Thank Bernard: Merano beats Jesenice

HC Meran Pircher secured a much-needed victory on Saturday evening. Thanks to an outstanding performance by Andreas Bernard, the Eagles defeated HDD Jesenice.

10 January 2026

From: leo

Merano and Jesenice were in eleventh and twelfth place respectively before the match. This made the game all the more important – even though for both clubs it was simply about securing the best possible starting position for the qualification round. The Eagles achieved this with a 4-1 victory, just as they had hoped.

In front of 330 spectators, the home team started like a house on fire. Just 137 seconds had elapsed when defenseman Noah Frick scored the first goal. Filip Cruseman added a second in the 17th minute. The Slovenians, playing without any foreign players this season, didn't let that stand and shifted into high gear in the second period. Despite having more scoring opportunities, the puck just wouldn't go in because Merano goalie Andreas Bernard was having a superb day.

Brayden Sherbinin scored to make it 3-0. © BK Photo

The Borgatello team, however, showed ice-cold composure, capitalizing on the second power play of the game through Brayden Sherbinin. The game was effectively decided at the start of the final period when David Trivellato scored his tenth goal of the season to make it 4-0. Luc Slivnik denied Bernard, who had stopped 40 shots and boasted a 97,6% save percentage, a shutout with four minutes remaining. But this didn't matter to the Kaltern native, as the Eagles overtook the Slovenians in the standings.

Salzburg in the lead again

In the second game of the evening, the Red Bull Juniors reclaimed the top spot in the KHL standings from Sisak. Salzburg won the head-to-head matchup against the Croatian team 5-2.

Alps Hockey League:

Red Bull Juniors – KHL Sisak 5:2
Goals: 1:0 Greil (15.20), 2:0 Juhola (19.05), 2:1 Brus (19.42), 2:2 Idzan (24.32), 3:2 Auer (27.16), 4:2 Greil (39.27), 5:2 Eliseev (56.04)
Audience: 100

HC Meran – HDD Jesenice 4:1
Goals: 1:0 Frick (2.17), 2:0 Cruseman (16.07), 3:0 Sherbinin (30.52), 4:0 Trivellato (43.07), 4:1 Slivnik (55.55)
Audience: 377

	SP	G	V	TV	P
1. Salzburg II	30	20	10	117:72	63
2. Zell am See	31	21	10	102:84	61
3. KHL Sisak	32	21	11	107:80	61
4. HC Asiago	31	18	13	116:103	54
5. Rittner Buam	32	17	15	98:84	52
6. Kitzbuhel	32	19	13	114:97	51
7. Wipptal Broncos	30	14	16	90:94	45
8. Bregenzerwald	30	15	15	92:105	45
9. HC Gherdëina	32	13	19	95:122	42
10. SG Cortina	31	14	17	81:95	39
11. HC Meran	33	12	21	94:109	39
12. Jesenice	32	13	19	94:105	37
13. Underland Cavaliers	30	6	24	71:121	20