HC Eppan played big. © Mauro Bordin

IHL semi-finals: Eppan strikes back, Kaltern loses

Semifinal number 2: That was what it said on Tuesday evening in the Italian Hockey League. The evening was filled with mixed emotions for the South Tyrolean representatives.

March 19, 2024

From: det

Eppan started the semi-final series (best-of-1) against Varese with a 4:5 away defeat. But now the pirates have taken revenge. In front of their home crowd, the Überetscher team won 4-0 on Tuesday evening.

The almost 500 fans were able to cheer in the first third when William Maekinen put Eppan in the lead (8th) and Erno Räisänen increased it to 2-0 (18th). In a hard-fought match, Daniel Erlacher (43') and again Maekinen (50') made the decision in the final third. The performance of Eppan goalie Mike Reinalter, who celebrated a shutout, should be highlighted.

Crazy game in Kaltern

The emotional situation in Kaltern was completely different: On Saturday, the Hechte had triumphed away at Pergine 6-0 and thus grabbed the home advantage in the series. But this now went back to the Trentino team: They prevailed on Tuesday in the Raiffeisen Arena with 6:5 after a penalty shootout.

It was a crazy match in which Kaltern was 0-2 down after just ten minutes. In the middle third, Franz Erschbamer, Matteo Cappuccio and Moritz Selva turned the game around within four minutes. But Pergine fought her way back, even when Kaltern kept taking the lead. So the penalties had to come, and that's where Pergine landed the lucky punch with Jozef Foltin.

The best-of-5 series continues on Thursday. Kaltern plays in Pergine, Eppan in Varese.

IHL Semifinals, Game 2 (Best-of-5)

HC Eppan – Varese 4:0
Goals: 1:0 Maekinen (7.18), 2:0 Räisänen (17.08), 3:0 Erlacher (42.43), 4:0 Maekinen (49.57)
Audience: 495
Score in the series: 1:1

SV Kaltern – Hockey Pergine 5:6 nP
Goals: 0:1 Lemay (0.23), 0:2 Berger (10.06), 1:2 Erschbamer (25.44), 2:2 Cappuccio (27.01), 3:2 Selva (29.43), 3:3 Flessati (30.40), 4:3 Cappuccio (38.22), 4:4 Lemay (46.32), 5:4 Marko Virtala (49.44), 5:5 Mocellin (54.19). Decisive penalty: Foltin
Audience: 370
Score in the series: 1:1