Two new Leaders

After the double victory in a row against the Zell am See, the Neumarkt faced Klagenfurt II. The home team started as expected playing in attack because in the first two minutes of the game the Carinthian took two penalties. The Wild Goose marked the first goal in double powerplay with a precise shot from the blue line by Ondrej Nedved. After two minutes the Neumarkt doubled. After a Markus Simonazzi shooting, there was the winning rebound of Patrick Zambaldi which scored his first goal of the season. After this goal, the game didn’t offer so much. The Neumarkt controlled the result while Klagenfurt could not reopen the game. During the second period the austrian team got better but the goal didn’t come. The Neumarkt, however, found her spirit as they began to be very incisive in attack zone. Simone Peiti scored the 3:0 on rebound after three minutes of play. Then after the middle the Wild Geese made 4: 0 in powerplay with a one timer shot of Nedved. Then there was the most beautiful goal of the evening: Alex Sullmann did a precise assist for Michael Sullmann that score with a prefect touch in backhand. The Klagenfurt started the third period with a new goalkeeper: Jakob Holzer entered while Florian Vorauer finished the game. But the history of the match didn’t change. Linus Lundstrom scored after the first shoot of the period. Then the last goal of the match was in the final seconds of the game with Florian Wieser. The Neumarkt won 7:0 as they ended a special week in which they earned 9 points. Now the Wild Goose lead Qualification Round B.  Moritz Steiner took second shutout of the season. The Klagenfurt II has played the last game of the season.

 

On Saturday evening the Champions of Italy of Rittner Buam played the 7th day of Master Round in the Sky Alps Hockey League. The team of Klobstein had to surrender to Jesenice for 2-1. It was the third defeat of Ritten in the fourth direct comparison against the slovenians. It was also the first time that the Ritten lost two games in a row in the league. Alexander Eisath was absent for home team for injury. In the first period the two teams studied the game as they didn’t manage to create real chances. Then the “Buam” incresead the pace of the game, going ahead with Oscar Ahlström, which used an assist of his twin Victor for 1:0. The swedish striker made the 20th goal in the season. In the central period Renon keept up the pressure as they created other good scoring chances, but Us Zan, goalkeeper of the guest, saved the result in many occasion. After 40 minutes of the game, the home team leaded for 1:0. During the third period the guests tied the game after 2 minutes of play: the defender Nejc Berlisk surprised Patrick Killeen and realized the tie (1:1) in situation of penalty killing. When missing twelve minutes from the end ot third period, Jesenice took the lead with Marjan Manfreda. Renon then tried desperately to break even, but the Jesenice defense endured to the end.  So the game ended with the victory of Jesenice for 2:1. The Rittner Buam are reached from HC Pustertal in the top position of Master Round:  the two teams now have the same number of points (18).

 

The Sterzing challenged Kitzbühel. The Eagles didn’t count three foreign players (Johan Burlin, Deivids Sarkanis and Ainars Podzins). The first period was played subdued by the Broncos that they couldn’t find the right feeling. Opponents, however, didn’t exploit two clear scoring chances. Oskar Batna sended out the puck after fast action while Ty Rimmer saved a dangerous shot by Christoph Echtler. The first period ended without goals. The Broncos started well in the second period: Francis Verreault-Paul made a precise assist for Luca Felicetti that scored in the open net after a minute of play. In the middle period the Sterzing doubled with good work in powerplay. David Roupec and Luca Felicetti built and Zdnek Bahensky scored after a rebound. The home team now continued his game as they scored the third goal with Patrick Mair after a fast break. During the third period Mike Hummer scored the first goal for the Eagles (24 ') but the Sterzing regained the control of the game after three minutes with the top-scorer Francis Verreault-Paul. Now the game was in the hands of Sterzing which achieved the goal of security with Matthias Mantinger. The Sterzing won 5: 1 as they earned the second place in Group B qualifying for the playoffs, overcoming the Zell am See. The Broncos remained just one point behind leaders of Neumarkt.

 

The HC Pustertal challenged Feldkirch without defender Corey Pritz. The game was from fist faceoff very intense and hard-fought but not too fast. It could already say that there was time of playoff because the game was very physical. The Wolves played slightly higher but the Feldkirch answered with very solid game. Austrians tried to hit on the break but they found a careful defense. The first score was of the Wolves. Wacey Rabbit performed a diagonal shot that was deflection in the net by Raphael Andergassen when missing 12 seconds to the end of the period. But when it began the second half, the Feldkirch immediately scored the equalizer with Steven Birnstill in 2-man advantage situation. The game was very intense as in the first half. But once again the Bruneck took the lead in the final time of period. Patrick Bona finalized a good action in powerplay after a few minutes before Danny Elliscasis had not scored for very little. During the third period the Pustertal advanced in the score thanks to the younger players and right rythm. Benno Obermair diverted in the net a diagonal shot of Alex Lorenzo De Meo. Then Elias Thums, after 48 minutes of play, scored 4:1. The Feldkirch halved the deficit after a scrum in the middle period with Martin Mairistch (powerplay action) and then they believed to have scored another goal, but video replay said it was not goal. The Pustertal finalized the result with the empty net with Max Oberrauch. The Pustertal won 5:2 as they reached the Ritten on top of the Master Round ranking.

