He is the new striker for the Rittner Buam. © Coventry Blaze

Rittner Buam introduce Szypula's successor

The Rittner Buam SkyAlps have landed a top Canadian player. He is expected to follow in the footsteps of departed Ethan Szypula.

July 02, 2025

From: pm/leo

Last season, Ethan Szypula became the first player in the history of the Alps Hockey League (AlpsHL) to score 100 points in a single season. Given this, it's only fitting that he was also named the league's Most Valuable Player. However, the Canadian will be playing for EK Zell am See next season, forcing the Buam to be active in the transfer market. The search for a successor is now over: Brandon Alderson is moving from the British Elite Ice Hockey League to Ritten.

The 33-year-old arrives in Klobenstein with a packed curriculum. The Canadian-born attacker can look back on five years in the American Hockey League, the second-highest league in North America after the NHL, where he made 146 appearances and scored 33 points. The 1,93-meter-tall, 88-kilogram winger received his training in the Ontario Hockey League, where he played 273 games and scored 161 points before crossing the Atlantic.

Strong references

Alderson then began the 2017/18 season with the Heilbronner Falken in the DEL2, Germany's second-highest league. He promptly scored 61 points in 59 games before the Canadian moved to Villacher SV in the then EBEL, where Alderson also made his first acquaintance with South Tyrol, playing against HCB Südtirol. This was followed by a season with the Slovak first division club HK Ducla Trencin and the Czech first division club BK Mlada Boleslav (with loans back to Trencin and to Czech league rival HC Motor Ceske Budejovice), and then two more seasons in Germany, first with EC Landshut in the DEL2, then with the Hannover Scorpions in Germany's third division.

Brandon Alderson moves to the high plateau. © Coventry Blaze

In 2023, Alderson moved to the British Isles to play in the EIHL. He played with the Cardiff Devils in 2023/24 and with the Coventry Blaze last season. In all his seasons in Europe, Alderson stood out with his excellent points tally.

This is also one of the reasons why the two Ritten sports directors, Dan Tudin and Alexander Eisatz, wanted to make him a Ritten Bua. "We are very excited to welcome Brandon to our roster. Brandon is a big, strong power forward with a strong shot and a team-oriented attitude. He has consistently produced offensively at various levels in Europe and North America, demonstrating his versatility and scoring threat," they describe their new signing, adding: "His experience and leadership qualities will be a valuable asset both on the ice and in the locker room."