Olimpija Ljubljana goaltender Zan Us celebrates with his teammates and fans.
photo: Misko Kranjec
There’s no getting around it – the Alps Hockey League delivers more than its fair share of drama and excitement.
The league is the second cross-border league in the area of Austria, Italy and Slovenia after the EBEL and concluded its third season with a new champion.
On Sunday the excitement came to its culmination in the form of an exhausted Olimpija Ljubljana racing onto the ice, throwing sticks and gloves in the air, in a celebratory mobbing of their goalie Zan Us, right in front of the many Olimpija fans stationed directly behind the team’s goal. The 22-year-old had just held his opponent to one goal against in the all-important Game 7, completing an amazing three-win comeback over finals opponent Pustertal Bruneck from Italy, making Ljubljana this season’s Alps Hockey League champion!
The youngster Us stood in goal for all 16 of his team’s playoff games and came up biggest when it mattered most, putting up a 1.66 goals against average over the last three games of the series, all of which were won by Olimpija. This task is made all that much more impressive when one takes into account that Pustertal had only lost three games in regulation the entire regular season!
Indeed, for the second season in a row, the AlpsHL required a 7th game in their championship series to crown a league champion. Both finalists, Pustertal named after the valley in South Tyrol in Italy and Olimpija Ljubljana from the Slovenian capital, which finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the regular season standings, were new to the league finals after Asiago had needed overtime in Game 7 to defeat Ritten in last spring’s final.
And true to the new traditions being formed in this young league, the series featured some incredible action and a rollercoaster ride of emotions, lasting all the way up to the series’ final buzzer.
Things were tight in Game 1, where Pustertal needed a power play goal in the 26th minute by Markus Gander to break a scoreless tie. After a goal by Max Oberrauch just seven minutes later would make it 2-0, Gander scored again into an empty net in the 60th minute to give the North Italians the initial victory. Game 2 painted a totally different picture as Olimpija enjoyed a true road game goal-scoring festival, pumping in seven tallies in their 7-2 victory. Amazingly, the game was tied 0-0 after the first period, but a furious 2nd period, including three goals within a 70 second span as well as two power play goals, would end up seeing HKO head into the third period up 6-1. Several players had multiple points, including defenceman David Planko (3 assists), but forward Saso Rajsar stole the show with his hattrick and four points.
At that point, heading back to Slovenia, it looked like Ljubljana had solved Pustertal and might be able to take a commanding lead in the series. Nonetheless, the city of Ljubljana would then play host to two hard-fought battles, both of which ending in Pustertal’s favour, giving the Italians a strong 3-1 lead in the series. Game 3 was a back and forth tilt until Raphael Andergassen pumped in power play goal in the 48th minute to give Pustertal its first lead since the game’s 11th minute of play. An Armin Helfer empty netter 10 seconds before the siren rang gave Pustertal a 6-4 victory. The wolves would then need overtime in Game 4, where Teemu Virtala was the games star. He tied the game at three in the 58th minutes, then set up the Tommaso Traversa OT goal in the 62nd minute.
As exciting as these games were, it was in Game 5 where the drama simply took over. Pustertal entered the 3rd period with a 2-0 lead on the strength of goals from Gregor Grossgasteiger and Marko Virtala, looking very close to wrapping up the series in five games, but goals from Planko and Kristjan Cepon, who tallied in the 60th minute no less, sent the game to overtime. There Planko struck again, ironically also in the 62nd minute of the game, keeping Ljubljana alive. Well they sure looked more than alive in Game 6, when things strongly resembled Game 2 and the team ended up winning 6-2, thanks in good part to Cepon’s four assist evening.
Then there was Game 7, taking place right on the evening of Easter Sunday.
