The Alps Hockey League (AHL) started its first season in 2016/17 . The AHL was created from the merger of the highest Italian league Serie A and the second highest Austrian-Slovenian league called the Inter-National-League ( INL 2015/16 ). The pay TV broadcaster Sky took over the title sponsorship, so the official name is Sky Alps Hockey League . The season began on September 17, 2016 and ended on April 10, 2017 with the title win by Ritten Sport .
Attendees
The registration period for the league ended on June 15, 2016. According to the agreement of the associations involved, up to ten clubs each from Austria and Italy and up to five participants from Slovenia could take part.
16 clubs have registered. Of the eight Serie A participants so far, seven have registered for the AHL, only HC Valpellice not. Of the six Austrian participants of the INL, five registered, only KSV Eishockey from Kapfenberg did not. Of the three Slovenian INL clubs, only HDD Jesenice reported . Then there are the second teams from the EBEL clubs from Salzburg and Klagenfurt. Similarly, the reported HC Neumarkt , who played previously in the series B. This was not athletically qualified, but received a wild card from the Italian association .
The planned participation of the second team of the Croatian KHL club KHL Medveščak Zagreb did not materialize.
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Map of the clubs of the AHL 2016/17 |
mode
Phase 1 - basic round
The 16 teams played a round trip in one group. Then the field of participants was divided into a championship round of the best six teams and a qualification round (basic round 7-16 places).
Phase 2 - Placement Round
The points of the basic round were not taken. The respective group first received six bonus points, the second four, the third two and the fourth placed teams one bonus point.
2a "Master Round"
In the master round, the top 6 teams played in a round trip for the three "pick places" for the quarter-final opponent.
2b "Qualification Round A and Qualification Round B"
Places 7 to 16 of the basic round were divided into two groups of five teams each (7/10/11/14/15 & 8/9/12/13/16). The respective group first after a round trip is in the quarter-finals. For the remaining teams, the season in the AHL will then end with 38 games.
Phase 3 - Playoffs
In the playoffs there were quarters, semifinals and finals. The quarter and semi-finals took place in the best of five, the final was held in the best of seven mode. From the semi-final series onwards, the other pairings resulted from the placements in phase 2.
Basic round
table
| rank
|
team
|
SP
|
S.
|
SNV
|
NNV
|
N
|
T
|
GT
|
TVH
|
PKT
|
| 1
|
Ritten sport
|
30th
|
24
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
117
|
63
|
+54
|
77
|
| 2
|
HC Pustertal
|
30th
|
23
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
103
|
55
|
+48
|
76
|
| 3
|
HDD Jesenice
|
30th
|
20th
|
1
|
1
|
8th
|
120
|
66
|
+54
|
63
|
| 4th
|
EHC Lustenau
|
30th
|
17th
|
1
|
3
|
10
|
106
|
77
|
+29
|
56
|
| 5
|
Asiago Hockey
|
30th
|
16
|
4th
|
0
|
10
|
102
|
64
|
+38
|
56
|
| 6th
|
VEU Feldkirch
|
30th
|
18th
|
0
|
1
|
11
|
112
|
89
|
+23
|
55
|
| 7th
|
SG Cortina
|
30th
|
14th
|
2
|
5
|
9
|
100
|
76
|
+24
|
51
|
| 8th
|
EK Zell am See
|
30th
|
11
|
1
|
3
|
15th
|
85
|
96
|
−11
|
38
|
| 9
|
HC Neumarkt
|
30th
|
10
|
3
|
2
|
15th
|
87
|
97
|
−10
|
38
|
| 10
|
Red Bull Hockey Juniors
|
30th
|
10
|
3
|
2
|
15th
|
85
|
87
|
−2
|
38
|
| 11
|
HC Gherdëina
|
30th
|
9
|
3
|
3
|
15th
|
84
|
104
|
−20
|
36
|
| 12
|
WSV Sterzing Broncos
|
30th
|
10
|
3
|
0
|
17th
|
78
|
90
|
−12
|
36
|
| 13
|
EC Kitzbühel
|
30th
|
9
|
2
|
1
|
18th
|
72
|
115
|
−43
|
32
|
| 14th
|
SHC Fassa
|
30th
|
6th
|
2
|
4th
|
18th
|
79
|
126
|
−47
|
26th
|
| 15th
|
EC Bregenzerwald
|
30th
|
7th
|
0
|
4th
|
19th
|
76
|
118
|
−42
|
25th
|
| 16
|
EC KAC II
|
30th
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
22nd
|
60
|
143
|
−83
|
17th
|
Master round ; Qualification Round
Rank development in the basic round
Due to the many postponements of the game, some rounds take weeks or months to complete. For example, round 6 lasts from 4.10. until December 18th As a result, the current table placements with tables of the same round or the development of rankings differ. Round 6 has another special feature: the game between Bregenzerwald and Cortina was swapped with the same encounter by R27. In the ranking development, the result of the game from round 27 is in round 6 and vice versa.
