The semi-final debutants of the Alps Hockey League, HC Gherdeina valgardena.it and HC Meran/o Pircher, celebrated their first semi-final victories. Val Gardena beat defending champions EK Die Zeller Eisbären 5-0 in front of their home crowd and thus equalized the series. Meran, on the other hand, managed a remarkable comeback: the South Tyroleans turned the opening game of the series at KHL Sisak from 0:2 to 4:2 in the last ten minutes. Game two in Croatia will follow tomorrow, Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
HC Gherdeina valgardena.it equalized the series against defending champions EK Die Zeller Eisbären with a dominant 5-0 home win. It was the first ever victory in the semi-finals for the South Tyroleans, where goalkeeper Claes Endre once again excelled and celebrated his fourth shutout in the 19th game. This time the Swede had to parry “only” 28 shots against offensively harmless “polar bears”. Zell am See goalkeeper Alexander Schmidt was able to defuse 33 of 37 shots on goal. The Austrian had to reach behind himself for the first time in the 17th minute: Sascha Giumond scored to make it 1-0 for Val Gardena. Just over two minutes later, Dmitry Vozovik made it 2-0 on the power play. The defender was also there in the 37th minute and completed his brace. So the final score was 3-0. In front of more than 1,200 fans, the home team left no stone unturned and the game was finally decided with a 4-0 win by Hannes Kasslatter (55./EN). Captain Simon Pitschieler finally made the final score in the 56th minute. Semi-final three follows on Tuesday in Zell am See.
Meran turns the game around in the last ten minutes
HC Meran/o Pircher achieved an incredible comeback at the start of the semi-finals at KHL Sisak. Sisak was still leading 2-0 until the 50th minute, but then the South Tyroleans completely turned the game around and won 4-2, celebrating their first ever semi-final victory. Sisak was clearly the dominant team in the first two thirds. In the first period they recorded a goal shooting ratio of 17:8, but there were still no goals. This followed in the middle third, in which 22-year-old Vito Idžan scored a brace in the 28th and 33rd minutes. In the end, the Croatians had 19 shots on goal in the second period, while Meran only managed three.
Sisak also had everything under control in the first ten minutes of the final third, but then a major bad pass happened when playing out of his own third, which Pascal Brunner took advantage of and reduced the score to 1:2 from Merano’s perspective. So the game was exciting again more or less out of nowhere. The approximately 2,400 fans finally fell silent when Rasmus Nousiainen equalized just four minutes later. Sisak now seemed out of character, and after another mistake in the build-up game, Daniel Gellon scored to make it 3-2 for Meran in the 58th minute – the game was completely turned around within a few minutes. 14 seconds before the end, Gellon even completed his double with an empty netter and made the final score 4-2. Sisak thus gave up the victory that was believed to be certain and is already under pressure in the second game of the double pack tomorrow, Sunday. The game starts again at 7:30 p.m.
Alps Hockey League:
Sat, March 28, 2026
HC Gherdeina valgardena.it – EK Die Zeller Eisbären 5:0 (2:0, 1:0, 2:0)
Referees: HUBER, RIVIS, Divis, Ilmer
Standing in the best of 7 series: 1:1
GHE: 1:0 Guimond S. (17th), 2:0 Vozovik D. (19th/PP1), 3:0 Vozovik D. (37th), 4:0 Kasslatter H. (55th), 5:0 Pitschieler S. (56th)
KHL Sisak – HC Meran/o Pircher 2:4 (0:0, 2:0, 0:4)
Referees: HLAVATY, UNTERWEGER, Arlic, Markizeti
Standing in the best of 7 series: 0:1
Goals SIS: 1:0 Idzan V. (28th), 2:0 Idzan V. (33rd)
Goal HCM: 2:1 Brunner P. (51.), 2:2 Nousiainen R. (55.), 2:3 Gellon D. (58.), 2:4 Gellon D. (60./EN)
alps.hockey , Image: Matthäus Kostner
