The Bolzano aesthetes enchant Bratislava

For years, Bozen has had the reputation of being a defensive bulwark that impresses not with its aesthetics but with its efficiency. Greg Ireland's men showed on Sunday evening that this is not (always) the case when they showed off the Slovakians with some beautiful moves and beat them 60-6 after 0 one-sided minutes.

The HCB was able to develop on Sunday due to two factors: On the one hand, because head coach Greg Ireland was able to rely on all of his strikers and they stood out for their great wit. On the other hand, because Bratislava gave the Foxes a lot of space, especially in the high slot, and counterattacked several times, which the home team finished well.

In the first third, the team coached by Peter Draisaitl was able to largely prevent these actions, although they were only rarely able to free themselves from the South Tyroleans' grasp. However, great chances remained in short supply – it was 0-0 after 20 minutes. Bolzano is turning up the heat While the Foxes had taken a slow approach in the first half, this changed in the middle third. Aided by a penalty from Bratislava, they managed to take the lead they deserved. The puck came via Denis Robertson to the omnipresent Brett Findlay, who played a perfect cross pass to Anthony Bardaro and saw the latter put the hard rubber straight into the opponent's goal (23'). Just two minutes later, Capitals goalie Coreau had to reach behind himself again as Bozen showed off their quality again. A wonderful 3-on-2 situation via Bardaro, the eye-catching Mike Halmo and goalscorer Dan Catenacci froze the opposing defense line. She was now completely beside herself. The 3-0 by Luca Frigo, who punished a Guimond goal, was the next proof of this (28th).

Stefano Giliati and Dan Catenacci had an easy time. © Vanna Antonello

At least Bratislava was now moving forward, but there was no getting past Leland Irving. Instead, Findlay made everything clear – again on the power play. In the 47th minute, Bozen's top scorer took advantage of Bratislava's passive and careless box play on a nice pass from Bardaro to make it 4-0. If there were still any doubts about the HCB's victory at this point, they had now finally disappeared. Also because Ivan Deluca went it alone to further increase the result. But that's not all: In his 400th game for the HCB, Daniel Frank also hit the mark - and thus secured the final score of 6-0. KAC and Fehervar cheer After the HCB, the KAC and Fehervar have also been in the ICE playoffs since Sunday. The Klagenfurt team defeated the bottom team from Linz 3-2 and replaced the unmatched Hungarians in second place. Thanks to the help of VSV, who defeated the sixth-placed Dornbirn Bulldogs 5:3, the duo is in the pick round of the best five teams and thus in the quarter-finals. HCB Südtirol Alperia – iClinic Bratislava Capitals 6:0 HSBC: Irving (Fazio); Robertson-Di Perna, Pietroniro-Plastino, Youds; Halmo-Catenacci-Bardaro, Frank-Findlay-Gazley, Deluca-Alberga-Miceli, Frigo-Bernard-Insam, Pitschieler-Giliati Coach: Ireland

BRC: Coreau (Pientka); Culkin-Chovan, Boldizar-Guimond, Romancik-Sedivy, Durkech; Mrazik-Hults-Bubela, Fortier-Higgs-Hudec, Miklik-Buc-Faith, Kover-Bezak-Smida Coach: Draisaitl

Gates: 1:0 Bardaro (22.10), 2:0 Catenacci (24.20), 3:0 Frigo (27.11), 4:0 Bardaro (46.33), 5:0 Deluca (53.01), 6:0 Frank (59.38) The other results: Dornbirn Bulldogs – EC VSV 3:5 Goals: 0:1 Kosmachuk (3.23), 0:2 Kosmachuk (5.40), 0:3 Maxa (17.58), 0:4 Allard (24.10), 1:4 Schnetzer (34.18), 2:4 Rapuzzi (53.02), 3:4 Yogan (55.06), 3:5 Collins (59.14) EC KAC – Black Wings Linz 3:2 Goals: 1:0 Petersen (00.16), 2:0 Ganahl (21.18), 3:0 Fraser (41.49), 3:1 Hytonen (57.04), 3:2 Lebler (58.46)

The table: SP G U V TV P 1. HCB South Tyrol 35 25 0 10 111:62 76 2. Klagenfurt 35 22 0 13 107:69 68 3. Fehervar 36 23 0 13 120:103 67 4. Vienna Capitals 36 22 0 14 117:96 64 5. Salzburg 33 18 0 15 98:87 57 6. Dornbirn 36 18 0 18 103:99 53 7. Graz99ers 35 16 0 19 99:117 46 8. Innsbruck 35 13 0 22 112:127 41 9. Villach 35 14 0 21 83:109 41 10. Bratislava 35 14 0 21 87:120 41 11. Linz 35 8 0 27 69:117 25

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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The Bolzano aesthetes enchant Bratislava

HCB Südtirol Alperia showed a new, unusual face on Sunday evening, which completely overwhelmed the Bratislava Capitals and gave the Foxes an easy three points.

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