Ritten finishes the basic round of the Alps Hockey League with 75 points in 2nd place, and the Italian champion clearly prevailed on the 34th matchday in Klobenstein against the bottom of the table Linz II as expected with 8:1 goals. Now the Budaj cracks are preparing for the upcoming Master Round, which begins on 13th February with the home game against Asiago. Besides Ritten, the top 6 are completed by basic round winners Ljubljana, Pustertal, Cortina, Asiago and Jesenice. These teams are already qualified for the play-off quarter-finals and will meet in the Master Round in a classic first and second leg. Ljubljana starts with four extra points, the "Buam" with three and the "Wolves" with two. Fourth-placed Cortina receives one bonus point, Asiago and Jesenice none. The teams from 7th to 18th place will battle for the last two play-off tickets in two qualifying rounds. Rittner coach Jozef Budaj was again able to draw on the full potential of Linz II against the taillights, but as in the first leg in the goal, Kevin Lindskoug was allowed a breather and replaced Hannes Treibenreif, who was on his fifth appearance in the championship. The hosts took the lead in the 8.33 minute. When Kilian Frühwirt had to go to the penalty bench for two minutes, it was defender Andreas Lutz who set the score 1-0 with a shot from the blue line. After a quarter of an hour, Julian Kostner increased the lead to 2-0 with a placed shot, Ivan Korecky shortened it to 1-2 in the middle section, and in the 31st minute Manuel Öhler immediately restored the two-goal lead. For the young Rittner it was the second goal of the season. Shortly afterwards, the "Buam" were unlucky that Thomas Spinell's takedown only hit the post. After 40 minutes, the Italian champion scored 3-1, and in the final third, the Rittners were able to cheer five more times. Double goal scorer Julian Kostner used the powerplay to make it 4:1. In the 53.33 minute Ryan Obuchowski scored for 5-1, 16 seconds later captain Dan Tudin also added to the scoring list. Shortly before the final siren, the US American Matt Lane and the Kalterer goalkeeper Alex Frei fixed the final score of 8:1. Ritten finished the basic round with 25 wins.
Rittner Buam – Steel Wings Linz 8:1 (2:0, 1:1, 5:0)
Rittner Buam: Hannes Treibenreif (Kevin Lindskoug); Ryan Obuchowski-Randy Gazzola, Marco Marzolini-Andreas Lutz, Alexander Brunner-Radovan Gabri, Christoph Vigl; Simon Kostner-Matt Lane-Markus Spinell, Alex Frei-Dan Tudin-Thomas Spinell, Stefan Quinz-Julian Kostner-Philipp Pechlaner, Kevin Fink-Alexander Eisath-Manuel Öhler
Coach: Jozef Budaj
Steel Wings Linz: Paul Mocher (Beni Halasz); Patrick Gaffal-Ivan Korecky, Jonas Kail-Laurin Liesch, Marwin Liesch; Stefan Freunschlag-Jakob Mitsch-Adam Fedor, Kilian Frühwirt-Marcel Mayrhofer-Adrian Rosenberger, Krisztian Konya-Christian Kovanecz-Lukas Holzinger
Coach: Karel Soudek
Referees: Daniel Gamper, Omar Pinie (Florian Martin, Jacopo Pace)
Gol: 1:0 Andreas Lutz (8.33), 2:0 Julian Kostner (15.13), 2:1 Ivan Korecky (28.04), 3:1 Manuel Öhler (31.03), 4:1 Julian Kostner (44.53), 5:1 Ryan Obuchowski (53.33), 6:1 Dan Tudin (53.49), 7:1 Matt Lane (56.32), 8:1 Alex Frei (57.05)
Alps Hockey League, 34th round, Saturday, 1 February 2020
HC Pustertal – Vienna Capitals Silver 5:0 (0:0, 1:0, 4:0)
1:0 Raphael Andergassen (35.24), 2:0 Yuri Crstellon (43.27), 3:0 Alex De Lorenzo Meo (51.52), 4:0 Lukas De Lorenzo Meo (54.36), 5:0 Ivan Althuber (57.40)
Asiago Hockey – EC Kitzbühel 10:2 (4:0, 2:1, 4:1) – nach 47 Minuten
1:0 Steven McParland (5.31), 2:0 Chad Pietroniro (6.24), 3:0 Marco Rosa (8.19), 4:0 Vincent Loschiavo (9.05), 4:1 Patrick Bolterle (26.27), 5:1 Chad Pietroniro (34.10), 6:1 Steven McParland (36.34), 6:2 J Schreiber (41.13), 7:2 Marek Vankus (42.02), 8:2 Jose Magnabosco (43.47), 9:2 Chad Pietroniro (44.05), 10:2 Marco Rosa (46.59)
EHC Lustenau – Fassa Falcons 7:2 (2:0, 2:1, 3:1)
1:0 David König (8.44), 2:0 Dominic Haberl (9.13), 3:0 Frederik Rasmussen (22.03), 4:0 Colin Long (37.13), 4:1 Edoardo Caletti (39.23), 5:1 Daniel Stefan (41.20), 5:2 Linus Lundström (52.18), 6:2 Chris D’Alvise (55.27), 7:2 Dominic Haberl (59.13)
HDD Jesenice – EC Bregenzerwald 7:0 (3:0, 1:0, 3:0)
1:0 Patrik Rajsar (6.20), 2:0 Jaka Ankerst (16.11), 3:0 Gasper Glavic (17.36), 4:0 Miha Brus (25.03), 5:0 Mirko Djumic (43.42), 6:0 Gasper Sersen (49.41), 7:0 Mirko Djumic (50.35)
Wipptal Broncos – EC Klagenfurt II 4:3 (0:1, 3:1, 1:1)
0:1 Neal Unterluggauer (9.07), 1:1 Matthias Mantinger (21.47), 1:2 Rok Kapel (25.37), 2:2 Slater Doggett (26.04), 3:2 Ivan Deluca (39.15), 4:2 Ivan Deluca (50.28), 4:3 Neal Unterluggauer (59.40)
SG Cortina – VEU Feldkirch 3:1 (1:1, 0:0, 2:0)
0:1 Remy Giftopoulos (13.08), 1:1 Christian Jennes (20.07), 2:1 Mathieu Ayotte (58.38), 4:1 Riccardo Lacedelli (59.04)
HC Gherdeina – Red Bull Juniors 1:4 (0:2, 1:2, 0:0)
0:1 Luka Nyman (5.35), 0:2 Alexander Frandl (16.43), 0:3 Elias Lindner (28.29), 1:3 David Galassiti (35.38), 1:4 Marcel Zitz (36.27)
EK Zeller Eisbären – HK Olimpija 1:2 n.V. (1:1, 0:0, 0:0, 0:1)
0:1 Zan Jezovsek (11.55), 1:1 Jürgen Tschernutter (14.50), 1:2 Ales Music (64.53)
The Alps Hockey League table after the 34th matchday
1. HK Olimpija 81 Punkte
2. Rittner Buam 75
3. HC Pustertal 75
4. SG Cortina 62
5. Asiago Hockey 60
6. HDD Jesenice 60
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7. EHC Lustenau 58
8. Fassa Falcons 58
9. Wipptal Broncos 57
10. VEU Feldkirch 57
11. Red Bull Juniors 54
12. EK Zeller Eisbären 48
13. HC Gherdeina 45
14. EC Kitzbühel 39
15. EC Klagenfurt II 32
16. EC Bregenzerwald 29
17. Vienna Capitals Silver 25
18. Steel Wings Linz 3
