The Broncos shot themselves into a frenzy. © Daniele Frusone

Wipptal's incredible two-man show

Those who are said to be dead live longer – true to this motto, bottom of the table Wipptal pulled off an impossible comeback in the Alps Hockey League. Ritten, on the other hand, scored seven times. An absolute goal premiere was recorded in Meran, while the Unterland Cavaliers did it like footballers.

21 November 2024

From: fop

The 367 visitors to the Sterzing Weihenstephan Arena will not soon forget this ice hockey evening! Broncos They initially showed great promise, only to concede five goals in an absolutely gruesome twelve-minute horror show before finally winning 6:5. And that against none other than the former league leaders KHL Sisak.

Lukas De Lorenzo Meo, after a fine one-two with Adam Capannelli, and 17-year-old Leo Kruselburger with a deflected shot, gave Sterzing an early 2-0 lead. However, the Fuggerstadt team collapsed completely after conceding the first goal by league top scorer Bruno Idzan (18th goal of the season!). In the following twelve minutes, four more goals rained down. The pitiful Dominik Groh's front men in Sterzing's goal were absolutely desolate.

But woe betide anyone who had written off the Broncos halfway through the game. Slowly but surely they fought their way back, or rather two Canadians did on the ice: James Livingston and Connor Sanvido. They took turns putting their names on the scoreboard – until Wipptal suddenly had a 6:5 lead! Eight minutes before the end, it was Sanvido who scored the celebrated winning goal after a catastrophic defensive error and thus scored a brace – just like Livingston.

Teruto Nakajima scored the winning goal for Merano. © BK Photo

Also the HC Meran made up for a deficit against the Red Bull Juniors and won by a narrow margin of 500:3 in front of almost 2 spectators. 20-year-old Bruneck's Aaron Golser, who came from the German junior league before the start of the season, shot the Eagles into the lead for the first time with his first league goal in the final third, 2:1. Massimo Pietroniro had previously missed a penalty. In the end, however, it was enough for Merano's sixth home win, as Teruto Nakajima increased the score to 3:1 and Salzburg only managed to pull one back.

Davide Girardi and the Cavaliers defeated Bregenzerwald and climbed to sixth place. © Vanna Antonello

Also very exciting, but less goal-rich, was the performance of the weakened Underland Cavaliers. They won 300-1 at home in front of just over 0 spectators against table neighbours Bregenzerwald in the best footballing style. Curiously, the only goal of the match was scored by offensive veteran Michael Sullmann after just 27 seconds of play. Then Cavs goalie Tizian Giovanelli put his plan announced in the SportNews interview, to get three points, with his first shutout of the season.

The Rittner Buam were able to celebrate seven times at home against Celje. © Max Pattis

The most clear victory that evening was achieved by the Rittner Buam After being knocked out of the Continental Cup at the weekend, they shot all their frustrations away with a 7:1 win against Celje. After an even opening period, the boys scored three times each in the following periods. The outstanding men on the ice: Diego Cuglietta and Ethan Szypula. Last year's Cortina striker scored a hat trick, while league top scorer Szypula assisted on four goals. After 13 games this season, he already has an incredible 34 points.

Hannes Kasslatter and Co. suffered a bitter defeat. © Matthäus Kostner

The only South Tyrolean team was HC Val Gardena left the ice empty-handed on Thursday - for the fifth time in a row. The Furies lost 1:4 to second-placed Kitzbühel after another disappointing performance. After two counterattack goals from Kitzbühel, Jordan Di Cicco was able to reduce the deficit to 1:2 with a fine wrist shot, but the North Tyrolean guests quickly increased the score again.

Thursday's results:

Wipptal – Sisak 6:5
Goals: 1:0 De Lorenzo Meo (9.41), 2:0 Kruselburger (10.16), 2:1 Idzan (17.03), 2:2 Puzic (18.55), 2:3 Bronte (21.25), 2:4 Dobric (26.16 ), 2:5 Puzic (29.09), 3:5 Livingston (31.59), 4:5 Sanvido (44.37), 5:5 Livingston (47.25), 6:5 Sanvido (51.37)
Audience: 367

Meran – RB Juniors 3:2
Goals: 0:1 Kolarik (12.09), 1:1 Rein (35.00), 2:1 Golser (49.38), 3:1 Nakajima (51.03), 3:2 Rebernig (54.38)
Audience: 450

Unterland – Bregenzerwald 1-0
Goal: 1:0 Michael Sullmann (0.27)
Audience: 312

Val Gardena – Kitzbühel 1:4
Goals: 0:1 Wieltschnig (3.58), 0:2 Schutz (18.18), 1:2 DiCicco (30.43), 1:3 Fröwis (35.17), 1:4 Schutz (46.00)
Audience: 143

Ritten – Celje 7:1
Goals: 1:0 Fink (11.33), 1:1 Jakupovic (16.35), 2:1 Lang (21.13), 3:1 Cuglietta (29.55), 4:1 Giacomuzzi (32.40), 5:1 Hjorth (42.41), 6:1 Cuglietta (50.31), 7:1 Cuglietta (58.59)
Audience: 167

Zell am See – Jesenice 4:1
Goals: 1:0 Putnik (22.00), 2:0 Putnik (39.12), 3:0 Johansson (39.38), 3:1 Koblar (40.13), 4:1 Altmann (57.34)
Audience: 1.481