Jesenice and Rittner Buam just one win away from the finals!

Fabian Ebener was absent for home team. The Cortina is presented in Collalbo without Francesco Adami, banned for two matches after Game 2 of semifinal. In the same time the visitor team meet after three games Nicola Fontanive who served his ban. The game was very nervous with hosts who immediately put their imprint on game 3 exploiting the opportunities instead. After five minutes the Renon made the first goal with Oscar Ahlströhm, then the guests failed to respond in the situation of power play, and in the second part of the period, in the space of two minutes, the Rittner Buam found two goals thanks Janis Sprutks and Thomas Traversa. Previously Dan Tudin hit the crossbar. After time out of the bench of Cortina, the visitor tried to improve their defensive discipline against the home team. In the remaining minutes of the first fraction was only Renon on the ice for too many penalties taken by a nervous Cortina. The netminder of Cortina, De Filippo, made two big saves on the shots of Simon Kostner and Christian Borgatello. The first period finished in favour of home team (3:0). During the middle period, the guests appeared to react firmly, so as to score in shorthanded after a great action of very fast Riley Brace. But Thomas Spinell then restored the distances with a fine touch on which De Filippo couldn’t do nothing. Shortly after coach Omicioli decided to play on the ice with four offensive lines and to replace the goalkeeper: Martino Valle Da Rin started to work on the conclusions of Tudin and Viktor Ahlströhm. The Buam continued to grow on the ice as they made the 5-1 with a powerful action of Tommaso Traversa that ended his action with an elegant backhand. Nervousness continued to be a constant of Cortina: Riley Brace was out with higher penalty (2 '+ 10'). During the third period the Cortina collapsed after the last attempts. After just over a minute Dan Tudin put the end on the games with the sixth goals in powerplay situation. In the middle period Viktor Ahlstrom signed the last goal of the match for the final score of 7:1 in the favour of the home tema. The rest of the match was a long period of discharge for the two teams that now think Game 4 on Tuesday, especially the Cortina that were never really in the match in the Arena Ritten.

 

The first period between the two teams was hard-fought, but the teams failed to build up real chances. The best chance for Asiago was represented by an incursion of Stefano Marchetti in the front of the opposite net. Jesenice, instead, tried to shot from distance, but Frederic Cloutier made a good guard. In the end of the first period it could be said that the defenses have had the better of their attacks. During the second period, the things changed radically. Jaka Ankerst scored the first goal for the guest with a poisonous diagonal after 24 minutes of the game. After the goal the game was full of great emotions. The Asiago equalized in powerplay with Matteo Tessari, who from close range exceeded the netminder Stojanovic in powerplay situation. The home side increased the pace for a few minutes but they didn’t score again. Jesenice hit the bar. Then two close penalties are taken from Asiago (before Nigro and then Long) and this situation was extremely important for this match. In 5 on 3 Jesenice found the new lead with a thrown puck of Jaka Ankerst through the traffic in the front of the opposite net. A minute later Oraze, in the same powerplay, exceeded Cloutier with a fine shot near the post. The Asiago put a lot of pressure but in the final counterattack Luka Kalan was put down by Dan Sullivan and the referee call a penalty shot on the final whistle. Kalan transformed the penalty that allowed the Jesenice closed the second period leading by 4:1. During the third period the Asiago tried to reopen the match after the end of the second set but the Jesenice keept a good defense. The Asiago became dangerous with a Scandella in the middle time when the puck took the crossbar, then Kolanos in the front of the slot couldn’t conclude from favorable position. Nigro and Long tested the big quality of the netminder Stojanovic that didn’t grant even rebounds. Two minutes from the end Kolanos halved the score for a final pressure of great intensity. In the last 120 seconds it happened a lot of things like two penalties against Daniel Sullivan and Long that put in difficulty the home team. So the Jesenice won at the Odegar for 4:2 as they took the lead in the series for 2:1.

 

Sat, 25.3.2017: Rittner Buam – S.G. Cortina Hafro 7:1 (3:0; 2:1; 2:0)
Referees: STERNAT, VIRTA, Bärnthaler, Giacomozzi
Goals Rittner Buam: 1:0 O.Ahlströhm (5./PP1); 2:0 Sprukts (11./A.Alber-I.Tauferer); 3:0 Traversa (12./Tudin-T.Spinell); 4:1 T.Spinell (23./A.Alber-J. Sprukts); 5:1 Traversa (32./Tudin); 6:1 Tudin (41./PP1/Sprukts -T.Spinell); 7:1 V.Ahlström (49./O.Ahlström-S.Kostner);
Goal Cortina: 3:1 Brace (21/.SH1/Ciccarello);
Standing Best of five Series, RIT – SGC: 2:1

Sat, 25.3.2017: Migross Supermercati Asiago Hockey 1935 – HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice 2:4 (0:0; 1:4; 1:0)
Referees: BULOVEC, MOSCHEN, Cristeli, Tschrepitsch
Goals Asiago Hockey: 1:1 M.Tessari (28./PP1/Scandella); 2:4 Kolanos (57./PP1/S.Marchetti-Long)
Goals Jesenice: 0:1 Ankerst (24./Manfreda); 1:2 Logar (35./PP2/Berlisk-Ankerst); 1:3 Oraze (36./PP2/Pance-Sotlar); 1:4 Kalan (40./PS);
Standing Best of five Series, ASH – JES: 1:2

Picture: Max Pattis