Unterland clearly beats runner-up Jesenice on AHL debut

The Hockey Unterland Cavaliers started their Alps Hockey League adventure with a surprisingly clear 5:2 home win over runner-up HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice. For Jesenice it was already the second game of the season. Last Saturday they celebrated a commanding 4:0 home victory over Cortina. Also at Unterland the Slovenians started strong into the game and took a 1:0 lead in the 13th minute of the game through new signing Rudolfs Polcs. In the middle period, however, the home side got better and better into the game. Gabriel Galassiti in particular put his stamp on the game. First the 20-year-old equalized to 1:1 (25.), before he scored the lead of Unterland only seven minutes later. In the third period, Jesenice was not able to answer, but it was again Unterland who scored and even increased the lead to 5:1. The last goal of the evening was scored by Eric Pance (JES).

Zell am See new league leader
With the second win in the second game of the season, the EK Die Zeller Eisbären are new league leader. The team from Pinzgau won 4:1 at home against the Rittner Buam thanks to a strong final period. For the South Tyroleans, who took the lead in the ninth minute of the game, it was the first defeat in the second game. The Polar Bears equalized in the second period in the power play through Henrik Neubauer. The Swede also scored five and a half minutes before the end of the game to make it 3:1. Just four seconds earlier, Daniel Ban scored for Zell am See to make it 2:1. Hubert Berger provided the final goal just under one minute before the end of the game.

Vorarlberg teams start season with defeats
The EHC Lustenau started the new season with a 2:3 overtime defeat against Fassa. Last year's semifinalist was still leading 2:1 until five and a half minutes before the end of the game, when Sebastiano Rossi equalized for Fassa. In the overtime Stephan Deluca finally provided the decision in favor of the guests, who celebrated their first victory in the second game of the season. Both goals of Lustenau were scored in the second period in overtime.

The EC Bregenzerwald, the second team from Vorarlberg, also lost in overtime. In a high-scoring game at the EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel, the ECB lost 5:6 on their season debut. In the meantime, they were already ahead 2:1 and 5:4. The winning goal for the "Eagles" was scored by Henrik Hochfilzer, who also scored the 2:2. For Kitzbühel it was promptly the first win in the first game of the season.

Broncos win in Linz
The Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan won 4:3 against the Steinbach Steel Wings Linz and celebrated their first victory in the second game of the season. For the Steel Wings, however, it was the second defeat in the second game of the season. The game was balanced from the beginning. The guests from Sterzing went into the first period break with a 2:1 lead. In the middle period, WSV new signing Remy Giftopoulos got on the scoresheet for the first time with a goal to make it 3:1. The Steel Wings did not give up, however, and even managed to level the score till the 49th minute. But seven and a half minutes before the end of the game Davide Conci finally scored the decisive for Sterzing. It was the second goal of the evening for the 26-year-old.

In the sixth game of the evening between the HC Meran/o Pircher and the EC-KAC Future Team, the home side from South Tyrol narrowly kept the upper hand with a 3:2 and were able to turn around a temporary 1:2 deficit in the final period on their season debut. Ben Hawerchuk scored the game-winner eight minutes before the end of the game. It was the third game of the season and the second defeat for the Future Team.

Alps Hockey League | 17.09.2022:
Hockey Unterland Cavaliers - HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice 5:2 (0:1, 3:0, 2:1)
Referees: BENVEGNU, LEGA, Basso, Mantovani. | Spectators: 327
Goals HCU: 1:1 Galassiti G. (25. Kokoska F. – Haarala S.), 2:1 Galassiti G. (32.), 3:1 Markkula M. (35./PP1 Brighenti T.), 4:1 Kaufmann M. (43. Egger A. – Markkula M.), 5:1 Wieser F. (50./PP1 Zerbetto G. – Nyman L.)
Goals JES: 0:1 Polcs (13. Pance E.), 5:2 Pance E. (57./PP1 Logar M. – Jenko J.)

Steinbach Steel Wings Linz - Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 3:4 (1:2, 1:1, 1:1)
Referees: DURCHNER, HLAVATY, Dieber, Voican. | Spectators: 139
Goals SWL: 1:1 Brikmanis A. (14./PP1 Ekelund U. – Noreika E.), 2:3 Lindner L. (37. Rappold K. – Ekelund U.), 3:3 Bucenieks K. (49./PP1 Noreika E. – Ekelund U.)
Goals WSV: 0:1 McBride S. (5. Giftopoulos R.), 1:2 Conci D. (14./PP1 Jokinen J. – Maylan J.), 1:3 Giftopoulos R. (26. Messner M. – Gander M.), 3:4 Conci D. (53. Hackhofer F. - Giftopoulos R.)

EK Die Zeller Eisbären - Rittner Buam 4:1 (0:1, 1:0, 3:0)
Referees: HOLZER, STEFENELLI, Huber, Seewald. | Spectators: 1389
Goals EKZ: 1:1 Neubauer H. (26./PP1 Kittinger P. – Hämäläinen A.), 2:1 Ban D. (55. Wilenius T. – Putnik P.), 3:1 Neubauer H. (55./PP1 Akerman J. – Kittinger P.), 4:1 Jennes C. (59. Artner F. – Rattensberger D.)
Goals RIT: 0:1 Mäkelä A. (9. Fink K. – Spinell M.)

EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel - EC Bregenzerwald 6:5/OT (1:1, 3:3, 1:1)
Referees: BRUNNER, SCHAUER, Matthey, Moidl. | Spectators: 403
Goals KEC: 1:1 Hook L. (20./PP1), 2:2 Hochfilzer H. (30. Pallierer T. – Maurer N.), 3:2 Urbanek M. (31. Ebner M. – Hochfolzer H.), 4:3 Niemelä J. (37.), 5:5 Kuronen J. (52./PP2 Szabad K.), 6:5 Hochfilzer H. (64./OT)
Goals ECB: 0:1 Schlögl R. (10. Ranftl F. – Tröthan R.), 1:2 Lipsbergs R. (24. Lehtonen W. – Vonbun F.), 3:3 Peischler L. (35. Metzler M. – Metzler P.), 4:4 Lehtonen W. (39./PP2 Lipsbergs R. – Nyqvist J.), 4:5 Lehtonen W. (50. Fässler K. – Lipsbergs R.)

EHC Lustenau - SHC Fassa Falcons 2:3/OT (0:1, 2:0, 0:1)
Referees: KAINBERGER, VIRTA, Müller, Spiegel. | Spectators: 586
Goals EHC: 1:1 Pöschmann P. (29./PP1 Ratz P. – König D.), 2:1 Haberl L. (36./PP1 Larsen M . - Siiki O.)
Goals FAS: 0:1 Deluca A. (15. Biondi L. – Ploner A.), 2:2 Rossi S. (55. Forte M. – Biondi L.), 2:3 Deluca S. (62./OT Pietroniro M. – Sol C.)

HC Meran/o Pircher - EC-KAC Future Team 3:2 (1:0, 0:2, 2:0)
Referees: BAJT, REZEK, Brondi, Cristeli, | Spectators: 241
Goals HCM: 1:9 Tomasini P. (10./PP1 Borgatello C. – Chiodo L.), 2:2 Chiodo L. (44./SH1 Hawerchuk B.), 3:2 Hawerchuk B. (52. Ansoldi L. – Chiodo L.)
Goals KFT: 1:1 Sablattnig T. (26./PP1 Gomboc L.), 1:2 Gomboc L. (35.)