 

The Asiago challenged Lustenau without the presence of Giulio Scandella who stopped due to a problem in one eye. In the first half Asiago started well as they scored the first goal with an action solitary of Krys Kolanos. The forward turned the whole area of Lustenau and he finally shoted the puck under the crossbar. Minutes after minutes Lustenau grew in the game after two powerplay. Pierre Wolf's shot was deflected by Luca Casetti and the puck finished behind Frederic Cloutier for the tie of the guest. The Asiago reappeared in forward to 5 minutes to go and they found the goal once again with Kolanos. The forward recovered the puck in the neutral zone and after a fast action he put the puck under the crossbar. When missing only 30 seconds to the end of the first period, Anthony Nigro scroed the third goal after a spectacular action from corner. Duirng the second period Asiago played well but Lustenau pulled one goal after a shot of Dusan Devečka . Now the Austrian team was just one goal away. But Asiago answered again, thanks to a hat-trick  of unstoppable Kolanos. At the end of period Nigro, in powerplay action, served by Kolanos, did a one timer shot (5:2). During the third time the Asiago controlled the three-goal advantage. The period ended without goals. Asiago won for 5: 2 as they earned important points for the Master Round.

 

The start of the match was very balanced. Cortina controlled the situation while the Falcons was defended with order without particular problems for his own goalkeeper. The first period finished without goals.  During the second period the Cortina continued to attack but Scola performed at least two important saves. After 25 minutes the Fassa took the lead with Bustreo that was free in front of the net. Cesare Sottass then found another goal for Falcons after a great shot from distance of Marco Marzolini. The Cortina tried to reopen the game, but they didn’t succeed. After 34 minutes of play, the Fassa made the 3:0 with Bustreo after a wrist shot. Zachary Torquato, however, scored the first goal of Cortina when missing only a second to the end of the second period. The Cortina increased the pace and gots a penalty in the third period. Brace transformed it with a clever shot. The fatigue began to be felt for the young player of Fassa. The Cortina played with high intensity as they found the tie with Francesco Adami in powerplay after 58 minutes of game. Then after the overtime, the Cortina won on penalties with Riley Brace. The guest earned two important points to stay at the top of Qualification Round A.

 

Both teams had their chances in period 1, but the goalies Pietilä and Reich allowed no goals and also the post stopped the puck on both sides. After the re-start Salzburg took a penalty and this was punished by the „Wälder“: Marcel Wolf finished in the Power Play a combination over Daniel Ban and Simeon Schwinger. But the Red Bulls stayed unimpressed and answered with the 1:1 from Eder, after his shot the puck went from the post into the net. The third period started perfect for the guests: Florian Baltram scored the first lead for Salzburg. But the west-Austrians came back thanks another Power Play goal from Andreas Judex. Then the „Wälder“ had some good chances for the 3:2, but they failed to score. On the other side Daubner finished a counter for the 3:2-win for the Red Bulls late in the game. With this 3 points the Mozart Citizens stay in the race for the Play-offs.

 

Sky Alps Hockey League, Master Round:
Sat, 18.02.2017, 18:30: Rittner Buam - HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice 1:2 (1:0; 0:0; 0:2)
Referees: BULOVEC, VIRTA, Cristeli, Rezek; spectators: 683
Goals Ritten: 1:0 O. Ahlström (17./V. Ahlström);
Goals Jesenice: 1:1 Berlisk (42./SH1/Di Casmirro-Pance); 1:2 Manfreda (48./Ankrest-Magovac);
Sat, 18.02.2017, 19:30: HC Pustertal Wolves - FBI VEU Feldkirch 5:2 (1:0;1:1,3:1)
Referees: LEGA, RUETZ, Rinker, Stefenelli; spectators: 1.080
Goals Pustertal: 1:0 Andergassen (19./Rabbit-Schweitzer); 2:1 Bona (37./PP1/Helfer-Oberrauch); 3:1 B.Obermair (42./De Lorenzo Meo – E.Thum); 4:1 E.Thum (48./Leitner-Hofer); 5:2 Oberrauch (58./en);
Goals Feldkirch: 1:1 Birnstill (21./PP2/Mairitsch-Stanley); 4:2 Mairitsch (50./PP1/Stanley-Puschnik);

