (8 games)

4. HC Fassa Falcons 7 points (8 games)

5. EC Bregenzerwald 6 points (8 games)

 

1. HC Neumarkt Riwega 24 points (8 games)

2. WSV Sterzing Broncos Weihenstephan 20 points (8 games)

3. EK Zeller Eisbären 19 points (8 games)

4. EC ‚Die Adler‘ Stadtwerke Kitzbühel 6 points (8 games)

5. EC KAC II 1 points (8 games)