From the outside looking in, it may not have necessarily been the final every league dreams of, but a definitive champion has now been determined in the multinational Alps Hockey League and it is once again Olimpija Ljubljana.

The club from Slovenia’s capital won the best-of-five series against Asiago Hockey from Italy in a sweep, with the third victory being the only one not to go to overtime. As the two overtime victories indicate, this series was no walk in the park despite the clear 3-0 series victory for the champs.

“The result went to us and even though it was 3-0 in the series, it was a tough series. Asiago played really well,” explained an excited Olimpija captain, Ziga Pance, still gasping for post-game air. “They defended well. They never gave up, even when it was 3-0. They gave their best. But in the end, I think we deserved this win.”

That may just be the understatement of the year. This is now Ljubljana’s second title in a row and the second in three years. Like with most leagues, the 2019/20 playoffs were cancelled due to the worldwide pandemic, so they’ll never know if they could have made it three in a row. The chances certainly weren’t that bad, because like this season, the team was safely implanted in first place when the regular season came to a conclusion. 

Their opponent in this series was another AlpsHL team that has been very successful in recent years, Italian contestant Asiago Hockey. Having won the title in the 2017/18 season, they have ultimately seen themselves on the short end of two other finals appearances. In fact, the 18/19 season marked the only time the club from the hockey-crazy Italian town not too far away from Venice hasn’t made it to the finals. 

Of course, they and the rest of the league won’t have to worry about seeing Ljubljana again next season, meaning the AlpsHL will be getting a new champion this time next year one way or another. The freshly crowned champions are joining Italian AlpsHL team Pustertal Bruneck and the former EBEL team from Znojmo, Czech Republic, as new teams in the ICE Hockey League, the top tier of the Austrian-based cross-border leagues.

The path to the finals

For both Ljubljana and Asiago, their playoffs didn’t begin until the quarter-finals thanks to having finished first and fourth, respectively, in the regular season. The pre-playoffs took place between eight teams, which is a lot, but then again, the league does consist of 16 teams.

Ljubljana kicked things off with a 4-0 sweep of the Wipptal Broncos, ultimately outscoring the underdogs 17-6. At the same time, Asiago swept Italian rival Cortina, but the series was much like the finals, with the games ending 2-1, 2-1, and 4-1. Things really got cooking in the semi-finals when Olimpija needed all five games to finish off Austrian opponent Lustenau, which managed to win games 3 and 4 by 2-1 scores sandwiched between 8-0 and 5-0 thrashings from Olimpija. Asiago also needed all five games to upset second-seeded Slovenian club Jesenice. Showing just how hotly contested that series was, Jesenice needed overtime to claim its two victories while Asiago managed 4-1, 5-3, and 2-1 victories to move to the final.

The first two games of the final proved to be absolute thrillers with the road team first scoring the tying goal in the 60th minute of play. And in both games, Olimpija managed to end things with a goal in the 67th minute of play.

In game three, it was Olimpija Ljubljana that set the tone from the get-go and proceeded to get on the board right in the 11th minute of play when an individual mistake led to a prime scoring opportunity for Marc Olivier-Vallerand, whose pinpoint upper corner shot ultimately meant Ljubljana when end the first period with a one-goal lead.

Controlling the flow in the first period turned into a relentless attack in the second period and Olimpija went up 2-0 already in the 33rd minute of play. Despite goaltender Gianluca Vallini’s terrific save on Juuso Pulli, captain Pance managed to capitalize on the rebound. The hosts would end the second period with a 2-0, having scored what would prove to be the game-winner.

Things were put out of reach for the road team when Ziga Pesut tallied a power play marker already in the 45th minute of play. This goal was followed by Asiago’s best phase and a few waves of sustainable pressure, seeing the Italians cut the lead to two when Daniel Mantenuto put in a goal in the 51st minute of play. Several solid attempts after that, including a shot that hit the crossbar, would prove to be too little too late as Ljubljana’s captain put the dot on the “i” in victory with an empty net goal in the 57th minute of play. Celebrations had already started on the bench as the last 2+ minutes were played away, and Ljubljana’s achievement was final.

“Let’s say it like this, the better team won the title,” explained an understandably sullen Petri Mattila, Asiago’s head coach. “We were basically always just a bit behind throughout the series. In the second game, our home game, they scored the tying goal like one minute before the end of the game. That was our chance. But I always say you’ve got to respect the numbers. If a series ends 3-0, then the better team has won.”

But as the old saying goes, after the championship is before play in a new league. Or something like that. Ljubljana will celebrate a little bit, but management’s focus will now be placed on preparing for play in the AlpsHL’s “older brother” league.

The stats

The champions featured six of the playoffs’ top 10 scorers, with all six clipping at over a point-per-game pace. Pance led all scorers with nine goals and 15 points. His linemate actually tied him in scoring with six goals and 15 points, having topped everyone with a +15 as well. Asiago’s top-scorers were Alex Frei and Steven McParland, each with 12 points, with Frei having scored eight goals and McParland four.

Overall, Brad McGowan of Gherdeina led the league in scoring with 28 goals and 76 points in 41 games. His linemate Mark Wilkins was right behind him with 23 goals and 73 points in the same number of games. Cortina’s Mike Cazzola had just as many points as Wilkins, but with 22 goals and 51 assists.

Remy Giftopoulos was the top goal scorer with 32 goals in 40 games, just one ahead of Ljubljana’s Pance, much on the strength of his nine playoff markers. Jesenice’s Zan Jezovsek was third with 30 goals.

Interestingly, Ljubljana featured over a half dozen players who racked up a +40 or better. Defenseman Miha Logar topped everyone with a +50 rating. He was also the second highest scoring defenseman with 14 goals and 55 points in 43 games. The top scorer among defencemen was Cortina’s Phil Pietroniro with 21 goals and 55 points himself.

Development, development, development

The AlpsHL can continue to look at the myriad of teams it features throughout Austria, Italy, and Slovenia and be proud of what's been accomplished over five seasons. In addition, the league was able to get through this season with a simple 30 game schedule in which every team played every other team once at home and once on the road. The teams also made it through the season despite the attendance restrictions forced upon them by the Corona pandemic and will now hope that things are back to normal by the fall.

The league also features a truly unique contestant in the Red Bull Academy Juniors. The team is technically a U23 team, but only had four players over the age of 20. Furthermore, it features a number of youngsters, primarily from Germany, who are of considerable interest to the NHL scouting community, none more than this year’s second leading scorer, the 16-year-old Julian Lutz, who had 13 goals and 27 points in 32 games. He and four other members of the team are currently with Team Germany at the IIHF U18 World Championship tournament in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas.

As a team, the youngsters came out of the gates like gangbusters this season, leading the standings for a good part of the first third of the season. Some tougher opponents in the latter portion of the schedule and many of the other developmental realities of such a young program in a professional league eventually popped up, and the team ultimately finished sixth overall, having scored 31 more goals than it allowed. More importantly, the program continues to prove itself as an utter success and despite a fair share of players aged 18 or younger, the AlpsHL seems to be exactly the right pro league for the youngsters, who rarely got blown out in any of the contests, with many losses having been one-goal affairs.

Even with Ljubljana and Pustertal moving on, venues such as Jesenice, Asiago, Cortina, Feldkirch, Ritten or the Red Bull Academy in Salzburg continue to be flagship teams for this fascinating multi-national league.