Release from 26.02.2025

Top derby in the Master Round | Start of the pre-playoffs

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Second-placed Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel welcome league leaders EK Zeller Eisbären in a derby on Thursday. HDD Jesenice and Hafro Cortina Hockey meet in the second game of the Master Round. In addition, the "best-of-three" series of the pre-playoffs will start.

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The EK Zeller Eisbären have already won the Master Round and will start the playoffs as the top seeded team. On Thursday, the Pinzgau side will travel for the derby to Kitzbühel. The Tyroleans won yesterday in Cortina and improved to second place. Zell am See celebrated a 3:0 victory in the first intermediate round duel, with the Pinzgau team winning eleven in a row overall. Together with Ritten, Kitzbühel (22 goals) has the best offence in the Master Round so far, while Zell am See (only twelve goals conceded) has by far the best defence.

In the second Master Round game on Thursday, Jesenice will face Cortina at home. The fourth-placed Slovenians are three points behind Kitzbühel and one point behind Ritten - but have played one game less than both opponents. Cortina urgently needs points to move up into the top four and have home advantage in the quarter-finals. Jesenice have won three out of four season duels, but last week the Italians prevailed 4:0.

Start of the pre-playoffs
The three "best-of-three" series of the pre-playoffs start on Thursday. After winning Qualification Round B, EC Bregenzerwald has home advantage against Gardena. The South Tyroleans lost their last five games and only just made it into the deciding games. The teams have met three times this season, always with home wins - the Vorarlberg side leads 2:1.

After narrowly missing out on the top five, the Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan qualified for the pre-playoffs in Qualification Round A and will now face Celje. Although the Slovenians lost three of their last four games, they still finished Qualification Round B in second place. Sterzing have won all five AHL duels with Celje so far.

Merano and Sisak will contest the third duel. The South Tyroleans have won all six of their games in Qualification Round A and go into the series with plenty of confidence. Three defeats meant that the Croatians, who were top of the table during the season, slipped to third place in their group. Merano have won twice this season, with Sisak coming out on top once.

Streaming information
As usual, all games are available live on www.valcome.tv: If you have a Season Pass for a team taking part in the pre-playoffs, all games in this round are included. From the quarter-finals onwards, a special playoff pass will again be available, which includes all matches of all teams for just €50.

Alps Hockey League
Master Round:
Thu, 27.02.2025
19:00: SIJ Acroni Jesenice - S.G. Cortina Hafro
Referees: LESNIAK, SORAPERRA, Arlic, Brondi

19:30: Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel - EK Die Zeller Eisbären
Referees: MOSCHEN, WIDMANN, Fecchio, Telesklav

Pre-Playoffs (best-of-three), Game 1
Thu, 27.02.2025:
19:30: EC Bregenzerwald - HC Gherdeina valgardena.it
Referees: HOLZER, KAINBERGER, Seewald, Zacherl

20:00: Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan - HK RST Pellet Celje
Referees: HLAVATY, VIRTA, Rinker, Weiss

20:30: HC Meran/o Pircher - KHL Sisak
Referees: BULOVEC, LAZZERI, Cristeli, Jeram

>> All games will be shown on valcome.tv