Davide Schiavone and HC Val Gardena are shaking up the league. © Matthäus Kostner

The next sensation: What has gotten into these Val Gardena people?

It was an eventful day of play for fans of the Alps Hockey League. In the end, there were two big winners: HC Gröden and their rivals, the Wipptal Broncos.

04 October 2025

From: det

Last season the HC Val Gardena One of the biggest problem children in the Alps Hockey League. And this year? The Ladins are suddenly shaking up the league! On Saturday, the HCG celebrated one of their most impressive victories in recent months in a packed Pranives Stadium: Captain Simon Pitschieler and his team defeated the previous league leaders, KHL Sisak, 2-1 – and catapulted themselves to fourth place.

This is the second Val Gardena sensation in just a few days, following the Ladins' 3-1 victory against the reigning and previously unblemished champions Zell am See on Thursday. Then, as now, the Val Gardena hero was Matthias Rindone. Against the Zeller Eisbären, the 21-year-old goalie saved 29 shots, and against Sisak, he added another, saving 39 attempts! Rindone only had to concede defeat on a deflected shot with seven seconds left in the game. But Val Gardena's victory was unassailable.

In top form: Val Gardena goalie Matthias Rindone. © Matthäus Kostner

Luca Biondi (after a fine combination from Davide Schiavone and Carmine Buono/22.) and Pitschieler (after a counterattack and addition from Hannes Kasslatter/30.) made it 2-0, otherwise Rindone kept his goal tight – also because he made a fabulous save against Karlo Marinkovic and also had the necessary luck on his side when the ball hit the crossbar.

Now the wild Broncos are waiting

Now HC Gröden can look forward to a very special duel. Next Thursday, the Furies will be at the Wipptal Broncos This will see the two best South Tyrolean AlpsHL teams meet, as Sterzing has shared the lead with Sisak since Saturday. The Broncos celebrated a 4-3 victory against Cortina, their fourth win in five games. Driven by HC Pustertal loanee Fabian Gschliesser (who scored one goal) and the outstanding new signing Franco Sproviero (who has scored in every match so far), the Wipptal team crushed their opponents.

This is how the Wipptal Broncos celebrate.

Sterzing led 2-0 after just four minutes and 3-0 after 15 minutes. While Cortina looked the better for much of the match, it's hard to beat these cold-blooded Broncos. And so, the Broncos' victory was never truly in jeopardy.

Curiosity at the Unterland match

Meanwhile, the three other South Tyrolean teams suffered away defeats. There was a curious incident with the Unterland Cavaliers. Because the trip to Salzburg turned into an odyssey (accidents, traffic jams due to bad weather), the match kicked off at 8:30 p.m. instead of 7:15 p.m. as planned. In the end, the Cavs were defeated 3-1.

The Rittner Buam Meanwhile, they are still struggling to get going this season. On Saturday, they suffered their third defeat in five matches of the season against the Kitzbüheler Adler. In the end, the title contender had to admit defeat with a score of 2:5. There was also nothing to gain for the HC Meran, who lost 2:5 at Bregenzerwald.

Alps Hockey League, Saturday games

HC Gherdeina – KHL Sisak 2:1
Goals: 1:0 Biondi (21.25), 2:0 Pitschieler (29.16), 2:1 Puzic (59.53)
Audience: 567

Wipptal Broncos – SG Cortina 4:3
Goals: 1:0 Gschliesser (2.00), 2:0 Sproviero (4.00), 3:0 Zecchetto (15.34), 3:1 Colli (27.26), 4:1 Cianfrone (28.59), 4:2 Peitroniro (31.41), 4:3 De Luca (59.13)
Audience: 382

Kitzbüheler EC – Rittner Buam 5:2
Goals: 1:0 Loshing (3.45), 2:0 Hanl (11.12), 3:0 Loshing (24.41), 3:1 Crespi (28.00), 4:1 Lippitsch (28.50), 4:2 Manuel Öhler (56.37), 5:2 Loshing (59.01)
Audience: 789

Red Bull Hockey Juniors – Unterland Cavaliers 3:1
Goals: 1:0 Juhola (4.05), 2:0 Baumann (33.46), 2:1 Pisetta (34.11), 3:1 Maul (59.57)
Audience: 97

EC Bregenzerwald – HC Meran 5:2
Goals: 1:0 König (9.22), 2:0 Lipsbergs (16.49), 2:1 Gellon (20.31), 3:1 Grasser (30.42), 3:2 Traversa (56.50), 4:2 Lipsbergs (59.34), 5:2 Ranftl (59.52)
Audience: 712

HDD Jesenice – HC Asiago 3:4
Goals: 1:0 Sodja Zalokar (5.30), 1:1 Rigoni (13.28), 1:2 Chiodo (31.18), 1:3 Valentini (35.22), 1:4 Magnabosco Aguirre (36.05), 2:4 Jenko (45.58), 3:4 Jakupovic (48.49)
Audience: 400

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