Bolzano makes six for Vienna and flies to first place in the standings
Back home with victory for HCB Alto Adige Alperia, who beat the spusu Vienna Capitals with a clear 6 to 2 in the anticipation of the 50th day of the ICE Hockey League. Nervous match (67 minutes penalty to 38 including a match penalty whistled against Valentine), which however Bolzano takes over in the central period, scoring three of the six total goals. With these three points, the Foxes are back at the top of the standings, on equal points (47) with Innsbruck.
The record. Coach Glen Hanlon presents the same lineup seen in Salzburg, with two exceptions: Kasslatter returns to the roster and replaces Glück, while Harvey is between the posts. The injured Di Perna is still in the pits.
Uphill start for the Foxes, who after just 71 seconds already have to chase: Bradley rewards the arrival in tow of Piff, who has the space to take aim and kill Harvey. The red and white immediately try to react, but Steen saves the result with a touch by Frattin, well served by Mitch Hults. The equalizer arrived at 06:07: Miceli went around the goal and served a gold puck at the far post to Maintained, who scored his second goal of the season in a precarious balance. Vienna that becomes dangerous again following a bad mistake in the defensive phase by Bolzano: Rotter recovers the puck and goes to Bradley, who is stopped by Harvey all alone in front of goal. After a wasted powerplay on each side, nerves break between Dalhuisen and Gregoire, both sent to the penalty bench for 2+10. At 18:44 Bolzano, who had already made himself dangerous with McClure, takes the lead: Gazley calls Steen to save with his bootleg, Halmo pounces on the rebound and scores.
At 11.37 pm the Foxes drop the trio: great puck from Felicetti for Miceli, who controls a puck that slips between Steen’s leggings. When Rotter has to serve 4 penalty minutes, the hosts take advantage of it and score two goals in powerplay within 45 seconds: at 27:47 Mitch Hults capitalizes on Alberga’s assist with a great shot at the crossroads, then it is Gazley who he invents a great goal by controlling the puck with his glove and diving in front of the goal. Shortly afterwards, Valentine was sent to the locker room prematurely for a tough charge against Prokes: in the five minutes of numerical inferiority that followed, Bolzano held up well, reduced Vienna’s chances to a minimum, who however managed to shorten the chances at 33:40 distances with a great shot by Hartl.
In the third half, the Foxes remained compact and came close to scoring the sixth goal several times, especially with Thomas always in the thick of the action. On the other Harvey saves the result on the conclusions of Hackl and Kainz, then it is Posch who comes close to the goal by hitting the post in full. The goal is instead still red and white: in 4 against 4, at 50:26, Dalhuisen finds the right slap to beat Steen again. It’s the goal that definitively closes the match, which slips into the final minutes still with a lot of nervousness, but with no more scoring.
HCB South Tyrol Alperia – spusu Vienna Capitals 6 – 2 [2-1; 3-1; 1-0]
rites: 01:11 Lukas Piff (0-1); 06:07 Daniele Maintained (1-1); 18:44 Mike Halmo (2-1); 23:37 Angelo Miceli (3-1); 27:47 Mitch Hult PP1 (4-1); 28:32 Dustin Gazley PP1 (5-1); 33:40 Nikolaus Hartl PP1 (5-2); 50:26 Mike Dalhuisen (6-2)
Shots on goal: 40-28
Penalty minutes: 57-38
Referees: Ofner, Sternat / Durmis, Jedlicka
Spectators: 2.013