With everything on line, and a full house of 2,070 enthusiastic fans, the often high-scoring series looked more like the chess match this series deserved to be ended with. Things were close and careful until Pustertal’s assistant captain Armin Hofer gave his team a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute of play, sending the home team crowd into a fury. That crowd would go to have plenty of reason to believe that its team would be victorious, as that lead lasted until the third period when defenseman Ziga Svete sent a blast from the blueline for one his few goals this season, tying things up at one the 53rd minute. Just a minute and a half later, defenceman Luka Zorko made a nifty move just around the right faceoff circle to feed a wide open Miha Zajc in the slot for the go-ahead goal, silencing the majority of those in attendance.
An empty net goal by Zajc in the 50th minute would seal the deal for the game – and the series. Almost ironically, the third period comeback mirrored the series comeback by Ljubljana, which was all but out of it when trailing 2-0 in Game 5 while down in the series 3-1. One could say, they basically came back from the dead. With that, HKO becomes the first Slovenian team to win the AlpsHL league championship.
Oh, the drama and excitement of it all!
The league is the second cross-border league in the area of Austria, Italy and Slovenia after the EBEL and concluded its third season with a new champion.
On Sunday the excitement came to its culmination in the form of an exhausted Olimpija Ljubljana racing onto the ice, throwing sticks and gloves in the air, in a celebratory mobbing of their goalie Zan Us, right in front of the many Olimpija fans stationed directly behind the team’s goal. The 22-year-old had just held his opponent to one goal against in the all-important Game 7, completing an amazing three-win comeback over finals opponent Pustertal Bruneck from Italy, making Ljubljana this season’s Alps Hockey League champion!
The youngster Us stood in goal for all 16 of his team’s playoff games and came up biggest when it mattered most, putting up a 1.66 goals against average over the last three games of the series, all of which were won by Olimpija. This task is made all that much more impressive when one takes into account that Pustertal had only lost three games in regulation the entire regular season!
Indeed, for the second season in a row, the AlpsHL required a 7th game in their championship series to crown a league champion. Both finalists, Pustertal named after the valley in South Tyrol in Italy and Olimpija Ljubljana from the Slovenian capital, which finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the regular season standings, were new to the league finals after Asiago had needed overtime in Game 7 to defeat Ritten in last spring’s final.
And true to the new traditions being formed in this young league, the series featured some incredible action and a rollercoaster ride of emotions, lasting all the way up to the series’ final buzzer.
Things were tight in Game 1, where Pustertal needed a power play goal in the 26th minute by Markus Gander to break a scoreless tie. After a goal by Max Oberrauch just seven minutes later would make it 2-0, Gander scored again into an empty net in the 60th minute to give the North Italians the initial victory. Game 2 painted a totally different picture as Olimpija enjoyed a true road game goal-scoring festival, pumping in seven tallies in their 7-2 victory. Amazingly, the game was tied 0-0 after the first period, but a furious 2nd period, including three goals within a 70 second span as well as two power play goals, would end up seeing HKO head into the third period up 6-1. Several players had multiple points, including defenceman David Planko (3 assists), but forward Saso Rajsar stole the show with his hattrick and four points.
At that point, heading back to Slovenia, it looked like Ljubljana had solved Pustertal and might be able to take a commanding lead in the series. Nonetheless, the city of Ljubljana would then play host to two hard-fought battles, both of which ending in Pustertal’s favour, giving the Italians a strong 3-1 lead in the series. Game 3 was a back and forth tilt until Raphael Andergassen pumped in power play goal in the 48th minute to give Pustertal its first lead since the game’s 11th minute of play. An Armin Helfer empty netter 10 seconds before the siren rang gave Pustertal a 6-4 victory. The wolves would then need overtime in Game 4, where Teemu Virtala was the games star. He tied the game at three in the 58th minutes, then set up the Tommaso Traversa OT goal in the 62nd minute.
