MASTER! Bolzano is EBEL champion

April 13, 2014 and now April 20, 2018 - two dates that will probably forever be an integral part of South Tyrolean ice hockey history: a good four years after HC Bozen celebrated its first EBEL championship title in Salzburg's Volksgarten, the “Foxes “At the same place again as champion of the Erste Bank Ice Hockey League.

Salzburg takes the game, Bolzano the goals The big showdown for the title began with a careful feeling out by both teams. After an even start, Salzburg took command, but without becoming compelling. Bozen weakened itself with a few penalty minutes, but defended cleverly and largely kept the “Bulls” away from the dangerous zone around their own box.

As things progressed, the game tipped over. Bozen sensed its chance, forced Salzburg to make mistakes and capitalized on the first opportunity that presented itself: after a misfire by goalkeeper Starkbaum, “away monster” Dominic Monardo reacted quickest and made it 1-0. While Salzburg went into a state of shock after conceding the goal, the HCB went into a bit of a frenzy: Less than 60 seconds after taking the lead, Chris DeSousa, who was left alone, increased the lead to 2-0. The people of Bolzano subsequently gave the Mozartstadt team more possession of the puck, but they acted much more lively and showed themselves to be extremely dangerous in straightforward counter-attacks. Defense solid, offense efficient Even in the middle third there was little change in the game. Bozen stood securely at the back – both in five-on-five situations and when outnumbered – and played forward with determination. The HCB continued to mercilessly exploit the space that opened up: Luca Frigo neatly completed a three-on-two counterattack and made it 3-0 with a deflected shot into the goalkeeper's corner.

Even after that, Salzburg couldn't find a way through against the densely staggered Bozen defense. Because the HCB defended in a focused and calm manner, top-class players from Mozartstadt were largely absent. If a gap appeared, HCB goalkeeper Pekka Tuokkola was there. Drama until the last second In the final third, Salzburg threw everything forward and put the HCB goal under constant fire. The Bolzano players withstood the pressure for a long time, threw themselves into every shot and saved several times in dire need. It took until the 55th minute before the white-red collective was broken through for the first time: Viveiros pulled away from the slot and reduced the score to 1:3.

The 1:3 goal was the starting signal for a dramatic final phase, which escalated further 87 seconds before the end of the game: “Bullen” coach Poss took goalkeeper Starkbaum off the ice, Mueller scored to make it 2:3 and brought the Salzburg Volksgarten home for good for cooking. But nothing changed about the outcome of the game until the final siren: Bozen closed in behind, defended passionately until the last second and maintained the narrow lead with a lot of fight and effort over time.

Here you can watch the dramatic final seconds of the encounter:

Will the HC Bozen - Bolzano Foxes actually become EBEL champions in 2018? Here's the last minute of the game live...

Posted by SportNews.bz on Friday, April 20, 2018

EC Red Bull Salzburg – HCB Südtirol Alperia 2:3 (0:2, 0:1, 2:0) Salzburg: Strong Tree (Gracnar); Brouillette-Trattnig, Raymond-Stajnoch, Heinrich-Viveiros, Pallestrang-Jakubitzka; Mueller-Schremp-Harris, Herburger-Duncan-Hughes, Cijan-Schiechl-Hochkofler, Winkler-Rauchenwald-Huber.

Bolzano: Tuokkola (Jake Smith); Carlisle-Clark, Gartner-Tomassoni, Egger-Glira; Halmo-Oleksuk-Monardo, Sointu-DeSousa-Petan, Miceli-Angelidis-Austin Smith, Frigo-Bernard-Frank, Michele Marchetti, Schweitzer.

Gates: 0:1 Dominic Monardo (13.41), 0:2 Chris DeSousa (14.40), 0:3 Luca Frigo (25.09), 1:3 Layne Viveiros (54.29), 2:3 Peter Mueller (58.33)

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Created in the best-of-seven series: 3:4 – Bolzano are champions

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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MASTER! Bolzano is EBEL champion

The incredible success story of HCB Südtirol has a happy ending: the people of Bolzano defeated Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 in the all-important seventh final game and were crowned champions of the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga for the second time since 2014.

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