Symbolic for the game: Ritten managed almost everything, the Broncos did nothing. © Photo Max Pattis

Ritten fights: The Buam win game 5

The Rittner Buam are still alive! The winner of the regular season has his back to the wall in the semi-finals of the Alps Hockey League, but withstood the pressure on Thursday. In the fifth game of the best-of-7 series against the Wipptal Broncos, the Buam won and shortened the series to 2:3.

March 28, 2024

From: none

Curious: All four previous semi-final duels between the two teams ended 4-2. On Thursday, however, a new result appeared on the scoreboard: The Buam clearly won 6-3 in front of their home crowd and can continue to dream of reaching the final. The series now moves back to Vipiteno, where the Broncos have another final puck on Saturday. If they lose this match, the all-important Game 7 will take place next Tuesday in Klobenstein.

But back to Thursday. In the very well-filled Ritten Arena, the hosts showed from the start that they did not want to accept the end of the season so easily. Vipiteno goalie Jakob Rabanser often had to demonstrate all his skills to prevent the Buam from taking the lead for the fifth time in this series. On the other side, the Wild Horses were repeatedly dangerous with counter-attacks, but they were initially unable to overcome goalkeeper Colin Furlong. Although both teams had the majority, the score went into the first period break at 5-0.

Wipptal collapses

From the second third onwards, the hosts were able to convert their chances into goals. It only took two minutes before Jakob Prast gave the Rittner the lead. After winning a face-off in the offensive zone, number 12 took off straight away and made it 1-0. In the 27th minute, Alan Lobis increased the score to 2-0 after a pass from Cameron Ginnetti.

Alan Lobis (front) won with the Rittner Buam. © Photo Max Pattis

Now the guests from Wipptal completely lost their nerve and received penalties every minute. The Rittners took advantage of two of these opportunities. First, Lobis hit the short cross corner ice-cold, then Max Coatta was served in an exemplary manner by Ethan Szypula, who only had to push it into the empty goal. The section of the game was rounded off with a goal from Markus Spinell, who defeated Fabian Bracket (he came on the ice for Jakob Rabanser) – 5-0 for the Buam!

Sterzing's race to catch up comes too late

In the final third, the Wipptal Broncos fought their way back into the match. First Bryson Cianfrone scored to make it 1:5 and just 6 minutes before the end Davide Conci made it 2:5. Although Cianfrone scored the goal 90 seconds before the end to make it 3:5, the final point belonged to the Rittner Buam, who filled half a dozen with Empty Net. Simon Kostner & Co. can therefore look forward to their second victory in this series.

This is now moving back to Vipiteno. Game 6 of this incredibly exciting series will take place on Saturday in the Weihenstephan Arena. While Ritten has the chance to equalize, the Broncos could celebrate their first final appearance in their AlpsHL history.

AlpsHL, semi-final – game 5:

Rittner Buam - Wipptal Broncos 6:3
Goals: 1:0 Prast (21.56), 2:0 Lobis (26.42), 3:0 Lobis (28.05), 4:0 Coatta (31.34), 5:0 Spinell (38.54), 5:1 Cianfrone (42.46), 5:2 Conci (53.46), 5:3 Cianfrone (58.28), 6:3 Amorosa (59.53)
Audience: 1643
Score in the series: 2:3

Cortina - Salzburg 7:2
Goals: 1:0 Cuglietta (04.29), 1:1 Schreiner (09.10), 1:2 Ramoser (28.04), 2:2 Lacedelli (29.18), 3:2 Juhola (29.58), 4:2 Cuglietta (31.12), 5:2 Cuglietta (35.49), 6:2 Sanna (36.25), 7:2 Di Tomaso (38.29)
Audience: 690
Score in the series: 3:2