Ice Hockey League, Bolzano wins the regular season. Val Pusteria loses in Villach but is still in the pre-qualifying race. Asiago repeats himself on Pioneers – FISG

On the penultimate day of the ICE Hockey League regular season, theHCB Alto Adige Alperia edge Ljubljana away 6 to 1 and win the regular season by one match. This is the second time that the Red and White, since playing for ICE (formerly Ebel), have been seeded into the playoffs. So, another important event for the Foxes who, after qualifying for the Champions Hockey League, will be guaranteed to benefit from the rink in all the following qualifiers and will have, at the end of the preliminaries, the first right to choose the opponent. Instead, Val Pusteria will have to wait until the last minute. Indeed, Wolves were unable to maintain a 3-2 lead gained in Villach’s first two runs. In fact, the Carinthian Eagles partially put them 3 to 0 down in the final and tipped the score to the last 5 to 3. The Gilloneri missed opportunity as Klagenfurt outlasted contenders from Graz 4 to 2. This way the last 60 minutes of the regular season will be decisive. On Sunday, Val Pusteria will face Ljubljana, while Graz will host the Pioneers. In fact, the 99 have a points advantage over Wolves and at this point we will see if Val Pusteria will be able to subvert the current state of things but it will also depend a lot on the result of Graz. Asiago, who had already qualified for the pre-qualifiers in ninth place, won his second challenge in less than 24 hours against the already-eliminated Pioneers.

Second place goes to EC Red Bull Salzburg, who will definitely play with Bolzano in the Champions Hockey League next season. The Red Bulls snatched a narrow 3:2 home/overtime win over Seposo Vienna Capitals. HC TIWAG Innsbruck won 5:4/OT on Hydro Fehérvár AV19, but has no chance of moving into second place.

Val Pusteria or Graz for the last place in the playoffs? Sunday the final verdict in the distance challenge

The battle for tenth place remains exciting until the end. The Moser Medical Graz99ers lost to EC-KAC 2:4 on Friday, but still have a chance to finish 10th and thus qualify for the pre-playoffs. In the parallel match, HC Val Pusteria lost to EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV 3:5 still one point ahead of the 99ers. On Sunday, South Tyrol will face Ljubljana at home. Graz, in turn, will play bottom-placed Pioneers Vorarlberg. Against KAC, the Styrians were already trailing 0:2 after halftime on Friday, before they managed to tie the game 19 seconds into the second half. But in the last period, it was the Kuwait Airways team that scored twice again. The goal 3: 2 was set up by Paul Postma, who also scored 1: 0 in the meantime. With this win, KAC would finish the regular season in fifth place.

Asiago beats Al Rowad again in less than 24 hours

In Odegar Migross Supermercati, Asiago Hockey won 5-3 against Pioneers Vorarlberg at the end of a game that became rough and angular starting from the second half, after a bad unpunished attack on Filippo Rigoni #89.

The formations remain unchanged, there is only an alternation of columns with Valene and Schubert defending their cages.

A lightning start for Asiago who scored after 18 seconds with Venoro, was well served in front of goal by McShane. The guests responded four minutes later, with Mascherzyski, who hit a rebound that hit Falini’s net, and managed to repeat it on the net. The Pioneers score again and lead a minute later with Heier, who receives a well-placed puck from Erne and throws it behind Vallini.

In the second half, just before the halfway point, Jacome made a nasty foul against Rigoni #89, which ended up being headed to the side and carried off the ice on a stretcher. In the 33rd minute with great choral work from the front row, it was concretely set up by Misley in a fine no-look pass by McShane.

In the third period the game becomes very tense and the field turns into a battlefield, eventually 9 minor penalties will be called in the third period and one of Macierzyski’s ten minutes. In the 52nd minute, the guests took the lead with a superior digital goal from Van Nes. Two minutes later, the home team equalized using Powerplay: McShane served Michele Marchetti who made a hole between Schubert’s leggings from a central position. Another two minutes went by and Stellatti ran away in the second half with Mesley, the ball left to Gazzola who sent it into the top corner for 4-3. In the dying minutes, Salinitri scored into an empty net ending the match.

