Unterland back at the top of the table

The 4:7 away defeat in the first duel was still in the Rittners' minds, so they started the game on Saturday with a lot of motivation. After eight minutes, Spinell and Julian Kostner combined forward and the latter converted to make it 1:0. The visitors, however, answered with a similar goal by Moritz Kaufmann to make it 1:1. The home side could not capitalise on a game misconduct against Gabriel Galassiti. After numerous chances on both sides, in which Ritten's Treibenreif and Unterland goalie Giovanelli distinguished themselves again and again, the Cavaliers struck on the power play. In the 34th minute Nyman shot from the blue line and Girardi pushed the rebound into the goal. The derby continued in high class in the third period. The Cavaliers scored the next goal after seven minutes. In a four-on-four, Kokoska broke free in the slot and gave Treibenreif no chance. At first, the Buam were nervous and took a few penalties, but Simon Kostner scored the equaliser in a double shorthanded situation. And the captain found the back of the net once again: After Kevin Fink had been pulled off his feet by the last man, a penalty shot was awarded, which Kostner used to make it 3:3. In the last minutes, the Rittners were closer to the winning goal, but it wouldn't come. And in the overtime the Cavaliers got the extra point after Wieser scored after Kokoska's assist to make the final score 4:3. The league newcomers thus also took over the lead in the standings.

Juniors' winning streak comes to an end
After six wins in a row, the Red Bull Hockey Juniors' run of success came to an end in Gardena. The home side took the lead in the eighth minute through Leo Messner. After the Salzburg equaliser, Brad McGowan restored the lead. While their own powerplay (a total of seven situations went unused) did not work on this evening, the visitors conceded a goal while being shorthanded - Kyle Gibbon scored in the 26th minute to make it 3:1. On the other side, the Juniors really cut their teeth with goalkeeper Colin Furlong. Juniors coach Teemu Levijoki tried it early with a sixth skater: Gardena veteran Michael Sullmann scored an empty-net goal to make it 4:1, before Salzburg captain Heigl extended his personal point streak to five games (6 goals, 7 assists) with his goal. Finally, McGowan scored again via empty-net for the 5:2 final score.

Home wins for Zell am See, Kitzbühel and Lustenau
Zell am See reacted to their weak performance in Meran and secured a 6:3 home win against the biting Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan. The team from Zell struggled for a while, but deserved the three points in front of 1,700 spectators thanks to a united team performance. After the South Tyroleans had taken the lead twice, Zell am See turned the game in their favour in the middle period. Henrik Neubauer scored twice for the home side, and the Salzburgers remain in fourth place in the standings.

In the match between Kitzbühel and the KAC Future Team, each period was similar. The home side took the lead, but the Carinthians managed to equalise. When Lewis Hook gave the Tyroleans the lead for the third time on the evening in the 44th minute, the Eagles again had the better cards. But KAC forward Maximilian Theirich sent the game into overtime by equalising again. In the extra session, first KEC goalie Paul Mocher had a big save. On the opposite side, Jimi Kuronen scored for the home win.

The first Vorarlberg derby of the season ended with a 6:0 victory for EHC Lustenau. Six different EHC players were able to get on the scoresheet. Leon Schmeiser started the scoring (7th) and Jonas Kutzer increased the lead to 2:0 in the first period. At the beginning of the second period, EC Bregenzerwald had their strongest phase but Lustenau's goalkeeper Erik Hanses kept his goal clean. The first noteworthy chance for the hosts also led to the third goal for EHC: Philipp Pöschmann scored with a one timer. Then in the 33rd minute the preliminary decision: Ryan Hayes scored the fourth goal for the home team in a power play. With this clear home victory, the Lustenau team was able to move up in the standings and is now just ahead of the Wälder.

