Asiago and Jesenice won their semifinal-opener

Maximilian Ploner returned to play for the home team. Andreas Alber and Markus Spinell were always absent. Ziga Urukalo and Jaka Sodja were absent for the visitors. The Ritten dominated the start of the match. The first big chance happened after 27 seconds on the stick of Simon Kostner. Jesenice goalkeeper Clarke Saunders was ready for the dangerous conclusion of Oscar Ahlström, right after Edoardo Caletti missed a big chance. With the first attacking action, the visitors took the lead. Before the middle Urban Sodja made the first goal after an assist of Andrej Tavzelj. Patrick Killeen performed a miracle on Gasper Glavic and shortly after Renon's extreme defender was lucky, when Adis Alagic hit only the post. After 17 minutes it was once again Simon Kostner to make himself dangerous at the Jesenice's net. A few seconds after the first siren Blaz Tomazevic didn’t find the doubling. Immediately at the beginning of the central period the "Buam" equalized. Dan Tudin served the puck to the very free Alexander Eisath, who beat Saunders with a shot under the intersection. For the Red Steelers defense it was the first goal after 172 minutes. The home team also made the second goal with Eisath. The joy of the "Buam" lasted only 132 seconds, when Nik Pem used a Borgatello mistake to score the tie. After 40 minutes the result remained still on 2: 2. The home team created a lot as they were wrong too much, while the Jesenice was concrete on its few occasions. At the beginning of the last period there was still Renon. Andreas Lutz saw Dan Tudin, who surpassed Saunders with a precise shot for the 3: 2. Eight minutes from the final whistle of the third period, Killeen made a big save on Nik Pem, but shortly after the Jesenice scored with Luka Kalan (3: 3). A second from the end, Thomas Spinell served a gold puck to Dan Tudin, but he couldn’t get beat Saunders. So the meeting went to extra time. The overtime was dominated by Jesenice: Nik Pem decided this first exciting challenge after 67 minutes in favour of Red Steelers.

Thu, 22.03.2018: Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 1935 (1) vs. HC Pustertal Wolves (5) - 5:4 (2:0,3:1,0:3)

Federico Benetti, Anthony Nigro and Matteo Tessari returned to play after missing game 4 of the quarterfinals against Sterzing. For turnover there weren’t Stephan Pietrobon and Chad Pietroniro. Thomas Tragust returned to defend the net of the Wolves after three games in which the goalkeeper was Alexander Kinkelin. Armin Hofer was absent for suspension and Danny Elliscasis was absent for injured. The Asiago immediately put pressure on the opponents with Marco Rosa who, after 50 seconds, rolled twice against Tragust. The guests were dangerous with Gianluca March hit the post with a shot from distance for a game with great pace. Then the home formation made the first goal thanks to the pressure of the first line. Giulio Scandella recovered a puck and then passed to Anthony Nigro who scores 1: 0 (8.). Then, just after the half of the first period, the Asiago doubled with a great shot by Phil Pietroniro (11.). The pressure of the Asiago was constant but the first half ended with 2: 0 for the yellowread team. The second period was immediately fought. Raphael Andergassen halved the disadvantage after passing from behind the door of Sean Ringrose. But then at the first powerplay, the Asiago advanced with a shot-pass by Gellert deflected in the net by Giulio Scandella. The fourth goal come at the end of a spectacular action between Rosa and Bardaro with the latter's goal. In the same action Enrico Miglioranzi took 10 minutes of penalty. Then it was still Asiago: while it was about to end the second half, there was Alex Gellert's net with a great shot from the blue line. In the third time the pace is lowered and the first 10 minutes didn’t say much. The Wolves waked up right in the middle of the last period. First goal was in powerplay with Lukas Tauber. Then Pustertal played the extra attacker's card as they found another goal with a deflection by Raphael Andergassen. The Wolves still found a goal with Ivan Althuber with a shot from distance in traffic and always with the extra attacker. The final seconds of the match was very thriller. Still the visitors to attack because Anthony Bardaro took 2 minutes. The final assault of the Wolves failed. Asiago won 5:4 as they earned the first point of the best-of-five-series.

 

Goals RIT: 1:1 A.Eisath (21./Tudin-T.Spinell); 2:1 A.Eisath (T.Spinell-Tudin); 3:2 Tudin (Lutz-A.Eisath);
Goals JES: 0:1 Sodja (9./Basic-Magovac); 2:2 Pem (37./Alagic); 3:3 Kalan (55./Tavzelj-Piispanen); 3:4 Pem (67./Alagic-Planko);

Thu, 22.03.2018: Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 1935 (1) vs. HC Pustertal Wölfe (5) - 5:4 (2:0,3:1,0:3)
Referees: BULOVEC, WIDMANN, Bärnthaler, Snoj; spectators: 920
Goal ASH: 1:0 Nigro (8./Scandella); 2:0 P.Pietroniro (11./Nigro-Forte); 3:1 Scandella (24./PP1/Rosa-Gellert); 4:1 Rosa (27./Bardaro-Pace); 5:1 Gellert (39./Bardaro-Pace);
Goal PUS: 2:1 Andergassen (22./Ringrose-Oberrauch); 5:2 Tauber (50./PP1/Di Casmirro-Ringrose); 5:3 Andergassen (55./EA/Bruneteau-Ringrose); 5:4 I.Althuber (57./EA/Helfer-Ringrose)
Picture: David S. Wassagruba