After 121 minutes! HCB loses record battle against KAC

Again fought bravely until we dropped, narrowly lost again: In the first home playoff game against KAC, the HCB narrowly had to give way to the Austrian record champions with a score of 3:4. The defeat is particularly bitter because Bozen showed a convincing performance over long stretches and was more than equal to Klagenfurt for a long time - but in the end it was the guests from Carinthia who celebrated.

Johannes Bischofberger was celebrated as the winning goal scorer in this historic game, scoring the decisive 4-3 in the fourth overtime period and thus ensuring the end of the longest encounter in the history of the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. In total, the ice hockey battle between the “Foxes” and the “Rotjackets” lasted four hours and 53 minutes – a new EBEL record.

Rittens Tauferer there again First things first: Because the Bolzano personnel situation remained unchanged compared to the start of the playoffs on Wednesday, HCB coach Clayton Beddoes offered the same players as in the 4th team - with the exception of Rittner Ivan Tauferer, who strengthened the white-red backline as the sixth defender :5 overtime defeat in Klagenfurt. The trio Leland Irving, Matt MacKenzie and Andrew Crescenzi, whose season has already ended, were not in the Talferstädter squad, as was Brett Findlay, who is still injured. On the other hand, KAC coach Petri Mitikainen also had to do without a quartet: Manuel Geier, Marco Richter, ex-Bolzano player Robin Gartner and Christoph Duller were out - but regular goalkeeper Lars Haugen returned to the Klagenfurt goal. Guests dominate the starting third The game started very badly for the people of Bolzano: After a brief scan, Klagenfurt immediately took control and took the lead early on. Kozek caught the otherwise extremely strong HCB goalkeeper Smith on the wrong foot with a pawn trick and pushed the puck past the bewildered goalkeeper into the near corner to make it 1-0. Even after the well-deserved lead, the guests remained in control and made it difficult for Bozen to get into the game. Above all, the KAC parade block Kozek-Koch-Petersen repeatedly caused danger in front of the “Foxes” goal.

After Bozen was only able to free itself from its own zone with great difficulty in the initial phase, the equalizer came out of nowhere towards the middle of the starting period: Miceli left the puck to the advanced Glira, who made it 1-1 with a slightly deflected shot into the far corner worried. Afterwards, the people of Bolzano made the encounter a little more open, even if the “Red Jackets” remained the visually better team. Play on a knife's edge While Bolzano struggled in the opening third, the home team were fully in the game from the middle third at the latest. Captain Anton Bernard and Co. came out of the locker room aggressively and rewarded themselves with the lead in the power play: Catenacci passed to defender Campbell, who scored with a one-timer to make it 2-1. KAC goalkeeper Haugen didn't cut the best figure - just like in the 1-1 draw. But it didn't take long for the Carinthians to strike back: Defender Harand, who had the advantage, took ideal advantage of a slip by Petan and made it 2-2 with a hammer from the blue line.

Immediately afterwards, Insam and Petan had Bolzano's renewed lead, but both showed nerves alone in front of Haugen. As a result, the game became tougher - several nicks and minor scuffles took some of the flow out of the match. It wasn't until the end of the third that the game picked up speed again: Petersen first scored in the power play to make it 3-2 for the guests, and just a few moments later Miceli brought the game back into balance with a deflected Glira finish. Ice hockey until after midnight In the final section the even back and forth continued. Bozen stayed true to its simple, no-frills style of play and stood up to the KAC - even with the necessary amount of toughness. However, the opportunities that both teams created in the last 20 minutes of regular time remained unused - so the game had to be decided in extra time.

In overtime, the spectators were initially presented with the same picture as in the final phase of regular time: there were opportunities on both sides, but no goals were scored. The longer the encounter lasted, the more the Bolzano cracks' strength dwindled. The KAC appeared physically fresher, but the “Foxes” fought against it with all the resources they had and also had solid support in Jake Smith, who repeatedly outgrew himself in difficult situations. Bischofberger destroys Bolzano's hopes After three goalless extra periods, the time had finally come at the beginning of the fourth extra time: Smith was unable to hold on to a shot from Wahl, Bischofberger directed the rebound into the net to make it 4:3 and thus caused the “sudden death” of the team at seven minutes after midnight Bolzano.

There is no time to rest for either team: KAC and HCB will face each other again on Sunday in the third game of the best-of-seven series. The game in Klagenfurt starts at 17.30:XNUMX p.m. HCB Südtirol Alperia – Klagenfurter AC 3:4 aet (1:1, 2:2, 0:0, 0:0, 0:0, 0:0, 0:1) Klagenfurt: Haugen (Madlener); Comrie Fishermen; Harand-Schumnig, Strong-Unterweger, Schnetzer-Kreuzer; Kozek-Koch-Petersen, Hundredpound-Wahl-Bischofberger, Obersteiner-Neal-Geier, Kraus-Liivik-Witting coach: Petri Mitikainen

Bolzano: Smith (Driving Ripe); Nordlund-Marchetti, Geiger-Campbell, Glira-Tauferer; Miceli-Bernard-Blunden, Brace-Carozza-Petan, Frigo-Catenacci-Insam, Deluca-Kuparinen-Frank, Schweitzer. coach: Clayton Beddoes

Gates: 0:1Andrew Kozek (3.47), 1:1 Daniel Glira (14.27), 2:1 Tim Campbell (25.47), 2:2 Patrick Harand (31.48), 2:3 Nicholas Petersen (39.25), 3:3 Angelo Miceli ( 39.45), 3:4 Johannes Bischofberger (120.53)

Shots: 54:66

Penalty minutes: 20:24

Viewers: 3.650

Standings in the best-of-seven series: 0:2 The other games: Znojmo – Vienna 4:3 (2:2, 2:1, 0:0) Goals: 0:1 Wall (7.53), 0:2 Nissner (12.38), 1:2 Lattner (17.40), 2:2 Stretch (18.20), 2:3 Vause (22.52), 3:3 Kalus (35.01), 4:3 Spacek (38.17) Audience: 3.342 Standings in the best-of-seven series: 1-1

Linz – Graz 4:3 a.t. (1:1, 2:0, 0:2, 1:0) Goals: 1:0 DaSilva (6.02), 1:1 Kirchschläger (13.45), 2:1 Kapstad (22.56), 3:1 DaSilva (24.47), 3:2 King (49.42), 3:3 Oberkofler (59.49), 4:3 Cape Town (61.04) Audience: 4.700 Standings in the best-of-seven series: 1-1

Salzburg – Fehervar 3:2 a.t. (1:0, 0:2, 1:0, 1:0) Goals: 1:0 Gazley (9.28), 1:1 Erdely (20.57), 1:2 Luttinen (23.45), 2:2 VandeVelde (58.02), 3:2 Duncan (62.20) Audience: 2.780

Standings in the best-of-seven series: 1-1

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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After 121 minutes! HCB loses record battle against KAC

EBEL history was written on Friday in the Bolzano ice wave: The HCB and the KAC fought a thrilling and never-ending playoff fight in game two of the playoff quarter-final series, which was only decided after a record time of 120.53 minutes.

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