Alps Hockey League, 19.11.2022:
Rittner Buam SkyAlps - Hockey Unterland Cavaliers 3:4 OT (1:1,0:1,2:1,0:1)
Referees: GIACOMOZZI, VIRTA, Basso, Brondi
Goals 1:0 RIT Kostner J. (08:16 / Spinell M. ,Mäkelä A. / EQ), 1:1 HCU Kaufmann M. (11:40 / Nyman L. ,Galassiti D. / EQ), 1:2 HCU Girardi D. (33:19 / Graf M. ,Nyman L. / PP), 1:3 HCU Kokoska F. (47:19 / Nyman L. ,Haarala S. / EQ), 2:3 RIT Kostner S. (51:35 / unassisted / 3:5 SH), 3:3 RIT Kostner S. (54:38 / unassisted / EQ), 3:4 HCU Wieser F. (60:30 / Kokoska F. / EQ)

EK Die Zeller Eisbären – Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 6:3 (1:2,4:1,1:0)
Referees: OREL, WUNTSCHEK, Puff, Wucherer
Goals 0:1 WSV Mizzi J. (02:11 / Eisendle P. / EQ), 1:1 EKZ Ban D. (08:02 / Hämäläinen A. ,Wilenius T. / EQ), 1:2 WSV Deluca R. (14:48 / Gschnitzer D. ,Pohlin R. / EQ), 2:2 EKZ Ban D. (20:39 / Hämäläinen A. ,Widen F. / EQ), 3:2 EKZ Neubauer H. (20:53 / Berger H. ,Akerman J. / EQ), 3:3 WSV De Lorenzo Meo L. (21:31 / Conci D. ,Soraruf D. / EQ), 4:3 EKZ Hämäläinen A. (29:17 / Wilenius T. ,Widen F. / EQ), 5:3 EKZ Neubauer H. (35:55 / Berger H. ,Akerman J. / EQ), 6:3 EKZ Putnik P. (59:06 / Kittinger P. ,Neubauer H. / EQ)

HC Gherdeina valgardena.it - Red Bull Hockey Juniors 5:2 (2:1,1:0,2:1)
Referees: MOSCHEN, SORAPERRA, Cristeli, Pace
Goals 1:0 GHE Messner L. (11:13 / Glück D. ,Sölva M. / EQ), 1:1 RBJ Sinn P. (12:20 / Schreiner V. / EQ), 2:1 GHE MC GOWAN B. (14:09 / Amorosa T. ,Sullmann Pilser M. / EQ), 3:1 GHE Gibbon K. (25:14 / Amorosa T. ,MC GOWAN B. / PP), 4:1 GHE Sullmann Pilser M. (57:44 / MC GOWAN B. / EQ), 4:2 RBJ Heigl N. (58:05 / Bosecker L. ,Sinn P. / EQ), 5:2 GHE MC GOWAN B. (58:25 / unassisted / EQ)

EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel - EC-KAC Future Team 4:3 OT (1:1,1:1,1:1,1:0)
Referees: KUMMER, MILOVANOVIC, Legat, Voican
Goals 1:0 KEC Hook L. (05:37 / Bruckner P. / EQ), 1:1 KFT Piuk T. (17:26 / Brodnik N. ,Sablattnig T. / PP), 2:1 KEC Ludin L. (24:00 / Hochfilzer H. ,Hook L. / EQ), 2:2 KFT Persson W. (33:45 / Witting S. ,Witting M. / PP), 3:2 KEC Hook L. (43:37 / Hochfilzer H. ,Ludin L. / EQ), 3:3 KFT Theirich M. (46:06 / Witting M. / EQ), 4:3 KEC Kuronen J. (63:09 / Lahnaviik R. ,Niemelä J. / EQ)

EHC Lustenau - EC Bregenzerwald (2:0,2:0,2:0)
Referees: KAINBERGER, RUETZ, Reisinger, Seewald 6:0
Goals 1:0 EHC Schmeiser L. (06:01 / Wüstner R. ,Moosbrugger L. / EQ), 2:0 EHC Kutzer J. (13:42 / Krammer A. ,Haberl L. / EQ), 3:0 EHC Pöschmann P. (25:25 / Wilfan M. ,Koczera P. / EQ), 4:0 EHC Hayes R. (32:58 / Larsen M. ,Koczera P. / PP), 5:0 EHC Krammer A. (44:30 / Wilfan M. ,Pöschmann P. / EQ), 6:0 EHC Larsen M. (59:53 / Wilfan M. ,Lucenius N. / 5:3 PP)

Photo: Max Pattis