Strong wolves long for the 5th season

The playoffs are known as the fifth season in hockey parlance. Whether the wolves from Bruneck will experience this is extremely uncertain. In the race to take part in the knockout phase, they are still lagging behind the competition in eleventh place. But now new courage is being drawn: Pustertal achieved a completely convincing 4-1 win in Linz.

Was it the bruised pride after the recent slaps? Was it the week-long break from play? Or maybe the premature one Contract extension of coach Tomek Valtonen, that gave the HCP a boost? Only the skid cracks in yellow and black probably know the answer. The fact is: They presented themselves completely differently on Sunday in Linz than in the previous weeks. With strong outnumbered and undernumbered play, with liveliness, concrete attacks, cold-bloodedness in front of the goal and calmness on the defensive.

HCP goalie Tomas Sholl held with a catch rate of over 97 percent. © BWL/Reinhard Eisenbauer

The fifth-placed team from the steel city fired a whopping 41 shots, but was repeatedly denied by Tomas Sholl, who reacted brilliantly in the Bruneck box. The Wolves, who are equipped with plenty of killer instinct, only needed 21 attempts to secure the away win, which was never in danger, and at the same time secure their third full point win in this calendar year. The key scenes Raphy's precision Raphael Andergassen dupes Linz goalie Rasmus Tirronen with a well-placed shot through the leg guards – 1-0 for the guests (2nd). Dante's poem Dante Hannoun paves the way to victory for the HCP with a double puck. First he scores in the power play after a no-look cross pass from Archambault through the entire box (28th), then he puts the puck into the top corner after a face-off (34th). Brodi's fist Linz can't find an antidote in terms of play, but they take physical action: Brodi Stuart puts his fist in Matthias Mantinger's face in a short fight (37th). What was probably intended as a wake-up call for his team soon turns out to be a harmless flash in the pan. Dan's lightning start Just seconds after the restart, Dan Catenacci is wide awake. He scores from a half-left position to make it 4-0 (41st). Although Julian Pusnik prevented Bruneck's shutout victory (42nd), there was no more tension. With this win, the eleventh-placed team from Bruneck moves within one point of Asiago (2 games less). But even more important: ninth-placed Graz is now only two points away, as the HCP has received help from arch-rivals Bozen. He celebrated a 2-1 penalty victory in Styria on Sunday and at the same time consolidated its leading position. The Wolves continue in Salzburg on Friday, with the Foxes hosting VSV at the same time.

Steinbach Black Wings Linz – HC Pustertal 1:4 Linz: Tirronen (Höneckl); Roe-Schumnig, Murphy-Dorion, Schnetzer-Lindner, Söllinger; Kristler-Haga-St-Amant, Lebler-Knott-Bretschneider, Pusnik-Stuart-Gaffal, Mitsch-Brucker-Lahoda Coach: Phil Luke

HCP: Sholl (Smith); Willcox-Plastino, Pavlin-Ege, Glira-Spencer, Althuber; Ahl-Harju-Hannoun, Deluca-Catenacci-Archambault, Andergassen-Roy-Bardaro, De Lorenzo Meo-Berger-Mantinger, Spinel Coach: Tomek Valtonen

Gates: 0:1 Raphael Andergassen (1.35), 0:2 Dante Hannoun (27.14), 0:3 Dante Hannoun (33.19), 0:4 Dan Catenacci (40.41), 1:4 Julian Pusnik (41.38)

Viewers: 2810

The other results: Graz – Bolzano 1:2 nP Goals: 1:0 Oberkofler (45.02), 1:1 Thomas (46.24), 1:2 Mantenuto (decisive penalty) Audience: 1501

Vienna – Salzburg 1:3 Goals: 0:1 Schneider (30.45), 1:1 Sheppard (32.17), 1:2 Wukovits (55.19), 1:3 Huber (58.17) Audience: 5000

Ljubljana – Innsbruck 2:5 Goals: 0:1 Mackin (12.11), 0:2 Feldner (20.50), 0:3 Leavens (21.01), 1:3 Dodero (28.25), 1:4 Lattner (38.11), 2:4 Dodero (38.27), 2:5 Coulter (45.30) Audience: 810

Klagenfurt – Villach 2:3 Goals: 0:1 Luciani (3.16), 0:2 Sabolic (5.53), 0:3 Kulda (32.21), 1:3 Ticar (38.57), 2:3 Hochegger (57.36) Audience: 4396

The table: SP G U V TV P 1. HCB South Tyrol 42 32 0 10 150:90 92 2. Salzburg 41 30 0 11 128:76 90 3. Innsbruck 43 28 0 15 166:133 86 4. Villach 42 26 0 16 156:130 76 5. Linz 40 22 0 18 113:104 65 6. Vienna Capitals 41 20 0 21 132:125 64 7. Klagenfurt 41 22 0 19 116:104 63 8. Fehervar 40 18 0 22 98:100 58 9. Graz99ers 41 15 0 26 83:116 46 10. Asiago Hockey 39 16 0 23 109:134 45 11. HC Pustertal 41 14 0 27 102:117 44 12. Olimpija Ljubljana 39 11 0 28 96:151 33 13. Vorarlberg 40 11 0 29 77:146 33

ICE Regular Season ICE	SP	TV	P
1. Klagenfurt	47	183:101	102
2. Fehervar	46	146:126	89
3. Salzburg	46	142:107	87
4. HCB South Tyrol	46	137:125	76
5. Linz	46	146:116	75
6. Villach	46	155:136	74
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Strong wolves long for the 5th season

After three defeats in a row, HC Pustertal returned to the fight for playoff participation on Sunday evening - and how!

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