At the end of the Regular Season and the Master Round, the Rittner Buam are ranked better than Cortina. That the team from the location of the 2026 Winter Olympics could be capable of prevailing was shown to the South Tyroleans in the first two games of the quarterfinals. With a solid defense and an excellent De Filippo between the posts, Cortina let very few Rittner Buam attacks filter through and castigated Heiskanen's team with sudden counterattacks.

In the last two games, however, the Rittner Buam have adapted to this way of playing. The blue-reds have also concentrated more on the defense and the result has been two measured victories: last Saturday a 1:0 in overtime and Tuesday night a 0:2 away. In this way Simon Kostner and his teammates gave themselves the possibility to play the decisive challenge of game 5. In this game in front of the home crowd, which will take place on Thursday, March 24 at 8 pm, the Rittner Buam will be able to secure access to the semifinal.

"The team showed a lot of character," sports director Adolf Insam praises the Rittner Buam. "Now comes game 5 and we will do everything we can to win this match as well. The tactics, which we revolutionized after the two defeats, were successful." On the eve of the last challenge of the quarterfinal series some Rittner Buam players are exhausted, but Insam knows that "the players and all of us are pumped up for this game. Everyone wants to go on the ice and they will go."

Alps Hockey League 2021/22 - Game 5 of the quarterfinals (best of five)

Rittner Buam - SG Cortina Hafro

Thursday, March 24, 2022 - 8 pm

Quarterfinal series: 2:2 (2:4, 2:4, 1:0 OT, 2:0)

Photo: Max Pattis