Dustin Gazley provides Bolzano's New Year's fireworks

This season, Dustin Gazley has repeatedly shown that he is a brilliant ice hockey player. In the last few weeks (and during the injury-related absence of his congenial strike partner Dan Catenacci), the American has finally matured into a big player in the Bolzano ranks - he impressively underlined that on New Year's Day. The Foxes won a turbulent game against Salzburg 5-4 after a penalty shootout, with Gazley (a former cop, by the way) being directly involved in 3 Bozen goals and, as the icing on the cake, sinking the decisive penalty. It has been clear since Friday at the latest: Bolzano has a new ice hockey star.

It was a hard-fought and deserved victory for the Foxes, who continue to lead the table in lockstep with Fehervar. Against Salzburg, the people of Bolzano put on a gala performance, especially in the first third, in which the “Red Bulls” were obviously surprised by the liveliness and speed of the Talferstadt team. There's a reason why Bolzano wasn't able to get all three points: the Ireland team's outnumbered game is and will remain the big problem child in the new year. Against Salzburg, 3 of the 3 goals were scored with one man less, and 4 of the last 8 goals conceded were conceded while outnumbered. So the penalty killing doesn't work yet. It should also be noted that the referees in Salzburg whistled very pettily against the HCB and thus aroused the displeasure of the South Tyroleans several times. Halmo reports back impressively In addition to the long-term injuries Irving, Fazio, Tauferer and Youds, Bozen also had to do without the ailing Anthony Bardaro on New Year's Day, but Mike Halmo returned to the team. And this Halmo presented himself as if he had been bitten by a tarantula after serving his 3-game ban: a lot of fight, a lot of passion, a lot of goal danger and in the end also a goal - so the Canadian is a real asset for the Foxes.

Paul Huber (left) and Peter Hochkofler from Eppan (right) take Gleason Fournier from Bolzano into the grip.

However, the fireworks were opened by Gleason Fournier, who scored with a one-timer after just 4 minutes. Bozen then dominated at will, but the home team equalized out of the blue when Mario Huber appeared alone in front of Andy Bernard and took the chance (11th). Gazley (with a pirouette shot, 16th) and Halmo (after a pure act of will, 20th) made things clear in the first third. Bolzano suffers from being outnumbered Salzburg showed improvement after the break and came close thanks to a powerplay goal from Thomas Raffl (26th). The joy only lasted for a short time, because 4 minutes later Stefano Giliati kept his nerve after a dream pass from Gazley in front of Salzburg's back-up Jesper Eliasson (he was preferred over JP Lamoureux) (30th) - 4:2. Again just 2 minutes later it was Justin Schütz who pushed a rebound into the goal with the advantage and kept the Austrians' hope alive with the 3:4.

Bozen then failed to pull away, which is why the Bulls made it 4-4 in the final third - and again with one more man on the ice - through Rick Schofield (47th). Nothing changed, so there was a penalty shootout. And here Dustin Gazley showed all his skills and all his coolness and shot Bozen to their first win of 2021.

Bozen continues on Sunday at 16.30 p.m. with the home game against Dornbirn. ICEHL, the games from New Year's Day Red Bull Salzburg – HCB Südtirol Alperia 4:5 nP 0:1 Fournier (3.58), 1:1 Huber (10.03), 1:2 Gazley (15.28), 1:3 Halmo (19.18), 2:3 Raffl (25.46), 2:4 Giliati (29.58), 3: 4 Schütz (32.18), 4:4 Schofield (46.04). Decisive penalty: Dustin Gazley

Fehervar – Linz 5:4 nV 1:0 Kuralt (13.26), 2:0 Petan (16.26), 2:1 Umicevic (37.02), 3:1 Erdely (37.56), 3:2 Hytonen (43.48), 3:3 Bartulis (51.19), 4: 3 Horvath (52.36), 4:4 Hytonen (54.25), 5:4 Kuralt (60.30) Bratislava – Vienna 2:5 0:1 Wukovits (20.26), 0:2 Loney (28.09), 0:3 Hartl (38.14), 1:3 Ahl (39.28), 1:4 Fischer (50.06), 1:5 Loney (51.13), 2: 5 Hults (56.10) Graz – Klagenfurt 2:6 0:1 Haudum (6.57), 0:2 Koch (18.31), 1:2 Fejes (33.47), 1:3 Ticar (37.47), 2:3 Sointu (47.08), 2:4 Petersen (53.46), 2: 5 Bischofberger (56.58), 2:6 Ganahl (59.04) Innsbruck – Dornbirn 2:4 1:0 Jennes (6.25), 1:1 Pöschmann (6.49), 1:2 Schwinger (8.22), 2:2 Herr (18.37), 2:3 Jevpalovs (53.05), 2:4 Yogan (59.16) Table SP G U V TV P 1. HCB South Tyrol 25 18 0 7 83:48 56 2. Fehervar 30 19 0 11 103:89 56 3. Vienna Capitals 27 17 0 10 87:65 50 4. Klagenfurt 27 15 0 12 76:57 48 5. Dornbirn 26 15 0 11 75:72 43 6. Salzburg 23 13 0 10 76:63 40 7. Graz99ers 27 12 0 15 78:91 35 8. Innsbruck 27 11 0 16 90:97 34 9. Bratislava 26 10 0 16 69:89 29 10. Villach 27 10 0 17 61:88 29 11. Linz 27 6 0 21 53:92 18

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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Dustin Gazley provides Bolzano's New Year's fireworks

HCB Südtirol Alperia started the new calendar year with a win against Red Bull Salzburg. One player towered above everything.

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