As exciting as these games were, it was in Game 5 where the drama simply took over. Pustertal entered the 3rd period with a 2-0 lead on the strength of goals from Gregor Grossgasteiger and Marko Virtala, looking very close to wrapping up the series in five games, but goals from Planko and Kristjan Cepon, who tallied in the 60th minute no less, sent the game to overtime. There Planko struck again, ironically also in the 62nd minute of the game, keeping Ljubljana alive. Well they sure looked more than alive in Game 6, when things strongly resembled Game 2 and the team ended up winning 6-2, thanks in good part to Cepon’s four assist evening.
Then there was Game 7, taking place right on the evening of Easter Sunday.
With everything on line, and a full house of 2,070 enthusiastic fans, the often high-scoring series looked more like the chess match this series deserved to be ended with. Things were close and careful until Pustertal’s assistant captain Armin Hofer gave his team a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute of play, sending the home team crowd into a fury. That crowd would go to have plenty of reason to believe that its team would be victorious, as that lead lasted until the third period when defenseman Ziga Svete sent a blast from the blueline for one his few goals this season, tying things up at one the 53rd minute. Just a minute and a half later, defenceman Luka Zorko made a nifty move just around the right faceoff circle to feed a wide open Miha Zajc in the slot for the go-ahead goal, silencing the majority of those in attendance.
An empty net goal by Zajc in the 50th minute would seal the deal for the game – and the series. Almost ironically, the third period comeback mirrored the series comeback by Ljubljana, which was all but out of it when trailing 2-0 in Game 5 while down in the series 3-1. One could say, they basically came back from the dead. With that, HKO becomes the first Slovenian team to win the AlpsHL league championship.
Oh, the drama and excitement of it all!
The Olimpija Ljubljana players celebrate with the Alps Hockey League trophy.
photo: Misko Kranjec
Getting there
For Pustertal, a club from the German-speaking town of Bruneck (or Brunico in Italian), just a stone’s throw from Austria, the path to the final was more difficult than one might think at first glance. First round opponent Cortina was defeated in four straight games, but the final 7-1 victory was the only game of the series to be decided by more than one goal. In fact, after two 1-0 victories to kick things off, Pustertal needed overtime to beat Cortina in Game 3.
This led to a tête-à-tête with Slovenian club Acroni Jesenice, against whom the North Italians would need all five games, three of which ended in overtime. Other than a 1-0 victory for Jesenice in Game 3, every game in the series ended by a score of 3-2, showing just evenly matched these two clubs were. By the time the final series swung around, it was clear that Pustertal likely wouldn’t blow you out (top scorer Tommaso Traversa had just 3-5-8 in nine playoff games), but you’d also be hard-pressed scoring on them.
The path to the final for Olimpija Ljubljana started with a fierce battle against the reigning champs Ritten Sport, a series that witnessed three shutouts and in which the loser never scored more than two goals, which only happened once. The Slovenians were able to decide the series 4-2 in their favour, but actually lost 4-0 and 5-0 in Ritten. With the series tied at two, Ljubljana was able to tighten things up to the tune of 4-1 and 3-1 victories in Games 5 & 6 to wrap things up.
They then proceeded to face the EHC Lustenau, a team that had to get through the pre-playoffs (with two straight victories) in order to face the high-octane Red Bull Juniors, Salzburg’s farm team and the league’s second highest scoring club in the regular season (169 goals in 40 games). The Red Bulls had finished third overall in the AlpsHL. It took all seven games and a ton of goals for Lustenau to get past the juniors, and that obviously drained them of all they had, as Ljubljana proceeded to defeat them in three straight contests, outscoring them 15-5. The brevity of the series ultimately afforded the Slovenians six days of rest and preparations before kicking off the finals in Collalbo.
MVP honours
The league’s new MVP is Oliver Nordberg, a 21-year-old Swede who nary a soul had on the map coming into the season. Playing for the Red Bull Hockey Juniors, who surprisingly finished third overall in the standings, Nordberg set the record for the young Alps Hockey League for points in a season with 81, 31 of which were goals.
