Release from 27.02.2025
The first pre-playoff matchday in the Alps Hockey League took place on Thursday. EC Bregenzerwald beat HC Gherdeina valgardena.it 3:1, HK RST Pellet Celje surprised with a 4:2 away win against Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan and HC Meran/o Pircher celebrated a narrow 4:3 home win after overtime against KHL Sisak. The second games of the “best-of-3” series will take place on Saturday. In the Master Round, meanwhile, league leaders EK Die Zeller Eisbären also won their seventh game. They celebrated a 3:2/OT victory in the derby at Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel. SIJ Acroni Jesenice recorded a clear 8:1 victory against S.G. Cortina Hafro Hockey in the second match.
League leaders EK Die Zeller Eisbären remain unbeaten in the Master Round. In the derby at the Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel, which was sold out with 1,250 fans, the Pinzgau team narrowly triumphed 3:2 after overtime. As a result, Zell am See already has an eleven-point lead over the Tyroleans, who are currently in second place. In a very evenly-matched game, the home side held the lead until eleven minutes before the end, before Zell am See equalized through Christian Jennes. In overtime, Philip Putnik finally scored the game-winner for the “Polar Bears”.
In the second game of the Master Round, SIJ Acroni Jesenice celebrated a clear 8:1 home win against S.G. Cortina Hafro. After just nine minutes, the third-placed team in the table, who are one point behind second-placed Kitzbühel, were 4:0 in front. It then took until the 29th minute before the Slovenians increased their lead to 5:0. After two periods, they were already 7:0 ahead. Tjas Lesnicar and Luc Slivnik had scored twice by this point. The visitors also got on the scoreboard in the 49th minute through Francesco Adami. However, the home side scored the final goal again in the form of Gregor Koblar, who also scored twice. It was Cortina's fifth defeat in the sixth game of the Master Round. With three points, they are bottom of the table.
Bregenzerwald, Celje and Merano start the pre-playoffs victoriously
EC Bregenzerwald started the pre-playoffs with a 3:1 home win against HC Gherdeina valgardena.it. In front of 800 fans, the home side took the lead in the third minute through Philipp Pöschmann. With 19 seconds left in the first period, ECB top scorer Roberts Lipsbergs increased the lead to 2:0. The Vorarlberg team finally scored in the 32nd minute to make it 3:0. It remained 3:0 for the home side until around seven minutes before the end of the game, when Val Gardena managed to score the final goal, but were unable to make the game any more exciting. The team from South Tyrol must therefore win in front of their home crowd on Saturday to avoid a premature end to the season.
HK RST Pellet Celje celebrated a surprising 4:2 away win at the Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan. Although the Slovenians fell behind after just 66 seconds, they turned the game around by the tenth minute and even went into the first period break with a 3:1 lead. Sterzing, who suffered their first defeat of the season against Celje, reduced the deficit to 2:3 in the 29th minute, but they were unable to equalize. Bohdan Panasenko finally restored the visitors' two-goal lead in the 46th minute with his second goal of the evening, which held until the final buzzer.
In the third pre-playoff duel, HC Meran/o Pircher narrowly prevailed at home against KHL Sisak by 4:3 after overtime. The South Tyroleans trailed 0:2 after just eight minutes, but then got into the game better and equalized with goals in the 34th and 38th minutes to make it 2:2. Pascal Brunner, who scored the equalizer, even put the “Eagles” ahead in the 46th minute. However, Sisak had the right answer this time and equalized in the 51st minute through Carson Briere to make it 3:3. The game then went into the first endless overtime of this year's postseason. Teruto Nakajima redeemed the almost 650 fans in the Meranarena after five minutes and 34 seconds.
Alps Hockey League
Master Round:
Thu, 27.02.2025
SIJ Acroni Jesenice - S.G. Cortina Hafro 8:1 (4:0, 3:0, 1:1)
Referees: LESNIAK, SORAPERRA, Arlic, Brondi. | Spectators: 650
Goals JES: 1:0 Koblar G. (1.), 2:0 Baloh D. (3.), 3:0 Sturm J. (4.), 4:0 Lesnicar T. (9./PP1), 5:0 Lesnicar T. (29.), 6:0 Slivnik L. (34./PP1), 7:0 Slivnik L. (39./PP1), 8:1 Koblar G. (55.)
Goal SGC: 7:1 Adami F. (49.)
Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel - EK Die Zeller Eisbären 2:3/OT (0:1, 0:0, 2:1, 0:1)
Referees: MOSCHEN, WIDMANN, Fecchio, Telesklav. | Spectators: 1.250
Goals KEC: 1:1 Christiansen S. (42./PP1), 2:1 Schutz C. (44./PP1)
Goals EKZ: 0:1 Wilfan M. (12.), 2:2 Jennes C. (50.), 2:3/OT Putnik P. (63./PP1)
Pre-Playoffs (best-of-three), Game 1
Thu, 27.02.2025:
EC Bregenzerwald - HC Gherdeina valgardena.it 3:1 (2:0, 1:0, 0:1)
Referees: HOLZER, KAINBERGER, Seewald, Zacherl. | Spectators: 813
Standings in the“best-of-3” series: 1:0
Goals ECB: 1:0 Pöschmann P. (3.), 2:0 Lipsbergs R. (20.), 3:0 Wernicke J. (32.)
Goal GHE: 3:1 Laitinen V. (54.)
Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan - HK RST Pellet Celje 2:4 (1:3, 1:0, 0:1)
Referees: HLAVATY, VIRTA, Rinker, Weiss. | Spectators: 460
Standings in the“best-of-3” series: 0:1
Goals WSV: 1:0 Niccolai A. (2.), 2:3 Livingston J. (29./PP1)
Goals HKC: 1:1 Mintautiskis M. (8.), 1:2 Panasenko B. (10.), 1:3 Tsarkovskyi D. (20.), 2:4 Panasenko B. (46.)
HC Meran/o Pircher - KHL Sisak 4:3/OT (0:2, 2:0, 1:1, 1:0)
Referees: BULOVEC, LAZZERI, Cristeli, Jeram. | Spectators: 642
Standings in the“best-of-3” series: 1:0
Goals HCM: 1:2 Tomasini P. (34.), 2:2 Brunner P. (38.), 3:2 Brunner P. (46.), 4:3/OT Nakajima T. (66.)
Goals SIS: 0:1 Bebek A. (3.), 0:2 Malenica N. (9./SH1), 3:3 Briere C. (51.)
Copyright: BK Photo