HC Bozen–Bolzano

German: HC Bozen Italian: HC Bolzano
City	Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy
League	Serie A 1948–2013 Alpenliga 1991–1997 1998–1999 ICE Hockey League 2013–
Founded	1933; 91 years ago (1933)
Home arena	Sparkasse Arena (Capacity: 7,200)
Colors
Owner(s)	Otto Massimo
General manager	Dr. Dieter Knoll
Head coach	Glen Hanlon
Captain	Daniel Frank
Media	VB33 SDF
Website	www.hcb.net
Franchise history
1933–present	HC Bolzano
Championships
Serie A	19 (1963, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2008, 2009, 2012)
Alpenliga	1 (1994)
EBEL	2 (2014, 2018)

Hockey Club Bolzano Foxes, also known as commercial name HCB Alto Adige Alperia (in Italian) or HCB Südtirol Alperia (in German)^[1] is an Italian professional ice hockey team located in the city of Bolzano, South Tyrol autonomous province, that plays in the ICE Hockey League (ICEHL). It remains the most successful team in the history of the Italian Serie A, with 19 championships.

History

HC Bolzano was founded in 1933 and in the first twenty years of its existence, home games were played in an outdoor rink until 1953, when the club moved into the Bolzano Exhibition Hall (Messe Bozen), which was the first artificial ice was available. Eleven of the nineteen Italian league titles were won there before the team moved in 1994, to the newly built Sparkasse Arena. At the same time, the team also participated in the Alps League in part, an international ice hockey competition, attended by teams from Slovenia and Austria were involved. In addition to a master and three runner-up titles in this competition, the team also won another seven Italian titles, the last of which in 2012 was given the three-time winning the Coppa Italia, the Italian League Cup competition. Other achievements include three gains of the Supercoppa Italiana and the Six Nations tournament, also called Caucasian Ligacup, in 1994.

In 2013, the HC Bolzano applied again for inclusion in the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL), after earlier applications failed each time due to the resistance of the Italian Ice Hockey Federation. However, the chaotic conditions in the Serie A paved the way to acceptance, since a large part of the club that was from the second division had been released. The move was also largely motivated by the need of a new major sponsor to help clear their financial situation.^[2]

Known as the HCB Südtirol in the EBEL (the main sponsor is the tourism promotion agency of the Alto Adige – Südtirol region), Bolzano had surprisingly successful inaugural season in 2013–14. On the back of a heavy recruitment scheme which centred in signing Canadian players of Italian heritage, Bolzano finished in fourth place by the end of the Regulation season. In the EBEL finals, they went on to win the championship by defeating the EC Red Bull Salzburg in the finals, and in doing so becoming to first non-Austrian based club to win the Austrian Championship.^[3]

With the victory of the EBEL championship, Bolzano ensured qualification to the first edition of the Champions Hockey League, a prestigious tournament for European clubs. Despite their status of EBEL defending Champions, Bolzano due to numerous financial difficulties that risked compromising the entry of the team in these competitions, were late in confirming their status for a second EBEL season.^[4]

In May 2016 it was announced that the South Tyrol energy producer Alperia would become the main sponsor of the team.

In 2018 the HC Bozen Alperia defeat the EC Red Bull Salzburg in game-7 of the final to win the EBEL championship for a second time. After the successful final, historic captain Alexander Egger announced his retirement from professional ice hockey.

Honours

• Austrian Hockey League
  • Winners (2): 2013–14, 2017–18
• Serie A
  • Winners (19): 1962–63, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1999–00, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2011–12
• Coppa Italia
  • Winners (3): 2004, 2007, 2009
• Supercoppa Italiana
  • Winners (4): 2004, 2007, 2008, 2012
• Alpenliga
  • Winners (1): 1994
• Six Nations Tournament:
  • Winners (1): 1994
• Coppa delle Alpi:
  • Winners (1): 1963

Players

Current roster

Updated 4 February, 2023.^[5]

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
88		Domenic Alberga	C	L	31	2019	Maple, Ontario, Canada
21		Terrance Amorosa	D	L	29	2022	Kirkland, Quebec, Canada
1		Andreas Bernard	G	L	33	2022	Bolzano, Italy
7		Ryan Culkin	D	L	30	2022	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
89		Mike Dalhuisen	D	L	35	2022	Nijmegen, Netherlands
90		Dylan Di Perna	D	R	27	2020	Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
23		Leonardo Felicetti	RW	L	23	2021	Cavalese, Italy
94		Daniel Frank (C)	W	L	30	2013	Merano, Italy
39		Matt Frattin	RW	R	36	2022	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
93		Luca Frigo (A)	LW	L	30	2016	Moncalieri, Italy
10		Dustin Gazley	RW	R	35	2020	Novi, Michigan, United States
28		Cameron Ginnetti	D	R	25	2022	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
13		Diego Gluck	LW	L	24	2021	Bressanone, Italy
91		Mike Halmo (A)	LW	L	32	2020	Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
38		Samuel Harvey	G	L	26	2022	Alma, Quebec, Canada
71		Hannes Kasslatter	F	L	25	2022	Vipiteno, Italy
9		Daniel Mantenuto	C	L	26	2022	Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
19		Brad McClure	RW	R	30	2022	Stratford, Ontario, Canada
26		Angelo Miceli	C	L	30	2017	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
15		Enrico Miglioranzi	D	L	32	2022	Padova, Italy
92		Christian Thomas	RW	R	31	2022	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
44		Scott Valentine	D	L	32	2022	Metcalfe, Ontario, Canada

Notable alumni

References

External links

• Official website (in Italian and German)

This page was last edited on 24 December 2023, at 05:10