Start of the semi-finals: Bolzano has to go to Asiago, HCP welcomes Valpellice

In the first semi-final, HC Pustertal meets the surprise team from Torre Pellice. The “Wolves” were able to qualify for the play-offs as first in the regular round, while Valpellice entered the “fifth season” as fifth in the table. Once there, the ski cracks from Piedmont really turned up the heat and brought back memories of the first half of the season, when Valpellice outplayed their opponents in spades. Quarterfinal opponent and last year's finalist Ritten had little to counter the aggressive counterattack based on the speed of the two Aquino brothers.

Valpellice was already able to exploit its strengths against HC Pustertal. Mike Ellis' team won three of the five meetings this season. In the semi-finals, however, Bruneck are clearly favorites, although the loss of top scorer Rob Sirianni represents a significant weakening of the offensive department.

Bolzano wants to keep its clean slate

HC Bozen was the only team to reach the semi-finals without a play-off defeat and would now like to crown its triumph by reaching the finals. However, an extremely unpleasant one awaits with HC Asiago, which will demand everything from the “Foxes” in the semi-finals. The eagerly awaited start of the semi-final series will take place on Saturday evening at the Odegar Stadium in Asiago.

The upcoming encounter on the Asiago plateau is the sixth meeting between the two teams in the current championship. The white-reds won the first three of the five games so far, while Asiago retained the upper hand in the last two encounters and thus moved past HCB in the final standings.

In a historical comparison, Bolzano is clearly ahead: the record champions left the ice as winners 107 times. Asiago, on the other hand, won 50 of the 177 direct duels. 20 matches ended in a draw.

In the first semi-final game, coach Adolf Insam only has to do without the long-term injured Christian Borgatello. Due to the foreigner regulations, the Val Gardena trainer has to order a player into the stands. Insam doesn't want to announce who it will be until the day of the match, but the choice will probably fall on striker Rhett Gordon.

Asiago coach John Tucker, on the other hand, can rely on the entire squad and will tackle the first game with the best players.

This is how they will play (Odegar Stadium in Asiago - Saturday March 5, 20.30:XNUMX p.m.):

Supermercati Migross Asiago: Daniel Bellissimo (Gianfilippo Pavone); Matt De Marchi, Michele Strazzabosco, Nicholas Plastino, Ladislav Benysek, Marco Rossi, Enrico Miglioranzi, Andrea Gorza; Adam Henrich, Layne Ulmer, John Vigilante, Michael Henrich, Dave Borrelli, Matteo Tessari, Nicola Tessari, Ralph Intranuovo, Federico Benetti, Filippo Busa, Mirko Presti, Michele Stevan Coach: John Tucker HC Interspar Bozen: Matt Zaba (Guenther Hell); Alex Egger, Mika Lehtinen, Rosario Ruggeri, Samuli Suhonen, David Ceresa, Michael Busto; Colton Fretter, Danny Irmen, Mike Souza, Giulio Scandella, Nick Mazzolini, Marco Insam, Stefan Zisser, Anton Bernard, Christian Walcher, Enrico Dorigatti Coach: Adolf Insam

The semi-final matches (best of seven):

Supermercati Migross Asiago – HC Interspar Bozen HC Pustertal – HC Valpellice

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Start of the semi-finals: Bolzano has to go to Asiago, HCP welcomes Valpellice

HC Pustertal-Valpellice and Asiago-Bozen are the semi-final matches that will get ice hockey spirits raging starting on Saturday at 20.30:XNUMX p.m.

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