Win for Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel – defeat for EK Die Zeller Eisbären

Rittner Buam SkyAlps celebrated an impressive 7:1 win over HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice at the Ritten Arena on Monday evening. Manuel Öhler was the match-winner, shining with a hat-trick. After a closely contested first period, which went 1:0 to the hosts, Ritten dominated the middle period and increasingly put Jesenice under pressure. The home side showed no weaknesses in the final period either. Despite conceding a late goal, the Buam produced a strong team performance, spectacular goals and outstanding defence, led by netminder Florian Plattner. Second-placed Ritten reduced the gap to league leaders Jesenice to five points in the standings.

S.G. Cortina Hafro recorded a 4:1 win over the higher-placed EK Die Zeller Eisbären. The Italians are now just four points behind fourth-placed Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel and five points behind the Eisbären from Zell in the standings. Cortina made a lively start to the game and took the lead as early as the fifth minute. In the second period, the home side extended their advantage to 3:0 through two power-play goals. Cortina ultimately celebrated a 5:1 win, securing their top-5 position.

EC Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel battled to a 2:1 overtime win over WSV Sterzing Broncos. Following a scoreless first period in which the Kitzbühel hosts dominated the game, Sterzing took the lead against the run of play in the 39th minute. The Adler repeatedly came up against Sterzing goaltender Dominik Groh, who was outstanding for 59 minutes and only narrowly missed out on a shutout. It was not until the final minute of play that Henrik Hochfilzer beat the Broncos netminder to take his team into overtime. In overtime, Paolo Wieltschnig scored on the power play in the 65th minute to secure the extra point for Kitzbühel – just seven seconds before the looming penalty shootout.

HC Unterland Cavaliers delivered a commanding performance against HC Gherdeina valgardena.it. Although the visitors from Gröden took an early lead, the Cavaliers turned the game around with two quick goals in the first period. Unterland steadily extended their lead as the game progressed and ultimately won 5:2. The Cavaliers thus ended a run of four consecutive defeats.

HK Celje celebrated a 3:2 home win over neighbouring side Bregenzerwald on Monday evening. The visitors from Vorarlberg made a lightning start, making it 1:0 after just over a minute. However, Celje turned the game around in the first period and went into the first break with a 2:1 lead. After a scoreless middle period, Danil Tsarkovskyi's second goal of the evening proved decisive. Although Bregenzerwald pulled one back a few seconds before the end, they were unable to find an equaliser.

HC Merano won the clash between neighbouring teams in the standings against KHL Sisak 3:2. After an even first period in which both teams scored once, Sisak took the lead in the second period. Meran/o equalised at the start of the final period before the decisive 3:2 was scored in the final minute of play. With this win, Meran/o moved level on points with Sisak in the standings, with Sisak remaining in seventh place.

Alps Hockey League:

Hockey Unterland Cavaliers vs. HC Gherdeina valgardena.it 5:2 (2:1,2:1,1:0)
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Rittner Buam SkyAlps vs. SIJ Acroni Jesenice 7:1 (1:0,3:0,3:1)
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HK RST Pellet Celje vs. EC Bregenzerwald 3:2 (2:1,0:0,1:1)
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Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel vs. Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 2:1 AOT (0:0,0:1,1:0,1:0)
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S.G. Cortina Hafro vs. EK Die Zeller Eisbären 4:1 (1:0,2:0,1:1)
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KHL Sisak vs. HC Meran/o Pircher 2:3 (1:1,1:0,1:2)