BOLZANO. HCB Alto Adige Alperia‘s series of five consecutive victories comes to an end in front of the 3,400 people at the Sparkasse Arena, having to surrender 3 to 2 to EC Red Bull Salzburg. In the first match after last year’s semi-final, the Austrians managed to turn the game around in 10 minutes, overcoming a 1-0 deficit (Marchetti’s first goal of the season) gained in the first period and scoring three times in the powerplay . Helewka’s goal, 51 seconds from time, only serves to make the pill less bitter. The Foxes must now concentrate on an important away match: tomorrow the red and white bus will leave for Vorarlberg, where the match against the Pioneers will take place on Sunday at 4pm.
The news. Coach Glen Hanlon fields the same lineup seen on Wednesday against KAC, therefore giving up Gazley and Miglioranzi.
Excellent start for the red and whites, who put a great pace into the match and after one minute and 53 seconds they were already in the lead: shot from the blue by Bourque and winning deflection by Michele Marchetti, with his first goal of the season. The Foxes immediately came close to doubling their lead, with Finoro’s shot from the slot which this time was blocked by Kickert. The Red Bulls struggled to create clear chances in front of Harvey, who had to make his first notable save on Raffl, repeating himself shortly afterwards on Schneider. After resisting the first Austrian numerical superiority, the red and whites go back to pushing and coming close to doubling their lead several times: first Frigo doesn’t find the right corner after being freed in front of the goal by Mantenuto, then Finoro deflects the ball just wide. rasoghiaccio” by Hults, finally Kickert invents one of the saves of the season by stopping McClure’s shot with a sure shot.
The pace of the match remains high even in the first minutes of the central period. Bolzano fails to materialize on the Christoffer-Bradley-Salinitri axis, then Harvey takes over with Thaler and Murphy dangerous. Shortly after the halfway point of the match, Salzburg turns the game around with its best weapon: the powerplay. At 30:20 Robertson’s long-range shot equalizes the scores. A few moments later Hults ends up in the penalty box and Schneider unleashes a perfect one-timer that hits Harvey at the near post. The red and whites are down, but try to react: Halmo is stopped by two steps, then Bradley again shoots from medium distance. Bolzano is in powerplay and can also count on about twenty seconds of double numerical superiority, but McClure and Helewka are stopped by a Kickert in a great evening. The Red Bulls find themselves with the extra man at the end of the half and once again they don’t forgive: 33 seconds from the siren Bourke invents a great play to leave Christoffer in place and opens for Wukovits, who first of all shoots under the crossbar.
The hosts struggled to get into a rhythm in the third half and, indeed, the first three minutes were all Austrian: Harvey kept his team in the game, stopping attempts by Nienhuis, Schneider and Lewington. After resisting another Red Bulls powerplay, Bolzano tries to make a charge. Valentine tries without luck, then Salinitri comes close to scoring. The red and whites waste another numerical superiority, but 51 seconds from the siren, with the sixth man of movement, Helewka guesses the right angle from distance and closes the distance. There is room for one last attack, but Bradley, freed well with his shot, only hits the outside of the goal.
HCB Alto Adige Alperia – EC Red Bull Salzburg 2 – 3 [1-0; 0-3; 1-0]
Rarely: 01:53 Michele Marchetti (1-0); 30:20 Dennis Robertson PP1 (1-1); 31:12 Peter Schneider PP1 (1-2); 39:27 Ali Wukovits PP1 (1-3); 59:09 Adam Helewka (2-3)
Shots on goal: 28-22
Penalty minutes: 16-14
Referees: Nikolic M., Schauer / Mantovani, Pardatscher
Spectators: 3.420
(foto Dametto / DLife)