Sat, 18.02.2017, 20:30: Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey - EHC Alge Elastic Lustenau 5:2 (3:1; 1:1; 0:0);
Referees: PICHLER, WALLNER, Giacomozzi, Tschrepitsch; spectators: 720
Goals Asiago: 1:0 Kolanos (3./D.Sullivan-Nigro); 2:1 Kolanos (17./); 3:1 Nigro (19./Casetti-Marchetti); 4:2 Kolanos (32./Long-Nigro); 5:2 Nigro (37./PP1/Kolanos-Marchetti);
Goals Lustenau: Wolf (16. – Auer, Zorec), Auer (28. – Devecka, Gricinskis)

 

SKY Alps Hockey League, Qualification Round A:
Sat, 18.02.2017: EC Bregenzerwald – Red Bull Hockey Juniors 2:3 (0:0,1:1,1:2)
Referees: HOFER, HOLLENSTEIN; spectators: 1580
Goals ECB: Wolf (30./pp – Ban, Schwinger), Judex (53./pp – Putnik, Fussenegger)
Goals RBJ: Eder (37. – Klöckl, Postel), Baltram (44. – Wachter, Lahoda), Daubner (58.)
Sat, 18.02.2017, 20:30: HC Fassa Falcons - S.G. Cortina Hafro 3:4 SO (0:0; 3:1; 0:2; 0:0; 0:1)
Referees: FICHTNER, STERNAT, Biacoli, Cristeli; spectators: 327
Goals Fassa: 1:0 Bustreo (25./March-Monferone); 2:0 Sottsas (28./Marzolini-Zanet); 3:0 Bustreo (34./Di Diomete-Monferone);
Goals Cortina: 3:1 Torquato (39./PP1/De Biasio-Brace); 3:2 Brace (45./PS); 3:3 Adami (58./Caletti-Ciccarello); 3:4 Brace (67./PS);

 

Sky Alps Hockey League, Qualification Round B
Sat, 18.02.2017, 18:30: HC Neumarkt Riwega - EC KAC II 7:0 (2:0; 3:0; 2:0)
Referees: BENVEGNU, WIDMANN, Bedynek, Pinie; spectators: 374
Goals Neumarkt: 1:0 Nedved (2./PP2/Lundstrom-Willeit); 2:0 Zambaldi (4./Steiner-Willeit); 3:0 S.Peiti (23./Gaspar-Lundstrom); 4:0 Nedved (34./PP1/Gaspar-Lundstrom); 5:0 M.Sullmann (35./Cordin-A.Sullmann); 6:0 Lundstrom (40./Peiti-Gaspar); 7:0 Wieser (59./A.Sullmann-M.Sullmann);
Sat, 18.02.2017, 19:30: WSV Sterzing Broncos Weihenstephan - EC 'Die Adler' Stadtwerke Kitzbühel 5:1 (0:0; 3:0; 2:1)
Referees: CESCHINI, PODLESNIK, Basso, Holzer; spectators: 521
Goals Sterzing: 1:0 Felicetti (23./Verreault-Paul/Bahensky); 2:0 Bahensky (29./PP1/Roupec-Felicetti); 3:0 P. Mair (31./Stofner-Hackhofer); 4:1 Verreault-Paul (47./PP1/Felicetti-Bahensky); 5:1 Mantinger (52./Deanesi-Roupec);
Goal Kitzbühel: 3:1 Hummer (44./Saringer-Hörtnagl);

 

Master Round
1. HC Val Pusteria Lupi 18 points (7 games)
2. Rittner Buam 18 points (7 games)
3. Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 14 points (7 games)
4. HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice 14 points (7 games)
5. EHC Alge Elastic Lustenau 9 points (8 games)
6. VEU FBI Feldkirch 6 (8 games)

Qualification Round A
1. SG Cortina Hafro 17 points (5 games)
2. Red Bull Hockey Juniors 15 points (6 games)
3. HC Gherdeina valgardena.it 14 points (5 games)
4. HC Fassa Falcons 7 points (7 games)
5. EC Bregenzerwald 3 points (7 games)

Qualification Round B
1. HC Egna Riwega 18 points (6 games)
2. SSI Broncos Vipiteno Weihenstephan 17 points (6 games)
3. EK Zeller Eisbären 16 points (6 games)
4. EC ‚Die Adler‘ Stadtwerke Kitzbühel 6 points (6 games)
5. EC KAC II 1 point (8 games)
Picture: Oskar Brunner