HC Bozen are Italian champions for the 19th time

The record champion has struck again! With a 3-1 win, their twelfth play-off win in a row, HC Bozen secured its 19th championship title and is the successor to Asiago. While the Talferstädter lifted the trophy for the first time since the 2008/09 season, the Wolves came away empty-handed for the second time in a row.

In the well-filled ice wave, both teams went into the game with weakened replacements: Bozen was missing Meyers, who had been injured for months, while HCP Watson was forced to watch due to the foreigner regulations. But Willleit returned to the ice with the yellow-blacks. Armin Helfer appeared on the player sheet, but had to watch due to the flu.

In the first third, both teams set a high pace from the start, with Borgatello drawing applause from the Bolzano supporters for the first time when he took the puck from Scandella, who was ready to score. Just a few moments later, Bernard put strike partner Marco Insam in the spotlight. He in turn gave HCP goalie Strömberg the advantage with a precise wrist shot from the blue line. At this point, less than three minutes had been played. However, the guests were not impressed by the early deficit and pushed in front of the Bolzano goal with Cullen and the extremely dangerous duo Scandella-Ling. After eight minutes, the Füchse struck coldly again: Walcher scored after a pass from Knackstedt to make it 2-0. In the following minutes, the HCB's number 10 and McCutcheon even had their third goal on the bat. The resistance of the people of Bruneck was temporarily broken. Zaba was only tested again towards the end of the starting third.

In the middle section, HC Bozen played its usual game. The White-Reds were tightly lined up in defense and kept their opponents on their toes with quick counter-attacks. However, nothing significant emerged on either side. Only in the 32nd minute of the game did the HCB fans take their breath away when Oberrauch chased the puck over the goal from very close range. Afterwards the game got tougher and the referees had trouble keeping the players from both teams in check. Immediately before the second third siren, Scandella and Rogers once again created a touch of goal danger. But nothing changed in the result, both teams went into the break with the score at 2-0.

In the final third, Bozen initially controlled the game and only allowed Pustertal to get in front of their own goal sporadically. Dorigatti and Harjula tested Strömberg's ability to react in the 46th minute, but he was not surprised. In the 53rd minute, Teppo Kivelä called a timeout and took his goalie off the ice for a sixth skater. This concept bore fruit, as just a few seconds later Oberrauch scored the next goal on a pass from Ling. Now the encounter was really explosive again. However, this only lasted 70 seconds before Sharp won the fray to make it 54.16-3 after 1 minutes. The HCP then threw everything into the balance again, temporarily taking Strömberg down again, but Bozen touched concrete and made it 3-1 over time. The 78th Serie A season found its way into the history books with HC Bozen's championship title.

HC Bozen - Wolves Fiat Professional Pustertal 3:1 (2:0, 0:0, 1:1) HC Bolzano: Matt Zaba (Guenther Hell); Brandon Rogers, Alexander Egger, Christian Borgatello, Andrea Ambrosi, Daniel Fabris; Stefano Giliati, Jordan Knackstedt, Mac Gregor Sharp, Marco Insam, Mark McCutcheon, Anton Bernard, Christian Walcher, Stefan Zisser, Tuomo Harjula, Enrico Dorigatti, Derek Edwardson, Federico Demetz; Coach: Adolf Insam

Fiat Professional Wolves: Mikko Stromberg (Hannes Hopfgartner); Matt Kelly, Christian Willeit, Armin Hofer, Olivier Magnan, Fredrik Persson, Christian Mair; Danny Elliscasis; Giulio Scandella, David Ling, Max Oberrauch, Joe Jensen, Joseph Cullen, Lukas Crepaz, Patrick Bona, Nate Di Casmirro, Thomas Erlacher, Lukas Tauber Coach: Teppo Kivela

Referee: Luca Cassol and Karel Metelka (Alex Waldtahler and Cristiano Biacoli)

Gates: 1:0 Marco Insam (2.58), 2:0 Christian Walcher (8.00), 2:1 Max Oberrauch (53.06), 3:1 MacGregor Sharp (54.16)

Penalty minutes: Bolzano 10 - Pustertal 10

Shots on goal: Bolzano 0 - Pustertal 0

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HC Bozen are Italian champions for the 19th time

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