Ritten takes the lead in the Master Round

Ritten wins top match against Sterzing
Regular season champion Rittner Buam SkyAlps is back at the top of the table in the Master Round. In the derby against the Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan, the Buam won 5:2, giving them a three-point lead over the Broncos. Overall, it was a equal match. Marco Insam put Ritten 3:2 ahead with thirteen minutes to go. After 25 minutes, the home side were already 2:0 in the lead. Shortly after making it 3:2, Terrance Amorosa increased the lead to 4:2 before Insam completed his first brace of the season in the power play. It was Ritten's fourth win in a row in all competitions, while Sterzing suffered their second defeat in a row. In the H2H, it was the third win for RIT in the third duel of the season.

Overtime win for Juniors in the Salzburg derby
In the first of three Salzburg derbies within a week, next Thursday and Saturday the EK Die Zeller Eisbären and Red Bull Hockey Juniors will face each other in the final of the Austrian AHL championship, the Juniors narrowly prevailed 2:1 after overtime. It was the third win for RBJ in their fourth duel of the season; they won the first leg of the Master Round 3:0. Philipp Krening was the man of the match on Saturday. The 19-year-old German put the visitors ahead in front of more than 1.900 spectators in the KE Kelit Arena Zell am See in the 25th minute and also scored the game-winner in overtime. Fabio Artner equalized for the Polar Bears in the meantime. Both teams have ten points in the table and occupy the third (RBJ) and fourth (EKZ) positions, while second-placed Sterzing also has ten points.

In the third Master Round game, the EC Bregenzerwald won 4:2 at S.G. Cortina Hafro. It was only the second win in the sixth Master Round game for the team from Vorarlberg. They are still bottom of the table with five points, while Cortina have seven points and is in fifth place. For the Italians, it was one of three defeats in the past five games in all competitions. For Bregenzerwald, two players - Erik Embrich and Yannik Lebeda - scored twice. It was Embrich's fifth brace of the season and Lebeda's first goals in his sixth appearance of the season. Cortina did not take the lead once in the entire game and thus also lost to Bregenzerwald in their second home game of the season.

Meran/o remains in second place in Qualification Round A
League newcomer HK RST Pellet Celje suffered a setback in the battle for the Pre-Playoffs. The Slovenians lost 3:6 at home to the HC Meran/o Pircher, meaning that the South Tyroleans are now four points ahead of the Slovenians in second place in the table. Only on Friday, Merano lost clearly with 1:6 in Jesenice. However, the South Tyroleans had a perfect start in their clear victory in Celje. They were already 3:0 ahead after just 17 minutes. After 27 minutes, the Eagles were already comfortably 4:0 in the lead before the home side also scored for the first time. After two periods, the visitors were 5:1 in front, Celje managed to close the gap to 3:5, but Meranp were no longer really in danger and celebrated their third win in the fifth game of Qualification Round A. Brandon McNally and Joseph Garreffa scored a brace each. It was Meran's fourth win in their fourth and final match of the season against Celje.

One point behind Merano in third place is the HC Gherdeina valgardena.it, which has played one game less than the HCM. The South Tyroleans celebrated a clear home win against bottom-placed Steel Wings LINZ AG. It was the Upper Austrians' ninth defeat in their last ten games. Yuri Cristellon put the home team ahead in the 14th minute, and league top goal scorer Anthony DeLuca increased the lead to 2:0 at the start of the second period. The 28-year-old also scored to make it 4:1 and 5:1 in the meantime. The goal to make it 5:1 was a penalty shot. In total, it was the forward's 41st, 42nd and 43rd goals of the season and the fifth game in which he has scored at least three goals. Yuri Cristellon scored the final goal again.

Kitzbühel takes the lead in Qualification Round B
The EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel secured an important 6:1 home win against the EC-KAC Future Team and, as leader of Qualification Round B, now have a three-point lead over third-placed EHC Lustenau, who narrowly won 7:6 at the SHC Fassa Falcons. The Future Team remains in fourth place and is four points behind second-placed Unterland, who was free from play. In Kitzbühel, Klagenfurt was already trailing 0:2 after nine minutes. By the end of the first period, the Tyroleans had a 3:1 lead. Kitzbühel added two more goals in the second period to decide the game early on. Jannik Fröwis scored the final goal to make it 6:1. It was the 24-year-old's second goal of the evening and his first brace in only his third game for the KEC.

Lustenau was able to continue its upward trend at Fassa and celebrate its second win in a row. In a high-scoring game, the Vorarlberg team prevailed 7:6 after trailing 2:3 and 3:4. Player of the game was Maximilian Wilfan with a hat-trick. It was the second win for the EHC in their third duel of the season with the Italians. Fassa suffered their second defeat in a row and, as bottom of the Qualification Round B standings, are already six points behind second place.

Alps Hockey League | Master Round | 03.02.2024:
Rittner Buam SkyAlps - Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 5:2 (1:0, 1:2, 3:0)
Schiedsrichter: KUMMER, PINIE, Fecchio, Puff. | Spectators: 567
Goals RIT: 1:0 Kostner S. (10.), 2:0 Coatta M. (25. Amorosa T. – Valentini E.), 3:2 Insam M. (48. Coatta M. – Marzolini M.), 4:2 Amorosa T. (50. Szypula E.), 5:2 Insam M. (52./PP1 Spinell M. – Kostner S.)
Goals WSV: 2:1 Topatigh D. (28./PP2 Maylan J. – Livingston J.), 2:2 Messner M. (36. Capannelli A. – Maylan J.)

