Hockey Club Gardena

Italian Hockey League Elite started today

The Italian teams partecipating at Alps Hockey League started today the battle for qualification at Final Four, scheduled in next February, to assign the Italian title.
The eight teams were splitted in 2 groups, South A and B, with homa and away games scheduled between December 26 and January 6. The games count both for Alps Hockey League and the Serie A, this season called Italian Hockey League Elite. The first two teams for each group will advance to Final Four of February 10-11 to assign the title
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Group South A: SV Renon/Ritten, HC Val Pusteria/Pustertal, SG Cortina, Fassa Falcons
Group South B B: Asiago Hockey 1935, HC Egna, HC Gherdeina, SSI Vipiteno Broncos

Valpellice forces Game 7 against defending champion

The Valpellice Bulldogs, coached by NHL-legend Tom Barrasso, have come back from a 1-3 deficit in the quarter final series against defending Italian champion Asiago Hockey. Thanks to a 5-2 win on home ice,  Valpellice will face Asiago in Game 7 on Tuesday. Ritten, Pustertal and Sterzing have already qualified for the semifinals, eliminating Cortina, Gherdeina and Fassa respectively.

Serie A playoffs start on Tuesday

In Italy's top league the eight teams have finished the regular season, with Ritten Sport emerging as the top seeded club. Following are the match-ups in the Quarter Finals (Best-of-Seven):

Rittner Buam - SG Cortina

Pustertal Wolves - HC Gherdeina

Asiago Hockey 1935 - Valpellice Bulldogs

Sterzing/Vipiteno Broncos - Fassa Falcons

Serie A: Ulrich Egen is Gherdeina’s new head coach

After releasing Henry Thom from his duties, HC Gherdeina hired Ulrich Egen as the team's new head coach. Gherdeina is currently on last place in Serie A.

INL playoff pairings chosen

The Inter-National-League (INL), joint competition of teams from Austria, Italy and Slovenia, has a fixed schedule for the upcoming quarterfinals. Jesenice beat Caldaro 4:3ot in the decisive game for the last playoff ticket. Immediately afterwards, the first teams picked their opponent for quarterfinals. The pairings are: Gherdeina – Jesenice, Appiano – Bregenzerwald, Egna – Feldkirch, Zell am See – Lustenau. All best-of-five series start on March 1.