Release from 29.12.2019
After trailing 2:0 in the opening period, Alps Hockey League leader HK SŽ Olimpija earned a 4:3 home win against Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan on Saturday. While second-placed Rittner Buam suffered an overtime defeat in Klagenfurt, HC Pustertal and EHC Lustenau were successful. In addition, Asiago Hockey returned to the top-6 with a great comeback win at Fassa.
Olimpija prolongs home streak, Ritten struggles
After winning the last two, Sterzing also had the better start at Tivoli with Lemay getting the visitors a 2:0 lead. However, leader Ljubljana turned the game around in the middle frame: first, Kujavec got the Slovenes on the scoreboard and then Orehek tied it at two. With four seconds to go in the period Chvatal put Olimpija ahead for the first time. In the third Doggett equalized it but Gal Koren scored the game winner in the 57th minute.
With this win Olimpija also extended the lead at the top as Rittner Buam suffered an overtime defeat in Klagenfurt. Despite Ritten taking the lead with Kostner, Klagenfurt's Kapel tied it even before the first intermission. The Slovenian forward also tied Ritten's second lead and the game went into overtime at a 2:2 score. After Markus Pirmann failed to score because of Ritten goalie Treibenreif, Christoph Duller put the rebound home for the first ever Klagenfurt win against Ritten in AHL.
Pustertal und Lustenau both earn three points
3rd-placed Pustertal and 4th-placed Lustenau got wins, though. Despite Jesenice's Urukalo scored the only first-period goal, Pustertal'snew head coach Matej Hocevar won his first home game with the wolves. The hosts turned the game around within 16 second in the middle frame as Carozza and Pace found the back of the net. A Traversa brace made the game safe for HCP.
The game between Kitzbühel and Lustenau was delayed for 90 minutes due to traffic reasons. After taking a fierst-period lead by Long, a D'Alvise brace got Lustenau to winning ways. While the hosts scored the consolation goal, Lustenau added two more for a 5:1 road win.
Quartet wins in fight for top 6
Frederic Cloutier's comeback for Asiago was a mere 40 seconds old when Fassa took the lead. Just 13 seconds later the guests scored the equalizer and after ten minutes played they even had a 3:1 lead. Fassa struck back, though, with scoring four unanswered goals until the 49th minute, captain Castlunger got a hat trick. With ten minutes to go Gellert halved the deficit and in the final two minutes Asiago turned it again to their favour. WIth the 6:5 away victory they moved up the fifth place, Fassa is 6th.
Cortina ranks 8th thanks to a shootout win at Zell am See. After a goalless first, both sides scored once in the middle frame. With 51 seconds to go in regulation Sotlar put the hosts 2:1 up but with 6 skaters Cortina even forced overtime thanks to a Lacedelli goal. Giftopoulos was Cortina's hero in shootout for a 3:2 win.
The Red Bull Hockey Juniors are still in the race for a top 6 spot. With four first-period goals they laid the foundation for a 8:1 home win against the Silver Capitals. Forward Samuel Witting scored a hat trick while goalie Mauritz Merra earned his first AHL win in the third start. Salzburg took at least one point in the last eight.
Gherdeina also kept their Masterround chances alive as they beat bottom-clb Linz 5:1. It was another Brad McGowan show as the Canadian scored three goals to help his team to end the seven-game losing streak.
Alps Hockey League:
Sat, 28.12.2019 14:30 EC KAC II - Rittner Buam 3:2 OT (1:1,0:0,1:1,1:0)
Referees: LENDL, LESNIAK, Legat, Riecken
Goals Klagenfurt: 1:1 KA2 Kapel R. (19:09 / Sticha D. / EQ), 2:2 KA2 Kapel R. (41:41 / Szabad K. ,Kompain M. / EQ), 3:2 KA2 Duller C. (63:57 / Pirmann M. ,Kreuzer P. / EQ)
Goal Ritten: 0:1 RIT Kostner S. (12:13 / Obuchowski R. ,Lane M. / EQ), 1:2 RIT Lane M. (41:11 / Gazzola R. ,Obuchowski R. / PP)
Sat, 28.12.2019 17:30 HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana - Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 4:3 (0:2,3:0,1:1)
