Daniel Gellon (centre) was the celebrated match winner in Merano. © BK Photo

Merano and Unterland are going completely crazy

The AlpsHL season is only seven days old, but already has two absolute curiosities in store: Meran fell behind in the third game of the season, but is still at the top of the table. Unterland squandered a huge lead for the second time in a row and also slipped into an overtime defeat on Ritten.

September 28, 2024

From the MeranArena

These Merano players are simply unbelievable! First Ritten, then Unterland and now Wipptal – the Eagles simply don't shy away from the South Tyrolean competition. And that despite being behind against all three rivals. On Saturday evening they beat the Broncos 800-3 in front of more than 1 enthusiastic fans. This means that interim head coach Christian Borgatello leaves the Merano bench undefeated.

The club legend, who only ended his career in the spring, took over for the third and final time from the suspended head coach Jarrod Skalde. He had to make do without Teruto Nakajima, who had a shoulder injury, and initially saw how his boys had a lot of trouble against the wild Broncos. Alessio Niccolai scored the deserved lead for the visitors. HCM goalie Rudy Rigoni, who had already made several saves, put a rebound on his stick.

Meran's first line with Daniel Gellon, Patrick Tomasini and Massimo Pietroniro then turned the game around single-handedly. Tomasini successfully completed a counterattack shortly before the first break with a shot into the acute angle, and Gellon put Meran in the lead for the first time in the middle period on the power play. The 23-year-old homegrown Eagles player finally sealed the deal with an empty-net goal in the final phase.

In the end, Sterzing not only lost the game, but also the goal scorer Niccolai. He hit the shoulder of Meran giant Patrick Madsen with his face and was only able to leave the ice with the help of doctors and carers. Later, the Broncos gave the all-clear from the locker room. While Meran marched through the season undefeated behind league giant Kitzbühel, the Fuggerstadt team came away empty-handed for the first time.

Unterland’s bitter déjà vu

Meanwhile, something unbelievable happened during the Cavaliers' performance in Klobenstein. At first glance, the 5:4 home victory after overtime seems like a normal, albeit entertaining, ice hockey game. But not when you look at the course of the game and remember the Unterlandler's performance on Thursday. Back then, they were leading 3:0 against Meran, but gave up the lead, conceded the equalizer 24 seconds before the end and lost in overtime. The same thing was to happen again now. Only this time it was the Ritten team that ruined the "Knights'" first win of the season 14 seconds before the end.

The Cavs also took a 3-0 lead in the Arena Ritten. Michael Sullmann and Ruben Zerbetto took advantage of Ritten's defensive mistakes before Davide Girardi made it 3-0 with a power play. Ritten did come close, but Zerbetto, who scored twice, put the visitors back in front 4-2. Then came the boys' comeback. Or rather Marco Insam's. The 35-year-old veteran scored first with a slap shot, then with a last-minute goal to make it 4-4. The overtime was already decided after 15 seconds: With the boys' first attack, Simon Kostner scored the 5-4 after a great pass from Szypula.

Cavs goalie Tizian Giovanelli repeatedly stood in Ritten's way, but in the end he too had to admit defeat. © Max Pattis

While Unterland experienced a bitter déjà vu, Ritten made amends in front of around 600 fans. A week ago, the champions had given up a lead against Meran and ultimately lost in extra time.

Val Gardena embarrasses itself

While Unterland at least scored their second point of the season in Klobenstein, HC Gherdëina is still keeping a clean sheet. The Furie suffered a heavy defeat in a 1:7 loss against league newcomer KHL Sisak. They were already 0:3 behind at the first break. Brad McGowan was able to score the 1:4 at the beginning of the final third, but after that the Val Gardena disaster continued unhindered. The HCG cracks spent almost 15 hours on the bus on this away trip to Croatia. It was an away trip to forget.

The results at a glance:

Merano – Wipptal 3:1
Goals: 0:1 Niccolai (10.29), 1:1 Tomasini (19.34), 2:1 Gellon (34.17), 3:1 Gellon (58.50)
Audience: 820

Ritten - Unterland 5:4 aet
Goals: 0:1 Michael Sullmann (0.38), 0:2 Ruben Zerbetto (2.15), 0:3 Girardi (10.14), 1:3 Szypula (12.51), 2:3 Lang (16.57), 2:4 Ruben Zerbetto ( 20.55), 3:4 Insam (31.38), 4:4 Insam (59.46), 5:4 Simon Kostner (60.15)
Audience: 573

Sisak - Val Gardena 7:1
Goals: 1:0 Idzan (2.41), 2:0 Bujger (12.43), 3:0 Dostalek (19.57), 4:0 Dostalek (34.42), 4:1 McGowan (43.36), 5:1 Briere (45.35), 6:1 Marinkovic (47.21), 7:1 Idzan (49.03)
Audience: 500

Kitzbühel - Zell am See 5:2
Goals: 1:0 Schutz (29.26), 1:1 Putnik (32.18), 2:1 Schmid (34.37), 3:1 Waschnig (55.40), 4:1 Ren (55.48), 4:2 Johansson (56.49), 5:2 Fröwis (58.24)
Audience: 1.081

Jesenice - Bregenz 5:4 nV
Goals: 0:1 König (13.37), 1:1 Koblar (18.00), 1:2 Lipsbergs (23.57), 1:3 Fadieiev (27.00), 2:3 Koblar (39.19), 3:3 Selan (42.12), 4:3 Svetina (45.52), 4:4 Kookmaa (59.58), 5:4 Svetina (61.16)
Audience: 400

Celje - Salzburg II 2:3
Goals: 0:1 Gesson (3.46), 1:1 Sotlar (4.45), 1:2 Kolarik (8.12), 2:2 Mintautiskis (38.34), 2:3 Vinzens (51.49)
Audience: 290