Armin Helfer began his career as an ice hockey player at HC Pustertal , for which he was active in Serie A1 from 1996 to 2001 . He then moved to HC Milano Vipers , with whom he was five times Italian champion in the following six years between 2002 and 2005, won the Coppa Italia three times in 2002, 2004 and 2005 , and the Supercoppa in 2001, 2002 and 2006 Italiana . After the defender in the 2007/08 season when HC Innsbruck in the Austrian Hockey League was under contract, he played in the 2008-09 season for HC Thurgau from the Swiss National League B . The Italian also played two games for the Kloten Flyers from the National League A this season . In the summer of 2009, the defender returned to his hometown of Bruneck. In December 2009, Armin Helfer was released from HC Pustertal for a week and during this time strengthened HC Davos at the Spengler Cup . This action was arranged by HCD trainer Arno Del Curto , manager René Müller, the agent helper and the sports management of the HC Pustertal. After two successful seasons in Val Pusteria (1 × semi-final, 1 × final), the Italian national defender decided to jump abroad again and returned to Switzerland in April 2011 for HC Thurgau from the National League B, where he had defended two years earlier . At the beginning of 2012 Helfer moved back to his hometown club HC Pustertal for the crucial phase of the championship, for which he has been back on the ice since then. In 2014 and 2016 he won the Supercoppa with his club . In 2016 he moved to the newly founded Alps Hockey League with HC Pustertal .