Already in the regular season, the Stockholm native who grew up with Brynas turned heads as an offensive weapon, racking up 28 goals and 72 points in just 40 games. Despite a disappointing first round playoff loss to Lustenau, Nordberg accumulated three goals and nine points in seven playoff contests. All of this was accompanied by a +27-overall rating. Altogether, Oliver was able to put up the most dominating offensive seasons a player has had in the league’s young history.
What he didn’t end up becoming was the top scorer in the playoffs, and honour that went to Olimpija’s Ales Music, who pumped in eight goals and 17 points in 16 playoff games. With 63 points in 56 games, Music was Ljubljana’s top scorer this season.
Finishing second in voting was Pustertal goaltender Colin Furlong while wayfarer Marc-Olivier Vallerand, whose outstanding 70 points this season were good for second overall in the league, finished third. Both players are originally from Canada. As a side note, last year’s winner Anthony Bardaro finished 6th in MVP voting this season.
League progress
For the second year in a row, the Alps Hockey League – which pits clubs from Austria, Italy, and Slovenia that are not competing in EBEL, the top Austrian-based cross-border league – was able to go into action with 17 teams. This allowed the league to roll out a solid 40 game schedule and continue with a playoff format that saw a Best-of-Seven round followed by a Best-of-Five followed by a Best-of-Seven final.
With this number of teams, the league also saw its share of disparity. Each of KAC II, the Milan-based Rossoblu, and the Fassa Falcons lost at least 30 regular season games in regulation time. At the same time, the league’s top four clubs lost no more than seven contests in regulation time, with Pustertal actually only losing four times whatsoever, be it in regulation or overtime.
The health of the league measured by attendance numbers still left something to be desired, but improved in several areas. Again, the clubs hailing from traditional hockey hotspots such as Ljubljana were still able to put up reasonable numbers. In fact, the league’s top six clubs in attendance averaged over 1,000 per game, with Feldkirch continuing to get almost 1,500 fans in attendance per game, something it’s done every season to date. This is a very promising development in light of the fact that Feldkirch was the only team to average over 1,000 fans per game last season. Happily, Milan’s team averaged over a 1,050 in attendance despite one of the league’s worst records.
Once the playoffs swung around, Jesenice even topped 2,000 plus in attendance for its home games while Ljubljana, Pustertal, and Lustenau each averaged between 1,300-1,900 per home date. The finals themselves tended to draw at least 2,200 per game as of Game 3, with all three games in Ljubljana averaging over 2,600. In fact, Game 6 there drew a whopping 3,456 fans into the arena.
Still, this could not dissuade from the fact that as many as nine teams were seeing crowds smaller than 800 people for their home games. Third-place Red Bull Hockey Juniors even had an attendance practically bordering on 100 people, although that turned into roughly 300 for the team’s four playoff dates.
Much like last year, the season has now concluded for one of the youngest league’s in Europe in as exciting a manner as possible.
For Pustertal, a club from the German-speaking town of Bruneck (or Brunico in Italian), just a stone’s throw from Austria, the path to the final was more difficult than one might think at first glance. First round opponent Cortina was defeated in four straight games, but the final 7-1 victory was the only game of the series to be decided by more than one goal. In fact, after two 1-0 victories to kick things off, Pustertal needed overtime to beat Cortina in Game 3.
This led to a tête-à-tête with Slovenian club Acroni Jesenice, against whom the North Italians would need all five games, three of which ended in overtime. Other than a 1-0 victory for Jesenice in Game 3, every game in the series ended by a score of 3-2, showing just evenly matched these two clubs were. By the time the final series swung around, it was clear that Pustertal likely wouldn’t blow you out (top scorer Tommaso Traversa had just 3-5-8 in nine playoff games), but you’d also be hard-pressed scoring on them.
The path to the final for Olimpija Ljubljana started with a fierce battle against the reigning champs Ritten Sport, a series that witnessed three shutouts and in which the loser never scored more than two goals, which only happened once. The Slovenians were able to decide the series 4-2 in their favour, but actually lost 4-0 and 5-0 in Ritten. With the series tied at two, Ljubljana was able to tighten things up to the tune of 4-1 and 3-1 victories in Games 5 & 6 to wrap things up.
