Red Bull Hockey Juniors edge Bregenzerwald – defeat for Adler Kitzbühel

Alps Hockey League leaders KHL Sisak remain unstoppable. The Croatians prevailed 3:2 in a penalty shootout against SIJ Acroni Jesenice on Thursday evening to celebrate their sixth consecutive win. Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan also secured a much-needed result in the derby against HC Gherdeina valgardena.it. In the other games, Hockey Unterland Cavaliers against the Adler from Kitz, Red Bull Hockey Juniors against EC Bregenzerwald and S.G. Cortina all emerged victorious.

14 November 20243 min read

League leaders KHL Sisak could not be beaten even by third-placed SIJ Acroni Jesenice. In front of 1.432 enthusiastic fans, the Croatians narrowly prevailed 3:2 following a shootout to claim their ninth win of the season in their eleventh game. Things did not look good for a long time against the third-placed Slovenian side.

The visitors took a 2:0 lead after just five minutes thanks to an early double strike. The score remained unchanged until the 49th minute, when the hosts got on the scoresheet for the first time. Sisak finally equalised through Karlo Marinkovic with four and a half minutes remaining. The 20-year-old forward was also the one to convert the decisive penalty in the shootout, securing Sisak's sixth consecutive victory.

They remain unbeaten in front of their home crowd, but dropped their first point. Jesenice suffered one of just two defeats from their past five games. Jesenice had narrowly come out on top in the previous two meetings this season, one in the league and one in the Continental Cup.

Bottom side Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan secured a much-needed result in the derby against HC Gherdeina valgardena.it. The team from Sterzing claimed a convincing 8:2 win, celebrating their first victory since 17 October and after six consecutive defeats. Gröden suffered their fourth straight defeat but remain tenth in the standings.

Luciano Zandegiacomo was the player of the game with two goals and an assist. It was the 20-year-old forward's first brace in the Alps Hockey League. The hosts already led 3:0 after 21 minutes, while last season's semi-finalists held a comfortable 6:1 advantage after two periods. The Broncos added another two goals in the final period. Gröden, who had won the first meeting of the season 3:1, had no chance this time but at least managed to score a second goal.

Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel suffered a narrow 3:4 home defeat to Hockey Unterland Cavaliers, their fifth consecutive loss. In a fiercely contested game, the visitors from Neumarkt scored the game-winner through Matthias Bonazzo with just under four minutes remaining.

It was the 19-year-old defenceman's first goal and first point in his thirteenth Alps Hockey League game. Unterland moved up to eighth place in the standings with their first win following two straight defeats. Kitzbühel remain fourth in the table.

Red Bull Hockey Juniors celebrated another narrow victory in their second home game of the week. Following Tuesday's 2:1/OT win against Gröden, the Salzburg side prevailed 3:2 against EC Bregenzerwald on Thursday. For the visitors, it was their second one-goal defeat of the season against the Juniors and their first loss overall after three consecutive victories.

The Vorarlberg side conceded the decisive goal with eight minutes remaining, when Luca Kogler netted his fourth goal of the season to make it 3:2. The hosts had previously led 2:0, but the visitors fought their way back into the game within six minutes in the final period. In the end, however, seventh-placed Salzburg celebrated their eighth win in their 18th game. Eleventh-placed Bregenzerwald suffered their tenth defeat in their 14th outing.

In the fifth and final game of the day, last season's finalists S.G. Cortina Hafro claimed an untroubled 6:2 victory against HC Meran/o Pircher. It was the third straight win for sixth-placed Cortina, while twelfth-placed Meran suffered their fourth defeat in their past five games. The hosts took the lead in the fourth minute, before Cortina made it 2:0 early in the middle period, only for the visitors to get on the scoresheet for the first time.

However, SGC pulled away to 4:1 shortly afterwards with a double strike. Mikael Saha, among others, scored his second goal of the game. It was the forward's third brace of the season. Kris Pietroniro sealed the result at 5:1 early in the final period. Both teams scored once more in the final five minutes of the game.