HC Meran is in the playoffs. © BK Photo

Alps Hockey League: From now on it's all about the sausage

The hot phase of the Alps Hockey League begins on Thursday: That's when the first pre-playoff games are scheduled. The series will be played in a best-of-three format - and three South Tyrolean teams still want to jump on the playoff train.

26. February 2025

From: det/pm

Three South Tyrolean teams, the Wipptal Broncos, HC Meran and HC Gröden, are fighting for the remaining playoff tickets. While the Wipptal team (against Celje) and the Burggräfler team (against Sisak) each enjoy home advantage, the Ladin team (against Bregenzerwald) must win at least once away from home to make it into the playoffs.

After the Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan narrowly missed the top 5, they confidently qualified for the pre-playoffs in Qualification Round A and will now face Celje. The Slovenians lost three of their last four games, but still finished Qualification Round B in second place. Sterzing has won all five AHL duels with Celje so far.

Merano with a lot of self-confidence

The second duel is between Meran and Sisak. The Burggräfler won all six of their games in the Qualification Round A and are going into the series with a lot of confidence. Three defeats meant that the Croatians, who were even at the top of the table during the season, slipped to third place in their group. Meran won twice this season, and Sisak had the upper hand once.

Johannes Gschnitzer, defender of the Wipptal Broncos. © Daniele Frusone

After winning Qualification Round B, EC Bregenzerwald has home advantage against Gröden. The Ladinians lost their last five games and just made it to the playoffs. This season, the teams have met three times, each time winning at home - the Vorarlberg team is leading 2:1.

The Rittner Buam, on the other hand, have already qualified for the playoffs and are currently still in action in the master round. Their home game against Jesenice is scheduled for Saturday.

Alps Hockey League, the South Tyrolean games of the weekend

Pre-playoffs

Thursday – Game 1
Bregenzerwald – HC Gröden (19.30 pm)
Wipptal Broncos – HK Celje (20 p.m.)
HC Meran – KHL Sisak (20.30 p.m.)

Saturday – Game 2
HK Celje – Wipptal Broncos (18 p.m.)
KHL Sisak – HC Meran (18 p.m.)
HC Gröden – Bregenzerwald (20.30 p.m.)

Master Round (Saturday, 18 p.m.)

Rittner Buam – Jesenice