They then proceeded to face the EHC Lustenau, a team that had to get through the pre-playoffs (with two straight victories) in order to face the high-octane Red Bull Juniors, Salzburg’s farm team and the league’s second highest scoring club in the regular season (169 goals in 40 games). The Red Bulls had finished third overall in the AlpsHL. It took all seven games and a ton of goals for Lustenau to get past the juniors, and that obviously drained them of all they had, as Ljubljana proceeded to defeat them in three straight contests, outscoring them 15-5. The brevity of the series ultimately afforded the Slovenians six days of rest and preparations before kicking off the finals in Collalbo.
MVP honours
The league’s new MVP is Oliver Nordberg, a 21-year-old Swede who nary a soul had on the map coming into the season. Playing for the Red Bull Hockey Juniors, who surprisingly finished third overall in the standings, Nordberg set the record for the young Alps Hockey League for points in a season with 81, 31 of which were goals.
Already in the regular season, the Stockholm native who grew up with Brynas turned heads as an offensive weapon, racking up 28 goals and 72 points in just 40 games. Despite a disappointing first round playoff loss to Lustenau, Nordberg accumulated three goals and nine points in seven playoff contests. All of this was accompanied by a +27-overall rating. Altogether, Oliver was able to put up the most dominating offensive seasons a player has had in the league’s young history.
What he didn’t end up becoming was the top scorer in the playoffs, and honour that went to Olimpija’s Ales Music, who pumped in eight goals and 17 points in 16 playoff games. With 63 points in 56 games, Music was Ljubljana’s top scorer this season.
Finishing second in voting was Pustertal goaltender Colin Furlong while wayfarer Marc-Olivier Vallerand, whose outstanding 70 points this season were good for second overall in the league, finished third. Both players are originally from Canada. As a side note, last year’s winner Anthony Bardaro finished 6th in MVP voting this season.
League progress
For the second year in a row, the Alps Hockey League – which pits clubs from Austria, Italy, and Slovenia that are not competing in EBEL, the top Austrian-based cross-border league – was able to go into action with 17 teams. This allowed the league to roll out a solid 40 game schedule and continue with a playoff format that saw a Best-of-Seven round followed by a Best-of-Five followed by a Best-of-Seven final.
With this number of teams, the league also saw its share of disparity. Each of KAC II, the Milan-based Rossoblu, and the Fassa Falcons lost at least 30 regular season games in regulation time. At the same time, the league’s top four clubs lost no more than seven contests in regulation time, with Pustertal actually only losing four times whatsoever, be it in regulation or overtime.
The health of the league measured by attendance numbers still left something to be desired, but improved in several areas. Again, the clubs hailing from traditional hockey hotspots such as Ljubljana were still able to put up reasonable numbers. In fact, the league’s top six clubs in attendance averaged over 1,000 per game, with Feldkirch continuing to get almost 1,500 fans in attendance per game, something it’s done every season to date. This is a very promising development in light of the fact that Feldkirch was the only team to average over 1,000 fans per game last season. Happily, Milan’s team averaged over a 1,050 in attendance despite one of the league’s worst records.
Once the playoffs swung around, Jesenice even topped 2,000 plus in attendance for its home games while Ljubljana, Pustertal, and Lustenau each averaged between 1,300-1,900 per home date. The finals themselves tended to draw at least 2,200 per game as of Game 3, with all three games in Ljubljana averaging over 2,600. In fact, Game 6 there drew a whopping 3,456 fans into the arena.
Still, this could not dissuade from the fact that as many as nine teams were seeing crowds smaller than 800 people for their home games. Third-place Red Bull Hockey Juniors even had an attendance practically bordering on 100 people, although that turned into roughly 300 for the team’s four playoff dates.
Much like last year, the season has now concluded for one of the youngest league’s in Europe in as exciting a manner as possible.