Placement round
Master Round
| rank
|
team
|
SP
|
S.
|
SNV
|
NNV
|
N
|
T
|
GT
|
TVH
|
PKT
|
| 1
|
Ritten sport
|
10
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
36
|
23
|
+13
|
26th
|
| 2
|
HC Pustertal
|
10
|
4th
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
37
|
26th
|
+11
|
21st
|
| 3
|
Asiago Hockey
|
10
|
6th
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
32
|
22nd
|
+10
|
21st
|
| 4th
|
HDD Jesenice
|
10
|
4th
|
1
|
1
|
4th
|
29
|
32
|
−3
|
17th
|
| 5
|
VEU Feldkirch
|
10
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
7th
|
24
|
41
|
−17
|
9
|
| 6th
|
EHC Lustenau
|
10
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
7th
|
22nd
|
36
|
−14
|
9
|
Qualification Round A
| rank
|
team
|
SP
|
S.
|
SNV
|
NNV
|
N
|
T
|
GT
|
TVH
|
PKT
|
| 1
|
SG Cortina
|
8th
|
4th
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
32
|
22nd
|
+10
|
22nd
|
| 2
|
Red Bull Hockey Juniors
|
8th
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
28
|
25th
|
+3
|
19th
|
| 3
|
HC Gherdëina
|
8th
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
30th
|
28
|
+2
|
17th
|
| 4th
|
SHC Fassa
|
8th
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
25th
|
32
|
−7
|
7th
|
| 5
|
EC Bregenzerwald
|
8th
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
6th
|
27
|
35
|
−8
|
6th
|
Qualification Round B
| rank
|
team
|
SP
|
S.
|
SNV
|
NNV
|
N
|
T
|
GT
|
TVH
|
PKT
|
| 1
|
HC Neumarkt
|
8th
|
6th
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
30th
|
19th
|
+11
|
24
|
| 2
|
WSV Sterzing Broncos
|
8th
|
6th
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
34
|
15th
|
+19
|
20th
|
| 3
|
EK Zell am See
|
8th
|
4th
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
22nd
|
18th
|
+4
|
19th
|
| 4th
|
EC Kitzbühel
|
8th
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
6th
|
19th
|
30th
|
−11
|
6th
|
| 5
|
EC KAC II
|
8th
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
7th
|
10
|
33
|
−23
|
1
|
Main Round Statistics
The HDD Jesenice achieved the highest victory on October 18, 2016 against EC KAC II, when the Slovenes won 10: 1 in Klagenfurt. Erik Pance scored four goals and two assists. It was also Pance who scored the first goal of the Alps Hockey League on September 17, 2016; he scored against HC Gherdëina in the 43 second of the first third . In the same game, Benjamin Kostner von Gherdëina also scored the first power play goal in the league after 20:47 minutes.
The first shutouts were achieved on September 24, 2016 by Gianni Scola from Fassa and Martino Valle Da Rin from Cortina when they kept their boxes clean against Gherdëina and Asiago respectively.
The highest-scoring game occurred on November 26th between EC KAC II and EK Zell am See, when the Zeller Eisbären achieved a 12: 4 victory.
League leader Ritten Sport was the first team to make it into the playoff in mid-December. By then, Ritten had won 21 of 23 games, 19 of them after regular time. Ritten was also the first team to score 100 goals. Alex Frei scored the significant goal on December 26th against EHC Lustenau.