Referees: BAJT, PAHOR, Bergant, Javornik
Goals Olimpija: 1:2 HKO Kujavec A. (25:56 / Simsic N. / EQ), 2:2 HKO Orehek J. (36:13 / Pesut Z. ,Koren G. / EQ), 3:2 HKO Chvatal A. (39:56 / Logar M. ,Zorko L. / EQ), 4:3 HKO Koren G. (56:16 / Logar M. ,Music A. / EQ)
Goals Sterzing: 0:1 WSV Lemay M. (11:26 / Doggett S. ,Milam J. / EQ), 0:2 WSV Lemay M. (13:50 / Doggett S. ,Hackhofer F. / EQ), 3:3 WSV Doggett S. (44:49 / Lemay M. ,Bustreo P. / PP)
Sat, 28.12.2019 19:15 Red Bull Hockey Juniors - Vienna Capitals Silver 8:1 (4:0,2:1,2:0)
Referees: HUBER, WALLNER, Huber, Matthey
Goals Salzburg: 1:0 RBJ Luusuaniemi A. (03:47 / Tjernström M. ,Englund P. / EQ), 2:0 RBJ Witting S. (07:20 / Englund P. ,Arrak R. / EQ), 3:0 RBJ Witting S. (09:35 / Arrak R. / EQ), 4:0 RBJ Harnisch T. (16:40 / Arrak R. ,Meisaari V. / PP), 5:0 RBJ Tjernström M. (24:50 / Harnisch T. ,Witting S. / EQ), 6:1 RBJ Witting S. (37:38 / Meisaari V. ,Harnisch T. / EQ), 7:1 RBJ Arrak R. (43:33 / Harnisch T. ,Meisaari V. / EQ), 8:1 RBJ Harnisch T. (59:38 / Carlqvist D. / EQ)
Goal Vienna: 5:1 VCS Hermanstad M. (27:55 / Akerman J. ,Antal P. / 5:3 PP)
Sat, 28.12.2019 19:30 EK Die Zeller Eisbären - S.G. Cortina Hafro 2:3 SO (0:0,1:1,1:1,0:0,0:1)
Referees: GAMPER, HOLZER, Beynek, Reisinger
Goals Zell am See: 1:1 EKZ Tschernutter J. (38:47 / Lanzinger B. ,Dinhopel T. / PP), 2:1 EKZ Sotlar J. (59:09 / Putnik P. ,Selan M. / 5:3 PP)
Goals Cortina: 0:1 SGC Lacedelli R. (29:46 / Giftopoulos R. ,King K. / EQ), 2:2 SGC Lacedelli R. (59:46 / Giftopoulos R. ,Bruneteau N. / EQ), 2:3 SGC Giftopoulos R. (65:00 / GWS)
Sat, 28.12.2019 20:00 EC 'Die Adler' Stadtwerke Kitzbühel - EHC Lustenau 1:5 (0:1,0:2,1:2)
Referees: FICHTNER, STEFENELLI, Cristeli, Schonaklener
Goal Kitzbühel: 1:3 KEC Ebner M. (44:36 / Riener Y. ,Hochfilzer H. / EQ)
Goals Lustenau: 0:1 EHC Long C. (13:52 / Grabher Meier M. ,Rasmussen F. / EQ), 0:2 EHC D'Alvise C. (26:51 / Hurtubise M. ,Grabher Meier M. / PP), 0:3 EHC D'Alvise C. (36:33 / Wilfan M. ,Hurtubise M. / EQ), 1:4 EHC Wallenta E. (55:11 / Hurtubise M. ,Long C. / EQ), 1:5 EHC Demuth T. (56:49 / Hurtubise M. / EQ)
Sat, 28.12.2019 20:00 HC Pustertal Wolves - HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice 4:1 (0:1,3:0,1:0)
Referees: MOSCHEN, RUETZ, Piras, Rinker
Goals Pustertal: 1:1 PUS Carozza M. (22:48 / Helfer A. / PP), 2:1 PUS Pace F. (23:04 / Conci D. ,March G. / EQ), 3:1 PUS Traversa T. (30:34 / Helfer A. / PP), 4:1 PUS Traversa T. (41:07 / MacArthur P. ,Hofer A. / EQ)
Goal Jesenice: 0:1 JES Urukalo Z. (09:28 / Sodja U. ,Brus M. / EQ)
Sat, 28.12.2019 20:30 HC Gherdeina valgardena.it - Steel Wings Linz 5:1 (2:0,2:0,1:1)
Referees: BENVEGNU, GIACOMOZZI F., Giacomozzi P., Mantovani
Goals Gherdeina: 1:0 GHE Sullmann Pilser M. (03:34 / Wilkins M. / EQ), 2:0 GHE McGowan B. (10:01 / Sullmann Pilser M. ,Wilkins M. / EQ), 3:0 GHE Sullmann Pilser M. (27:12 / McGowan B. ,Wilkins M. / EQ), 4:0 GHE McGowan B. (34:54 / Sullmann Pilser M. ,Wilkins M. / EQ), 5:0 GHE McGowan B. (53:41 / Wilkins M. ,Willeit C. / PP)
Goal Linz: 5:1 SWL Neumaier R. (58:17 / Kovanecz C. ,Gaffal P. / PP)
Sat, 28.12.2019 20:45 SHC Fassa Falcons - Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 5:6 (3:3,1:0,1:3)
Referees: LEGA, PINIE, De Zordo, Rigoni
Goals Fassa: 1:0 FAS Castlunger M. (00:40 / Ploner A. ,Soracreppa S. / EQ), 2:3 FAS Castlunger M. (13:38 / Mizzi J. ,Roupec D. / PP), 3:3 FAS Zanet M. (14:11 / Lundstrom L. ,Marchetti M. / EQ), 4:3 FAS Castlunger M. (36:29 / Mizzi J. ,Chiodo L. / PP), 5:3 FAS Zanet M. (48:54 / Soracreppa S. / EQ)
Goals Asiago: 1:1 ASH McParland S. (00:53 / Gellert A. ,Pietroniro P. / EQ), 1:2 ASH Pietroniro C. (03:31 / Loschiavo V. ,Pietroniro P. / EQ), 1:3 ASH Magnabosco J. (10:35 / Rosa M. ,Pietroniro P. / EQ), 5:4 ASH Gellert A. (50:00 / Rosa M. ,Magnabosco J. / EQ), 5:5 ASH Pietroniro P. (58:17 / Magnabosco J. ,Rosa M. / EQ), 5:6 ASH Rosa M. (59:20 / McParland S. ,Magnabosco J. / EQ)
Photo: EC-KAC/Handler