HCB Südtirol Alperia celebrated a 5: 3 derby victory at HC Pustertal on Sunday, thus also defending their lead in the win2day ICE Hockey League. In the second match of the day, Steinbach Black Wings Linz also won 5: 3 against EC-KAC. Due to the fifth consecutive victory, the Upper Austrians are now the first pursuers.
Both Linz and KAC were full of self-confidence before Sunday’s duel, as both teams have won their last four games. The Carinthian guests set the first attacking accents, but the Linz defended themselves skillfully and proved very efficient: after another phase of pressure from the guests, Emilio Romig (10th) scored the advantage on the counterattack. The Linz striker’s shot went beyond the KAC Dahm goalkeeper’s grasp on the net. Just 40 seconds after Paul Postma’s equalizer, Jakob Mitsch scored 2-1. It was the striker’s first goal in win2day’s ICE Hockey League. Contrary to the course of the match, the Upper Austrians were leading after 20 minutes. Shortly after the reboot, Graham Knott even upped it to 3: 1, but Thomas Hundertpfund got the guests back on track. The KAC striker defeated Linz goalkeeper Thomas Höneckl in a 1 on 0 situation. In the last section, Klagenfurt equalized with Steven Strong. However, the momentum changed again when Stefan Gaffal scored 4: 3 in the 54th minute after an ideal pass from Haga. The Carinthians tried everything in the final stages, replacing Dahm with a sixth field player – and 25 seconds before the end Knott emptied the net for 5: 3.
Bolzano defends the top of the standings with the victory in the derby
HCB Südtirol Alperia made a guest appearance in the first derby of the season at the Intercable Arena, which was sold out for the first time, at HC Pustertal. The bottom of the table took the lead after ten minutes with a penalty from Morten Jensen. But the leader’s response was not long in coming, Dustin Gazley (13th / PP) scored after McClure’s preliminary work. Shortly after, the Bolzano turn the game in their favor with a truly remarkable blow. Brad McClure completed a combination of “tic-tac-toe” to guide guests. HCB took the first two-goal lead in the middle section, after an ideal pass from Culkin Luca Frigo (28th) stormed the door alone and didn’t give the Val Pusteria goalkeeper Sholl a chance. Things got even worse for the hosts when Christian Thomas struck 4-1. On the last lap, however, Val Pusteria showed morale, after the goals of Olivier Archambault and Raphael Andergassen things are really exciting again. In the final stage, guests around goalkeeper Sam Harvey defended skillfully, Mike Halmo finally made the final decision with an empty net shot. After the defeat in three league derbies, the team from Bolzano celebrated another prestigious success and also defended their lead in the standings.