Photo by Serena Fantini

WIN2DAY ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE | 24.02.2023
HYDRO FEHÉRVÁR AV19 – HC TIWAG INNSBRUCK – DAY HI 4:5 / Extra time (0:1, 2:2, 2:1)
Reviewers: Groznick, Siegel, Gatul-Shafranik, Muzik. | Spectators: 2,336
AVS Goals: 1:1 Findlay B. (23.), 2:2 Magosi B. (34.), 3:3 Hari J. (44), 4:3 Hari J. (49.)
HCI targets: 0: 1 Peeters S. (14.), Watson J. (24./SH1), 2: 3 Peeters S. (38.), 4: 4 Leavens D. (54.), 4: 5 Shaw B. (64/OT)

EC IDM WÄRMEPUMPEN VSV – HC PUSTERTAL WÖLFE 5:3 (1:1, 1:2, 3:0)
Referees: HRONSKY, OFNER, DURMIS, RIECKEN. | Spectators: 3,283
Goals VSV: 1:1 Collins C. (14./PP1), 2:1 Luciani A. (28.), 3:3 Maxa F. (46.), 4:3 Desjardins A. (52.), 5 : 3 Rivett-Mattinen (60./EN/SH1)
PUS targets: 0:1 Bardaro A. (11.), 2:2 Ahl F. (29.), 2:3 Mantinger M. (34.)

MOSER MEDICAL GRAZERS – EC-KAC 2:4 (0:2, 2:0, 0:2)
Referees: Smetana, Sternat, Bernthaler, Seewald E | Spectators: 4,126
Targets G99: 1: 2 Yogan A. (25.), 2: 2 Ograjensek K. (26.)
KAC goals: 0: 1 Postma P. (10.), 0: 2 Ticar R. (14.), 2: 3 Postma P. (42.), 2: 3 Postma P. (42.), 2: 4 Fraser m. (50.)

EC RED BULL SALZBURG – SPUSU VIENNA CAPITALS 3:2 / OT (2:2, 0:0, 0:0)
Referees: FICHTNER, NIKOLIC K., NOTHEGGER, SPARER. | Spectators: 3,150
RBS Goals: 1:0 Huber M. (17.), 2:0 Huber P. (18.), 3:2 Wukovits A. (65./OT)
Vic goals: 2:1 Posch B. (18.), 2:2 Bradley M. (20.)

MEGROS SUPERMARKET ASIAGO HOCKEY – BEMER PIONEERS VORARLBERG 5:3 (1:2, 1:0, 3:1)
Referees: Nikolic M, Zarnak, Bardacher, Snug. | Spectators: 1195
ASH targets: 1: 0 Finoro G. (1.), 2: 2 Misley B. (34.), 3: 3 Marchetti M. (55./PP1), 4: 3 Gazzola R. (57.), 5 : 3 Salinitri A. (60./AR)
Goals PIV: 1: 1 Macierzynski K. (5.), 1: 2 Heier A. (6.), 2: 3 Van Nes G. (53./PP1)

HK SZ OLIMPIJA – HBC SÜDTIROL ALPERIA 1:6 (0:2, 1:2, 0:2)
Reviewers: Rench, Terlar, Heribar, Meklik. | Spectators: 1051
Goal HKO: 1: 3 Podrekar U. (25.)
HCB goals: 0: 1 Halmo M. (4.), 0: 2 Gazley D. (18.), 0: 3 McClure B. (22.), 1: 4 Frigo L. (31./PP1), 1 : 5 Gazley D. (44.), 1: 6 Hults M. (49.)

Ice Hockey League Standings / Updated February 24, 2023

1) HCB South Tyrol Alperia 103 points (47 matches).
2) EC Red Bull Salzburg 98 points (47 matches).
3) HC TIWAG Innsbruck – Die Hay 94 points (47 matches).
4) EC iDM Warmepumpen VSV Villach 90 points (48 matches)
5) EC – KAC Klagenfurt 79 points (47 pts).
6) Seposo Vienna Capitals, 74 points (47 matches).
————————————————————–
7) Steinbach Blackwings, 70 points (47 matches).
8) Hydro Fehervar AV 19 67 points (47 matches)
9) Migros Supermercati Asiago Hockey, 63 points (47 matches).
10) Moser Medical Graz99ers 54 points (47 games)
—————————————————————–
11) HC Val Pusteria Lupi 53 points (47 matches).
12) HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana 40 points (47 matches).
13) Beimer Pioneers Vorarlberg, 33 points (47 matches).

Format: Each team plays 48 matches (two-way). At the end of the regular season, the top six qualify for the playoffs. From seventh to tenth place, at the end of the regular season, there will be pre-qualifiers where seventh will challenge for tenth place and eighth place will challenge against ninth with a best-of-three-race formula. The two winners before the playoff match join the qualifying bracket. From 11th to 13th at the season finale on February 26th.