HC Gröden brought the most spectators to the hut in South Tyrol. © Social Media / Matthaeus Kostner

AlpsHL review: Val Gardena is South Tyrol's crowd puller

Last season in the Alps Hockey League was filled with great moments and great ice hockey, with Val Gardena recording the most spectators and Ethan Szypula of the Rittner Buam making history.

18 April 2025

From: pm/tu

A total of 244.040 fans flocked to the arenas of the 13 Alps Hockey League clubs last season. The new champion, EK Die Zeller Eisbären, welcomed an average of 2132 spectators per home game, by far the highest average of all teams. League newcomers KHL Sisak followed in second place with an average of 1349 fans. The 18-spectator mark was broken in 2000 games, and over 65 fans attended a total of 1000 matches.

Among the South Tyrolean teams, HC Gherdëina was the biggest draw. The Furies attracted an average of 716 spectators to their home games at Pranives, bringing the total attendance to 15760 throughout the season. This puts them in fifth place in the league, behind Zell am See, Sisak, Kitzbühel, and Bregenzerwald.

Jesenice followed with an average of 673 spectators, HC Meran with 657, the Rittner Buam with 518, and Wipptal with 498. The Unterland Cavaliers brought up the rear among the South Tyrolean teams with an average of 360 spectators.

Sisak's successful debut

The newcomer from Croatia caused a stir at the beginning of the season, leading the standings or at least in the upper third for much of the regular season. Sisak finished the regular season in seventh place. Zell am See, the eventual champions, secured first place in the regular season – the Pinzgau team won 26 of their 36 matches. Defending champions Rittner Buam followed in second place.

© Social Media / Raphael Sohm

In the Master Round, the "Polar Bears" impressively underscored their title ambitions. With only one loss in eight matches, they finished the phase eight points ahead of Ritten. Eventual finalists SIJ Jesenice were twelve points behind the Pinzgauers in fourth place.

Zell am See crowns almost perfect playoffs

In the playoffs, the final three quarterfinalists were determined in the pre-playoffs. HC Meran defeated league newcomer Sisak 2-0. The Wipptal Broncos prevailed against HK RST Pellet Celje 2-1, as did EC Bregenzerwald, who also defeated HC Gherdeina 2-1.

In the quarterfinals, the Vorarlberg team faced Zell am See in an Austrian clash, but lost 0-4. Sterzing caused a surprise, sweeping the previously strong Adler Kitzbühel. Jesenice had little trouble with Cortina, prevailing 4-1. The series between Ritten and Merano was particularly dramatic: Despite leading 3-1 at one point, the "Buam" had to go into a playoff, which they won comfortably 7-2.

Zell am See celebrates the title. © Social Media / joeradlwimmer

The semifinals were the end of the road for Ritten. They failed to win against Jesenice, losing three times after extra time. Zell am See also continued its winning run, sweeping Sterzing out of the competition in four games.

In the final, the Pinzgau team finally secured the Alps Hockey League title for the first time. Although Jesenice initially took the lead in the best-of-7 series, the "Eisbären" won the following four games – two of them by just one goal. Thus, the Zeller team crowned an outstanding season with the title win.

In the entire playoffs, they suffered only one defeat—in the first final game against Jesenice. They lost only two of their last 26 games. Overall, they suffered only twelve defeats in 57 games this season.

Szypula makes history

For the first time in Alps Hockey League history, a player surpassed the 100-point mark in a single season: Ethan Szypula scored an impressive 103 points, shattering the previous record set by Matt Wilkins in the 2019/20 season (89 points). For his outstanding performance, the Canadian was named the season's MVP.

Ethan Szypula with his MVP trophy. © Max Pattis / Sportissimus

The top scorer, however, was someone else: Adam Capannelli of Sterzing scored 34 goals, ahead of Szypula, who scored 27. Max Zimmermann of Zell am See excelled in goal. The 25-year-old from Vienna had a save percentage of 93,8% – a league best. Dominik Groh (WSV) ranked second with 92,5%. Zimmermann also recorded seven shutouts – also a league best.