Zeller Eisbären new league leaders after derby win over Red Bull Hockey Juniors

The HC Meran/o produced the biggest surprise of the matchday. The South Tyroleans claimed a deserved 5:1 home win over KHL Sisak to knock the Croatians off top spot. After a scoreless first period, Patrick Tomasini gave the home side the lead, and the teams entered an action-packed final period with the score at 1:0. The South Tyroleans pulled away to 4:0, helped by two goals from Massimo Pietroniro. League top scorer Bruno Idzan did score shorthanded for the visitors, but Meran netted on the power play shortly afterwards to seal the final score.

The new league leaders are EK Zeller Eisbären, although the derby against the Red Bull Hockey Juniors did not go as the home side had hoped for a long time. After Fabian Baumann gave the visitors an early lead, the Juniors dominated the first period. The Eisbären equalised in the second period in front of 2.400 spectators, but Paul Vinzens put the Juniors back in front shortly afterwards.

At the start of the final period, Zell am See turned the game around with two quick goals from Max Wilfan and Bernhard Fechtig. In the closing stages, the Pinzgau side added two empty-net goals in the final minutes to make it 5:2.

HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice defended third place with a 3:1 home win over Cortina. The Slovenians set the course for victory in the first period through goals from Santeri Sillanpää (PP2) and Gregor Koblar. Although Francesco Adami pulled one back in the middle period, 18-year-old Zan Spari Leben restored the two-goal lead shortly afterwards.

After five consecutive defeats, the Adler Kitzbühel returned to winning ways. The fourth-placed Tyroleans beat bottom side Sterzing 3:2. The Broncos came from behind to equalise twice. However, Chris Schutz struck the decisive goal at the start of the closing stages. The American won the game with his goal after 55 minutes and emerged as the matchwinner.

The EC Bregenzerwald and Celje in front of just under 1.000 spectators. The Slovenians were already 2:0 ahead after six minutes and had extended their lead to 5:2 by the 37-minute mark. However, the home side never gave up and fought back. Richard Schlögl equalised at 5:5 in the 53th minute, before the ECB captain secured the home win in the shoot-out.

Alps Hockey League:

SIJ Acroni Jesenice vs. S.G. Cortina Hafro 3:1 (2:0,1:1,0:0)
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Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel vs. Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan 3:2 (1:0,1:2,1:0)
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EC Bregenzerwald vs. HK RST Pellet Celje 6:5 after a shoot-out (2:2,1:3,2:0,0:0,1:0)
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EK Die Zeller Eisbären vs. Red Bull Hockey Juniors 5:2 (0:1,1:1,4:0)

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HC Meran/o Pircher vs. KHL Sisak 5:1 (0:0,1:0,4:1)
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