Wyatt Ege, Raphael Andergassen (from left) and their teammates celebrate an away win. © I. Foppa

Pustertal trembles past Bolzano

HC Pustertal is back on track for the playoffs! After two recent bitter defeats, the Wolves were finally able to celebrate again on Friday evening. And that particularly annoys the arch-rivals from Bolzano.

08 December 2023

From: fop

The last one who was so strong HC Bozen lost 3:5 in Klagenfurt, while HC Pustertal achieved an enormously important success a good 100 kilometers further northeast. The Bruneck team defeated Graz, bottom of the table, 2-1. The HCP thus overtakes the Foxes again in the long-distance duel for sixth place, the last direct playoff place.

“It was really hard work, but a deserved victory,” with these ten words Raphael Andergassen hit the nail on the head as he left the ice rink in Graz-Liebenau. Pustertal had a very difficult time against the latecomers to the table with their improving form, but they were much more aggressive offensively and ultimately more concrete. The absence of strikers Mikael Frycklund, Dan Catenacci, Manuel Öhler and Lukas De Lorenzo Meo had little impact.

HCP goalkeeper Andreas Bernard offered a tremendous performance. © I. Foppa

However, the man of the game was not one of the Puster offensive cracks, not even the goal scorers Zach Sill and Jason Akeson, but Andreas Bernard. The 33-year-old national goalkeeper from Kaltern is playing better than he has in years - and has been doing so for weeks! With stoic calm, he stood in the way of the Graz team in their final offensive, saved shot after shot (in the end there were 29) and increased his catch rate for the season in this game to an impressive 93 percent. He was powerless when he conceded the only goal.

In the end, Bernard & Co. were celebrated by the more than 50 HCP fans who had traveled with them in Graz for returning to sixth place. The long-distance duel against Bozen goes into the next round on Sunday, when the Bruneckers host leader Fehervar at 16 p.m. as part of the Family Day and the HCB play at home against second-placed Linz two hours later.

Graz 99ers – HC Pustertal 1:2

Graz: Volden (Wieser); Gregorc-Bouramman, Pfeffer-Schira, Kernberger-Egger, Black; Krastenbergs-Schiechl-Kittinger, Salintri-Matson-Ograjensek, Antonitsch-Wemmenborn-Grafenthin, Bauer-Krainz-Engelhart
Coach: Pennerborn

HCP: Bernard (Smith); Stanton-Atwal, Kasastul-Messner, Althuber-Ege, Glira-Baumgartner; Hannoun-Schofield-Akeson, Mantinger-Ikonen-Morley, Andergassen-Sill-Petan, Deluca-Berger-Hasler
Coach: Valtonen

Gates: 0:1 Zach Sill (4.01), 1:1 Sam Antonitsch (34.25), 1:2 Jason Akeson (42.53)

Viewers: 1792

The other results:

Klagenfurter AC - HC Bozen 5:3 (here is the report)
Goals: 1:0 Gomboc (2.10), 2:0 Fraser (4.04), 2:1 Thomas (21.40), 2:2 Gazley (24.40), 3:2 Unterweger (34.20), 4:2 Vallant (46.44), 4:3 Gazley (58.37), 5:3 Haudum (59.47)
Audience: 4122

Fehervar AV - Asiago Hockey 3:2
Goals: 0:1 Vallati (3.39), 1:1 Kuralt (33.17), 2:1 Kuralt (38.10), 3:1 Kuralt (43.20), 3:2 Gennaro (54.52), 4:2 Nemeth (56.19)
Audience: 2950

Black Wings Linz - Vienna Capitals 8:1
Goals: 1:0 Romig (4.56), 2:0 Pusnik (5.44), 3:0 St-Amant (7.39), 4:0 Collins (11.09), 5:0 Lebler (17.22), 6:0 Stuart (18.11 ), 7:0 Romig (30.00), 7:1 Hartl (53.43), 8:1 St-Amant (59.59)
Audience: 4022

HC Innsbruck - Olimpija Ljubljana 0:3
Goals: 0:1 Dodero (9.13), 0:2 Bericic (15.12), 0:3 Gooch (58.49)
Audience: 2000

Pioneers Vorarlberg - Villacher SV 3:2
Goals: 1:0 Owre (4.00), 1:1 Maxa (20.10), 2:1 Owre (22.27), 2:2 Luciani (24.19), 3:2 Petersson (44.49)
Audience: 1546