Tobias Chizzali and the HCE prevailed against Alleghe in the quarterfinals. © HC Eppan

Eppan after a nervous thriller in the semi-finals

The Pirates follow their arch rivals from Kaltern into the penultimate round of the Italian Hockey League (IHL). At home, she and more than 400 fans experienced another real thriller against Alleghe.

March 09, 2024

From: sportsnews

HC Eppan is in the semi-finals of the IHL. The Pirates celebrated a 6-4 home win against Alleghe on Saturday evening and won the best-of-5 series 3-1.

The game with which you can close the sack in a series is, as we all know, the hardest game. HC Eppan can also confirm this. The Pirates, who secured the match puck in the quarter-final series two days earlier with a 3-0 away win against Alleghe, had to tremble for a long time in the fourth duel before victory and the associated semi-finals were guaranteed.

In the 3rd minute, the guests from Alleghe took the lead through Marwin Martini, but Eppan was able to restore the tie just two minutes later through William Mäkinen. In the 12th minute, the Pirates showed nerves for the first time and conceded two goals in just 21 seconds. Eppan then replaced goalkeeper Alex Paller with Mike Reinalter.

HCE turns things around after being 1:3 behind

After that, the game went in the right direction for the Pirates. They took advantage of two outnumbered situations in the second third and restored the tie through Mäkinen and Erno Räisänen. Finally, Martin Graf gave the home team the lead for the first time of the evening in the 50th minute, but Alleghe hit back again just two minutes later and was able to equalize to make it 4-4. In the end it was Daniel Erlacher who secured the semi-final ticket for the Pirates with his golden goal to make it 5:4. Simone Critelli increased the score to 6:4 with an empty net goal one second before the final whistle.

This means that the second South Tyrolean team has also qualified for the IHL semi-finals. SV Kaltern secured their semi-final ticket last Thursday.

Waiting for semi-final opponents

It is not yet clear who the opponents of the two South Tyrolean teams are. Varese fended off Feltre's second match puck with a 5-0 away win, Pergine brought the series to 4-1 with a 2-2 win over Como. Both quarter-final series will therefore go into a decisive fifth game, which will be played on Tuesday.

IHL Quarterfinals, Game 4

Eppan - Alleghe 6:4
0:1 Martini (2.55), 1:1 Mäkinen (5.06), 1:2 Mäkelä (11.13), 1:3 Gabriel Vinatzer (11.34), 2:3 Mäkinen (28.49), 3:3 Räisänen (31.36), 4 :3 Graf (49.03), 4:4 Andreas Vinatzer (51.49), 5:4 Erlacher (54.38), 6:4 Critelli (59.59)
Audience: 430
Final score best-of-5 series: 3:1

Feltreghaccio – Varese 0:5
0:1 Tilaro (21.37), 0:2 Pietroniro (23.35), 0:3 Pietroniro (44.21), 0:4 Naslund (51.46), 0:5 Majul Villasenor (54.43)
Score in the series: 2:2

Como – Pergine 1:4
0:1 Mocellin (7.29), 1:1 Kizlo (32.56), 1:2 Mocellin (47.12), 1:3 Lemay (47.35), 1:4 Buono (59.45)
The score was 2-2 in the series