EK Die Zeller Eisbären - Red Bull Hockey Juniors 1:2/OT (0:0, 0:1, 1:0, 0:1)
Schiedsrichter: HLAVATY, LEHNER, Seewald J., Weiss. | Spectators: 1.986
Goal EKZ: 1:1 Artner F. (43./PP1 Stiegler M. – Cuma T.)
Goals RBJ: 0:1 Krening P. (25. Schreiner V. – Hörl L.), 1:2/OT Krening P. (62./PP1 Myllymaa K.)

S.G. Cortina Hafro - EC Bregenzerwald 2:4 (1:1, 1:2, 0:1)
Schiedsrichter: BULOVEC, MILOVANOVIC, Abeltino, Murnik. | Spectators: 500
Goals SGC: 1:1 Cuglietta D. (17./PP1 Doherty D.), 2:3 Cuglietta D. (36. Di Tomaso G. – Doherty T.)
Goals ECB: 0:1 Embrich E. (6./PP1 Kulintsev D. – Schlögl R.), 1:2 Lebeda Y. (24. Pöschmann P. – Ossipov R.), 1:3 Embrich E. (28. Auvinen H. – Kulintsev D.), 2:4 Lebeda Y. (57. Ranftl F.)

Alps Hockey League | Qualification Round A | 03.02.2024:
HK RST Pellet Celje – HC Meran/o Pircher 3:6 (0:3, 2:2, 1:1)
Schiedsrichter: BROCK, WIDMANN, Kanyo, Wucherer. | Spectators: 200
Goals HKC: 1:4 Mintautiskis M. (28./PP1 Sotlar J. – Povse J.), 2:5 Sodja Zalokar G. (35./PP1 Mintautiskis M. – Cepon M.)
Goals HCM: 0:1 Anderson C. (9. Gellon D. – Borgatello C.), 0:2 McNally B. (11./PP1 Anderson C. – Borgatello C.), 0:3 Ritchie N. (17. Gellon D. – Anderson C.), 0:4 Garreffa J. (27. Ricci F.), 1:5 McNally B. (31. Ritchie N. – Anderson C.), 3:5 Povse J. (51. Mintautiskis M. – Sirovnik N.), 3:6 Garreffa J. (60./EN McNally B.)

HC Gherdeina valgardena.it - Steel Wings LINZ AG 6:1 (1:0, 4:1, 1:0)
Referees: LEGA, SORAPERRA, Cusin Rivis. | Spectators: 734
Goals GHE: 1:0 Cristellon Y. (14. McGowan B.), 2:0 DeLuca A. (23./PP1 Schulze K. – McGowan B.), 3:1 Messner L. (36./PP1 Pitschieler S. – Luoto M.), 4:1 DeLuca A. (38./PP1 Schulze K. – McGowan B.), 5:1 DeLuca A. (40./PS), 6:1 Cristellon Y. (47./PP1 Kasslatter H. – McGowan B.)
Goal SWL: 2:1 Haiböck M. (33. Rappold K. – Moser A.)

Alps Hockey League | Qualification Round B | 03.02.2024:
EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel - EC-KAC Future Team 6:1 (3:1, 2:0, 1:0)
Referees: HOLZER, SPIEGEL, Matthey, Moidl. | Spectators: 1.231
Goals KEC: 1:0 Fröwis J. (6./PP1 Tschurnig J. – Rotter R.), 2:0 Niemelä J. (9. Rotter R.), 3:1 Tschurnig J. (19.), 4:1 Matzka M. (31./PP1 Hochfilzer J.), 5:1 Seto C. (39./PP1 Niemelä J.), 6:1 Fröwis J. (Matzka M. – Müller L.)
Goal KFT: 2:1 Hochegger F. (11. Obersteiner D.)

SHC Fassa Falcons - EHC Lustenau 6:7 (4:3, 0:3, 2:1)
Referees: PIRAS, STEFENELLI, Brondi, Grisenti. | Spectators: 315
Goals FAS: 1:1 Selin S. (10. DeToni E.), 2:2 Iori D. (15. Schiavone D.), 3:2 Iori D. (19. DeToni E.), 4:3 Schiavone D. (20. DeToni E. – Forte F.), 5:6 Selin S. (53. Schiavone D. – Forte F.), 6:6 Kustatscher D. (54. Forte F. – Selin S.)
Goals EHC: 0:1 Alasaari F. (6./PP1 Kukkola V. – Wilfan M.), 1:2 Wilfan M. (12. Pietilä V. – Shikera J.), 3:3 Wilfan M. (19. Wennlund M. – Kukkola V.), 4:4 Haberl L. (27. Meduseljac M. – Pietilä V.), 4:5 Wilfan M. (34./SH1), 4:6 Kukkola V. (40. Alasaari F. – Wennlund M.), 6:7 Wennlund M. (57. Kukkola V. – Alasaari F.)

Copyright: Max Pattis