The 1000th goal of the league was scored on December 13, 2016 by Oscar Ahlström von Ritten. The youngest player to play in the regular season of the Alps Hockey League was 14-year-old Thimo Nickl from the KAC. The 43-year-old Igor Rataj was the oldest player to play for the Zeller Eisbären.
Top scorer
sorted by points, including Master Round and Qualification Round; Abbreviations: Sp = games, T = goals, V = assists , pts = points, +/- = plus / minus , SM = penalty minutes; Fat: best value
goalkeeper
sorted by quota; Abbreviations: Sp = games, Min = ice age (in minutes), GT = goals conceded, SO = shutouts , Sv% = shots saved (in%) , GTS = goals conceded ; Fat: tournament best
Playoffs
Playoff tree
Legend : MR = Master Round, QRA = Qualification Round A, QRB = Qualification Round B
|
|
Quarter finals
|
|
Semifinals
|
|
final
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MR1
|
Ritten sport
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
QRB
|
HC Neumarkt
|
0
|
|
|
|
MR1
|
Ritten sport
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
QRA
|
SG Cortina
|
1
|
|
|
|
MR2
|
HC Pustertal
|
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
QRA
|
SG Cortina
|
3
|
|
|
|
MR1
|
Ritten sport
|
4th
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MR3
|
Asiago Hockey
|
1
|
|
|
MR3
|
Asiago Hockey
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MR5
|
VEU Feldkirch
|
0
|
|
|
|
MR3
|
Asiago Hockey
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MR4
|
HDD Jesenice
|
2
|
|
|
|
MR4
|
HDD Jesenice
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
MR6
|
EHC Lustenau
|
1
|
|
Playoff statistics
The three teams with the right to pick (Ritten, Cortina, Asiago) could each end their quarter-finals with a sweep in the best-of-five mode. The mandatory pairing Jesenice against EHC Lustenau ended 3: 1 for the Slovenes. Thus, no Austrian team could move into the semi-finals.
In the semifinals, which was also played in the best-of-five mode, Ritten won 3-1 against Cortina, while Asiago beat Jesenice 3-2. The final thus became an Italian encounter between Ritten and Asiago and thus a repetition of the final of the Italian championship, in which Ritten had prevailed. The AHL final was played in the best-of-seven mode and was won by Ritten 4-1, with the championship winning goal being achieved by Fabian Ebner.
Anthony Nigro from Asiago was top scorer for the whole season with a total of 70 points (26 goals + 44 assists), while his teammate Krys Kolanos was top scorer of the playoffs (8 T + 12 A, 20 P). Erik Pance von Jesenice was the top scorer in the league with 32 goals, while Giulio Scandella , who played for Asiago, dominated the playoffs with 10 goals.
Top scorer
sorted by points, including Master Round and Qualification Round; Abbreviations: Sp = games, T = goals, V = assists , pts = points, +/- = plus / minus , SM = penalty minutes; Fat: best value
goalkeeper
sorted by quota; Abbreviations: Sp = games, Min = ice time (in minutes), GT = goals conceded, GTS = goals conceded , SaT = shots on goal, Sv% = shots saved (in%) ; Fat: tournament best
Italian champion
After the basic round of the Alps Hockey League, the four best Italian teams in the league competed in a separate tournament in Asiago to fight for the Italian championship title , which Ritten was finally able to secure with a final 3-2 victory over Asiago.
Individual evidence
-
↑ Sky is the new title sponsor of the Alps Hockey League. erstebankliga.at, September 13, 2016, accessed on September 16, 2016 .
-
↑ http://news.superscommesse.it/altri-sport/2016/05/alps-hockey-league-ora-e-ufficiale-200326/
-
↑ http://www.erstebankliga.at/news-ebysl/117-news-de/news-ahl-de/2784-alps-hockey-league-das-neue-internationale-hockey-projekt
-
↑ Alps Hockey League: l'Egna potrà partecipare ( Memento from June 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
-
↑ http://khl.hr/medvescak-zeli-u-mol/
-
↑ http://www.erstebankliga.at/news-ahl-en/league-news/2844-alps-hockey-league-haben-in-den-startloechern
-
↑ Official statistics Serie A
Ritten sport
