Jesenice responds and takes the lead in the series with two wins to 1

Jesenice, March 31, 2022 - The Rittner Buam did not have a rewarding experience in game 3 of the semifinal series in front of the 900 spectators present on Thursday night in Jesenice. The blue-reds lost 6:0 to Nik Zupancic's team. So Saturday night the Slovenians could enter the final. But the Rittner Buam will try to prevent it with all their strength in front of the home crowd.

THE SUMMARY: Also in Thursday night's match the Rittner Buam have to do without three injured players: goalie Smith and forwards Manuel Öhler and Julian Kostner are absent. On the other hand, Fink and Spinell will be back at coach Santeri Heiskanen's disposal. As you can imagine, in Slovenia they go straight to the point from the first engagement. Both teams fight for every puck and don't give inches to the opponents. After Sailio's chance (3) and Svetina's chance (4°), both cancelled by the goalies, Jenko and, 25 seconds later, Giacomuzzi have to go to the penalty box (6°). Just before the Rittner Buam can return to full strength, Jesenice takes the lead. A shot by Elo is unfortunately deflected into the blue-red goal by Spinell's skate (7'18"). The goal made the Rittner Buam lose the thread, but towards the end of the period, they managed to recover and almost missed the draw. Osburn grabbed the puck and shot all alone in front of Froberg's goal, but Froberg was able to block the American's goal (15th minute). Afterwards, the South Tyrolean guests didn't take advantage of a powerplay, so Jesenice had a slight advantage in the locker room.

For the Rittner Buam the middle period begins with a great chance of Spinell that ends up out of reach. On the opposite side of the field, Ulamec does better: his shot passes Treibenreif and ends up in the far corner (22'07"). Then Jenko is stopped by the Rittner Buam's goalkeeper (25th) and, as the middle of the period approaches, the two teams face each other. Glavic wastes, then on the other side of the field Pechlaner misses an opportunity. Then Sirovnik is stopped by Treibenreif (30th), but shortly after Jenko finalizes a nice pass by Glavic and scores the 3:0 (32'11"). The house masters close the game in this period, when the puck deflected by Urukalo rolls on the line and Uusivirta is unable to push it away in time (37'19"). Tonight the episodes do not play in favour of the Rittner Buam.

The last part of the game is characterized by many harsh moments and by many time penalties (8 assigned to the Rittner Buam, 5 to Jesenice). Between one episode and the other, hockey is also played. If Osburn's (45th) and Marzolini's (51st) occasions don't bring any goals for the guests, the Slovenian team, on the other hand, stretches two more points with the goals of Elo (57'56") and Logar (58'38"), that marks the definitive 6:0 for the Slovenians.

 

Alps Hockey League - Playoffs, semifinal series, game 3:

HDD SIJ Acroni Jesenice - Rittner Buam 6:0 (1:0, 3:0, 2:0)

Goals: 1:0 Elo (7'19" /PP), 2:0 Ulamec (22'07"), 3:0 Jenko (32'11"), 4:0 Urukalo (37'19"), 5:0 Elo (57'57"), 6:0 Logar (58'37")

Series (best of five): 2:1 (1:2, 3:2, 6:0)

Photo: Max Pattis