Osburn and Lutz chase away the Cortina spectre

Collalbo, December 9, 2021 - A reaction of the Rittner Buam was expected after the 8:1 defeat against Asiago and it came. On Thursday night in the 22nd round of the Alps Hockey League, the blue-reds asserted themselves 4:1 against the fearsome opponents of S.G. Cortina Hafro, who had defeated the Renon team in six of the last seven games. Santeri Heiskanen's team was magical in the opening period, in which Zach Osburn and Andreas Lutz decided the game with a double each. So, the Rittner Buam secured (at least) the second place in the ranking of the highest Italian championship, IHL-Serie A, and won the right to play the semifinal at home.

THE SYNTHESIS: Just in time for the challenge against Cortina, Sharp, Manuel Öhler, Pechlaner and Fink came back in shape after their injuries. The injured Quinz is still missing, as well as Jakob Prast and Giacomuzzi, engaged with the Under20 national team. The Rittner Buam started at great speed. Shortly after the two and a half minutes of the game, Frei places the puck, Osburn has a lot of space in the slot and sinks the puck in the net for the 1:0. Not even 180 seconds later, in a triangulation between Osburn and Frei, the number 2 of the Rittner Buam scores the 2:0. The U.S. hockey player scores the eighth and the ninth goal of the season.

The game continues with the same pace. The Rittner Buam play with Cortina like the cat with the mouse and after 8'10" of the game they score the 3:0. Sharp starts a counterattack with a pass to Lutz who doesn't let him say it twice. The guests call a time-out, but afterwards not much changes on the ice. Two minutes before the siren sounds De Filippo has to retrieve the puck from the net for the fourth time after being tricked by Lutz. With this double the blue-red number 24 scores the fifth and the sixth goal of the season.

In the second part of the game, the tones become harsher and four time penalties are inflicted to both teams. In numeric inferiority, while Julian Kostner was bored in the penalty box, the blue-red took the goal with which Basaraba shortened the distances, assigned after the video proof control (32'10"). Immediately after, the Rittner Buam's defence, in 3 against 5, stands out and avoids a second goal of the adversaries from Ampezzo. On the score of 4:1 the teams go back to the locker room for the second time.

In the final period, the Rittner Buam are on the point of scoring the fifth goal. However, the most promising occasion is wasted by Lang completely free (47th). The best chance of the last period came for Cortina five minutes before the end of the game, first with Johansson's wrap around and then with Alverà's rebound - in both occasions Jake Smith, for long stretches not engaged by the adversaries, overcame himself and there was a short moment of shivering, but the result did not change.

The Rittner Buam will be engaged at home also on Saturday, December 11th. At 6 pm Simon Kostner and his mates will host EC Die Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel.

Rittner Buam - S.G. Hafro Cortina 4:1 (4:0, 0:1, 0:0)

Goals: 1:0 Zach Osburn (2'38"), 2:0 Zach Osburn (5'26"), 3:0 Andreas Lutz (8'10"), 4:0 Andreas Lutz (18'02"), 4:1 Basaraba (32'10")

MVP of the match powered by Loacker: Luca Zanatta (SGC) and Jake Smith (RIT)

Photo: Max Pattis