Cole Hults (right) congratulated his older brother Mitch (2nd from right) on two goals. © Vanna Antonello
HCB Südtirol clearly won the first of three home games within five days. The wings of the Black Wings Linz were trimmed properly in the Sparkasse Arena – which was primarily due to one player.
December 16, 2022
From the Sparkasse Arena in Bolzano
Von:
Alexander Foppa
This Mitch Hults is worth its weight in gold for HC Bozen! If anyone in the state capital still had doubts regarding the qualities of the Canadian center, all doubts should have been cleared by this Friday evening at the latest. Hults led the Foxes to an unchallenged 3-1 win over Linz in front of 2,552 spectators.
Few crack players are as unpopular with opponents in the ICE Hockey League as Mitch Hults. On the one hand, because the former Bratislava striker likes to sneak across the ice with verbal provocations. On the other hand – and this is the main reason – because he can hardly be gotten under control by the defensive lines. Agile, puck-safe and with a good eye for free space, he is always drawn straight as an arrow towards the opposing goal. He showed these qualities impressively in the first and last minute of the third period: First he scored following a fine combination, then with a powerful shot. In this way he paved the way to victory in Bolzano. It was his scorer points number 26 and 27 – and that with just 25 games this season.
Following Hult’s gala third, the HCB bagged the three points in gentle gear. Fifth in the table, Linz seemed to be trying, but was inferior in all respects that evening and was lucky that the result was not higher due to the sloppy Bolzano chance evaluation.
In a nutshell: the highlights of the game
| Hult’s to the first | After just 39 seconds, HCB is already leading 1-0. Hults gets the disc served perfectly by Thomas and easily inserts it. |
| Hult’s second | Again Bozen puts the Linzers in position, once more Hults is the one who gets too much space and scores the 2-0 with his powerful shot from the face-off circle (20th). |
| Ginnetti very casual | Ginnetti made it 3-0 in the 29th minute with his second goal of the season. After an unsuccessful substitution by Linzer, the defender uses the free space in the slot and simply shoots at it with a wrist shot – goal! |
| Harvey’s upset | Kilian Rappold prevents HCB goalie Harvey’s third shutout of the season. In the 36th minute, he reduced the lead to 1:3 with a concealed shot. After that, the 24-year-old defender can no longer be defeated. |
With this win, the Foxes climb back to second place in the table. They continue on Sunday (4 p.m.) at home once morest Fehervar. HC Pustertal has already played in Klagenfurt two hours earlier. Next Tuesday there will be a big showdown between the two South Tyrolean arch-rivals in the Bozner Sparkasse Arena.
HCB Südtirol Alperia – Steinbach Black Wings Linz 3:1
HCB: Harvey (Bernard); Dalhuisen-Cole Hults, Miglioranzi-Culkin, Valentine-Ginnetti; Frank-Mitch Hults-Thomas, Gazley-McClure-Halmo, Frigo-Alberga-Frattin, Felicetti-Mantenuto-Miceli, Kasslatter
Coach: Hanlon
Linz: Höneckl (Tirronen); Roe-Schnetzer, Todd-Schumnig, Moser-Dorion, Liesch; Lebler-Knott-St.-Amant, Kitt-Stuart-Gaffal, Kristler-Brucker-Lahoda, Wilding-Mosaad-Rappold
Coach: Philipp Lukas
Tore: 1:0 Mitch Hults (0.39), 2:0 Mitch Hults (19.45), 3:0 Cameron Ginnetti (28.52), 3:1 Kilian Rappold (35.22)
Viewers: 2552
The other Friday games:
Fehervar AV19 – Villacher SV 2:3
Goals: 0: 1 Grafenthin (16.22), 1: 1 Nilsson (27.40), 1: 2 Richter (32.07), 2: 2 Sarauer (36.54), 2: 3 Collins (43.12)
Viewers: 2052
Graz 99ers – HC Innsbruck 4:5
Tore: 0:1 Ludin (11.45), 0:2 Helewka (13.09), 1:2 Yogan (20.57), 1:3 Helewka (23.32), 2:3 Yogan (29.53), 3:3 Olausson (31.38), 4:3 Schiechl (32.31), 4:4 Mackin (33.15), 4:5 Ulmner (58.45)
Viewers: 1001
The table:
| SP | G | U | V | TV | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Innsbruck | 26 | 17 | 0 | 9 | 107:89 | 53 |
| 2. HCB Südtirol | 25 | 17 | 0 | 8 | 82:58 | 50 |
| 3. Villach | 27 | 17 | 0 | 10 | 99:81 | 50 |
| 4. Salzburg | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 74:51 | 48 |
| 5. Linz | 25 | 15 | 0 | 10 | 75:64 | 43 |
| 6. Fehervar | 26 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 67:57 | 43 |
| 7. Klagenfurt | 25 | 13 | 0 | 12 | 73:65 | 38 |
| 8. Wien | 24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 72:75 | 34 |
| 9. Graz | 26 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 53:72 | 30 |
| 10. Olympia Ljubljana | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 69:81 | 29 |
| 11. HC Val Pusteria | 26 | 9 | 0 | 17 | 65:80 | 28 |
| 12. Asiago Hockey | 23 | 9 | 0 | 14 | 62:83 | 24 |
| 13. Vorarlberg | 25 | 6 | 0 | 19 | 46:88 | 19 |
