Saturday, 19. September 2026 |
AlpsHL | Regular Season | Season Start
After taking an early lead, the home team extended their advantage to 3-0 in the second period, before Florian Lanzinger scored Salzburg’s first goal of the season in the final period. Unterland then sealed the 4-1 final score on a power play.
Pre-Season
The Juniors have completed an intense and international preseason, featuring a total of nine exhibition games against top-tier European U20 teams as well as teams from the German senior hockey league. To kick things off, the Salzburg team celebrated a 5–1 victory over Karlovy Vary before suffering a narrow 4–5 overtime loss to Škoda Pilsen’s U20 team. The preseason then took them to Sweden, where the Juniors first defeated the Malmö Redhawks’ U20 team 2–1 in overtime.
From August 20 to 23, the Red Bull Hockey Juniors competed in the U20 Prospects Challenge in Ängelholm, where they faced some of Europe’s strongest youth programs. They kicked off the tournament with a 6–3 victory over the Tappara Tampere U20 team. After a narrow 3–4 loss to the Växjö Lakers U20 team, the Juniors finished the tournament in third place with a 4–3 win over the Oceláři Třinec U20 team.
Back in Salzburg, the Juniors delivered a convincing 6–0 home win against the Erding Gladiators. Two intense matchups against Deggendorfer SC, which ended 2–7 and 3–6, ultimately marked the conclusion of their preseason preparations.
Game Report
Both teams started the game at a fast pace, but the home team gradually gained control and took an early lead: Miiro Linjala converted a rebound from Hugo Engelaar to make it 1-0 (4th minute). The Juniors responded by increasing the pressure and looking for more scoring opportunities, but a penalty killed the Salzburg team’s momentum. Alessio Guerra was denied by Luca Haitzmann on a breakaway (12th minute), after which the Cavaliers’ quick counterattacks repeatedly created danger. In the closing minutes, the Red Bulls had to survive another penalty and went into the first intermission trailing by a narrow margin.
The second period began with a four-on-four situation; Lauri Heino took advantage of the extra space following a quick counterattack to make it 2-0 (21st minute). Another penalty initially slowed the Juniors down, but the Salzburg team then found their rhythm again with long passes through the neutral zone and began to control the game more. Once again, the Red Bulls had to defend while shorthanded, before Unterland made a quick transition in the closing minutes and Hugo Engelaar extended the lead to 3–0 (37th minute). Maximilian Wurzer hit the crossbar shortly afterward (38th minute), and the teams went into the second intermission with the Juniors trailing by three goals.
The Juniors started the final period with a man advantage and pressed for their first goal of the season, but another penalty killed the Salzburg team’s run of pressure. Back at full strength, the Red Bulls capitalized on a 2-on-1 situation: Luca Kogler set up Florian Lanzinger, who cut the deficit to 1–3 (47th minute). The Juniors then increased the pressure and created more chances, but Unterland defended tightly. Andrea Vaccarino finally capitalized on a Cavaliers power play to make it 4–1 (54th). The Red Bulls survived another penalty kill without conceding a goal, and the final score remained unchanged.
Statement Head Coach Teemu Levijoki
“It was a tough game today. We spent too much time shorthanded and made things hard on ourselves with all those penalties. There were some positive aspects during preseason, but once the season starts, there’s a different kind of pressure. Now we’ll see who can play under that pressure, take responsibility, and help the team. Today we scored one goal and gave up four—that’s the reality. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s a learning process. Now we have to learn from this and get better.”
Alps Hockey League | Regular Season
Hockey Unterland Cavaliers – Red Bull Hockey Juniors 4:1 (1:0, 2:0, 1:1)
Goals
1:0 | 03:43 | Miiro Linjala
2:0 | 20:44 | Lauri Heino
3:0 | 36:38 | Hugo Engelaar
3:1 | 47:17 | Florian Lanzinger
4:1 | 53:49 | Andrea Vaccarino | PP
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