HC Meran celebrated its third victory in a row. © BK Photo

Unstoppable: Borgatello's Merano team marches on

Three games, three wins: Since Christian Borgatello was promoted to head coach, things have been going as planned at HC Merano. On Sunday, the Eagles also won the derby in Val Gardena.

22 December 2024

From: dl

On Sunday, the day after the World Cup downhill race in Val Gardena, over 1100 fans made the pilgrimage to the Pranives Stadium there. In Selva, the numerous spectators saw a HC Merano that is currently brimming with confidence. On Sunday evening, the Passerstadt team won clearly against HC Val Gardena with a score of 5:1.

In what was actually a balanced third, the goalkeepers made the difference: Pauli Hofer let a flat, harmless shot slip through at 1-0, and Jakob Fuchs deflected the ball in front of the goal at 2-0. On the other side, Rudy Rigoni was able to distinguish himself several times, including against Simon Pitschieler and Samuel Moroder. Shortly after the restart, Hannes Kasslatter lost the puck and Chad Pietroniro scored in the top corner.

The brawl between Chad Pietroniro and Karter Prosofsky:

In the final third, Stephan Deluca reduced the score to 4:1 with a follow-up shot during the power play. But on the other side, Skate Skalde – also during the power play – made the decision with a one-timer. The 5:1 by Teruto Nakajima came from an empty net.

Treibenreif celebrates Ritten comeback with shutout

The Rittner Buam SkyAlps are back on the winning track. On Sunday evening, they won the away game against HK Celje in Slovenia in a very confident manner with 3:0. Hannes Treibenreif shone, delivering a shutout on his comeback. The now 27-year-old was last in goal for Rittner in the 2022/23 season. Because Colin Furlong is currently injured, Treibenreif was reactivated.

Diego Cuglietta won with the Rittner Buam. © Max Pattis

In the 7th minute, Cuglietta was stopped by Celje goalie Heiskanen, and a minute later the first goal was scored when Kevin Fink pushed a rebound over the line. However, because a Celje defender had pulled the goal out of its anchorage seconds earlier, the goal was cancelled. However, Ritten managed to take the well-deserved lead a few minutes later: Szypula and Cuglietta ran towards Heiskanen, Szypula passed the ball across to Cuglietta, who slotted the ball into the empty goal and then knew who he had to thank.

In the second period, the Rittner Buam had to endure two time penalties. The defense around the season's debutant Hannes Treibenreif in goal made it very strong, with Treibenreif making several saves. In the final period, the Buam wanted to finally set the course for victory and struck in the first power play when Szypula scored from a half-right position with a powerful shot into the far corner. Cuglietta then sealed the deal with an empty-net goal and the Buam took the three points home to Ritten.

AlpsHL: Sunday's games

HK Celje – Rittner Buam 0:3
0:1 Cuglietta (11.15), 0:2 Szypula (41.28), 0:3 Cuglietta (58.55)
Audience: 150

HC Gröden – HC Meran 1:5
0:1 Rein (01.07), 0:2 Fuchs (16.14), 0:3 Chad Pietroniro (21.15), 1:3 Deluca (43.50), 1:4 Skalde (52.40), 1:5 Nakajima (54.29)
Audience: 1.112