Alps Hockey League: Cortina succumbs in the final

Alps Hockey League: Slovenians of Jesenice triumph.

The 2022/23 Alps Hockey League season ended with a Game 6 of the finals that will long be remembered for what it delivered. HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice became AHL champions for the first time with a 4-3 overtime victory over S.G. Cortina Hafro.

With the only away win in this final, the Slovenians prevailed 4-2 in the best-of-7 series. Until 42 seconds left in the third period, Jesenice still led comfortably 3-1, before Diego Cuglietta forced the match with a two-goal blast in favor of the hosts. After a winless first overtime, in the second it was Ziga Urukalo who decided the match in Jesenice’s favor at 96’29” in the third longest Alps game in history. For the defending champions of Italy, the Alps vice-champion title is also the biggest achievement by the Ampezzans in these seven years of the transnational tournament.