ICE Hockey League, Vienna beats Bolzano first and then Val Pusteria – FISG
Weekend without victories for the two South Tyrolean ICE teams. Val Pusteria is defeated twice. First in Klagenfurt on Friday and then from Vienna on Sunday afternoon. The team from the Austrian capital had already been the protagonist in Bolzano on Saturday evening, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on the Foxes.
Val Pusteria goes down by two goals in the first half and then can’t recover despite a breathtaking finish in front of the three thousand in Brunico.
Afternoon guests are the Vienna Capitals. After the defeat of a month ago for 9 to 1 the Wolves are looking for a revenge. Coach Horsky has to give up Kristensen and Roy. The latter came out battered on the ice in Klagenfurt on Friday.
The teams start off cautious, then suddenly the hosts press on the gas. There are several yellow and black chances: Spinell and Berger, Sanna (from the left face-off) and Bardaro (from close range) are unable to force Starkbaum’s defences. Even two minutes of numerical superiority do not bring the desired results. The Austrians, on the other hand, are much more effective: in 14” they place a deadly one-two, also thanks to the imperfect home defense.
Horsky’s men set off again at full speed and Starkbaum had to do his best to defuse Archambault twice. In the 26th minute Hannoun came close to scoring on a nice pass from Archambault in a quick turnaround in front. The Viennese withdraw their range a little and the Pusterese repeatedly peep out from the parts of the expert extreme host. Hartl has to use the ugly ones to stop a yellow and black counterattack and so the hosts benefit from the third powerplay.
. Shortly after, however, the almost 3,000 spectators at the Intercable Arena can rejoice: Newhouse shoots from the faceoff and the puck ends its run behind Starkbaum. The Caps closed in defense and the hosts collected good chances, such as that of Bardaro in the 48th minute, when he wedged between several opponents, before being told no by the #29 of Vienna.
In the 53rd minute Newhouse nearly equalised, following an assist from Deluca. 4 and a half minutes from the end Kainz is sanctioned, Sholl hastily leaves his goal and the Wolves attack in six. Thirty seconds later the audience witnesses a scene that is difficult to read: great commotion in front of Starkbaum and the disc disappears from everyone’s view. The referees watch what happened for a long time, before getting back on track without conceding the goal. Just when Kainz returned, it was Preiser who took his place in the penalty bench, giving Lupi the last two minutes in numerical superiority. The PP, however, is bitter for the yellow and blacks: a back pass from Hannoun’s offensive zone does not direct a result for any defender, the puck slides inexorably towards the unguarded goal and so Vienna finds itself again with a two-goal advantage.
Wall is also sent to the bad guys’ bench to see the epilogue of the match and 15” from the end six Pusterese attackers manage to break the defense of three Viennese. It’s AHL that scores the momentary 2-3 goal. Coach Horsky calls a timeout in search of the engagement, but, despite winning the engagement, the puck reaches Bradley, who pockets an empty net and writes the word “end ” on today’s match.
Vienna manages to move to the Sparkasse Arena: it is the first team, in the current ICE season, to win in Bolzano
The first meeting of the season between Bolzano and Vienna started with a bang. Mike Halmo scored after just 31 seconds to give the home side the lead: the red and white player secured the puck in his own box and finished a 2-on-1 counterattack by himself. But just four minutes later the Viennese leveled, Sascha Bauer surprised HCB goalkeeper Sam Harvey. After this goal, the Viennese had the upper hand, but the score remained 1:1 until the first break.
Shortly after the restart, Caps goalkeeper Stefan Steen made a great save and the visitors turned the game around shortly after. After a blunder by the Bolzano defense, Matt Bradley scored. In the 33rd minute things got even better for the Capitals: at the end of a four against four, the HCB lost the puck in the attacking third, the Viennese quickly changed and Rotter, returning from the penalty bench, extended the lead to 1:3. Bolzano, however, was able to close the gap again in the middle period, with Matt Frattin scoring during a 4-vs-3 powerplay.
In the third period the game calmed down, only in the 50th minute was the next man up for Vienna. And the guests knew how to take advantage of it: after only seven seconds Max Zimmer made the 2:4. The league leader put pressure on the visitors in a final offensive, but more than Angelo Miceli’s third HCB goal (58./PP) was not possible. While Bolzano suffered the second defeat in a row, the Viennese started their journey in South Tyrol successfully.
HC Val Pusteria Lupi – spusu Vienna Capitals 2:4 (0:2, 0:0, 2:2)
Referees: SCHAUER, SMETANA, Riecken, Rigoni. | Spectators: 2,936
PUS goals: Newhouse (44.), Hannoun (60./PP2)
VIC Targets: Bradley (10., 60./EN SH1), Zimmer (10.), Sheppard (58./EN SH1)
HCB Südtirol Alperia – spusu Vienna Capitals 3:5 (1:1, 1:2, 1:2)
Referees: SMETANA, ZRNIC, Riecken, Zgonc.
Bolzano goals: Halmo (1.), Farttin (39./PP), Miceli (58./PP)
Vienna goals: Bauer (5.), Bradley (23.), Rotter (33.), Zimmer (50./PP)
11/20/2022