Cracking duel: Vienna acts with hardness, Bolzano with goals

HC Bozen defeated the Vienna Capitals 3:6 in game 3 and thus maintained their home advantage in this incredibly competitive semi-final series.

What was decisive that evening was Bozen's cold-bloodedness, which led to three power play goals and a shorthander. Vienna, on the other hand, clearly went over the top with its physical style of play. In particular Mario Fischer, who promoted Dan Catenacci badly into the gang and risked a serious injury in the process. Fischer, was there something? Exactly, the Viennese captain had transported HCB top scorer Dustin Gazley to the Bolzano hospital in the opening match. In addition to Gazley, Karl Stollery and Domenic Alberga also belonged to this on Thursday. Defenseman Matteo Pietroniro was also injured during the game, but Ivan Tauferer was able to play again.

The game on Thursday evening definitely deserved a sell-out wave because it offered a lot of emotions right from the first puck drop. In the third minute, a shot from Viennese William Besse hit the crossbar. Instead of the Bolzano goal, the bell rang a little later on the Viennese side when Anthony Bardaro used a completely free-standing cross pass to make it 1-0. Then things happened in quick succession: First, Marco Richter took advantage of a completely incorrect positioning play by the Bolzano defensive axis Robertson-Youds and scored from the slot to make it 1-1. Less than half a minute later, Brett Findlay put Bozen back in the lead when he gave a Di Perna shot the decisive change of direction. Before the first break, Mike Halmo made it 3-1 after a precise pass from Bardaro, who was strong today. Capitals are not letting up The same pace continued in the middle section. This was less than two minutes old when Ty Loney tunneled through HCB goalkeeper Leland Irving and at the same time became the league's top scorer with his 33rd goal of the season. The counter-example to the Caps striker is Ben Youds on the Bolzano side, who is still waiting for his first ICE goal after 42 games. In the 26th minute he was close to scoring his debut goal when his blueliner hit the post.

In front of both goals, things went well for over 60 minutes. © Vanna Antonello

The South Tyroleans' fourth goal was only postponed, because shortly afterwards Marco Insam, outnumbered, grabbed the puck on the halfway line, shot from an acute angle and Daniel Frank maneuvered the rebound over the line. In the same penalty kill, Irving made a spectacular save against Ali Wukovits. Things got really dirty on the other side when Fischer sent Dan Catenacci into the boards with a cross-check with full force. He hit his head against the plexiglass and lay there for a long time, but was able to play again in the final third. The referees, who at times had the game completely out of their hands, only sent Fischer off the ice with a game misconduct penalty after a video review. Fischer has to take a shower Tempers didn't calm down so quickly in the final period - also because both teams were constantly threatening to score. In the 46th minute the disc finally floundered in the net: Angelo Miceli pushed it in as he followed up. It was Bozen's third power play goal. An impressive result, also considering the fact that the HCB had let all eleven power-play situations go unused in the first two games. Wukovits was able to reduce the score to 3:5 immediately. But Bolzano's victory could no longer be shaken, on the contrary: in the final seconds Luca Frigo even increased the score to 6:3 with an empty net goal.

With this important success behind them, the HCB entourage will travel to Vienna on Friday, where the fourth and possibly decisive duel will take place on Saturday. In the second semi-final duel, Klagenfurt can win the next game after they achieved their third win today with a 6-0 win against Salzburg. HCB Südtirol Alperia – Spusu Vienna Capitals 6:3 HSBC: Irving (Fazio); Robertson-Youds, Pietroniro-Plastino, Fournier-Di Perna, Tauferer; Halmo-Catenacci-Bardaro, Frank-Findlay-Miceli, Frigo-Bernard-Insam, Giliati-Pitschieler-Deluca Coach: Ireland

Caps: Starkbaum (Wraneschitz); Wall-Peter, Hackl-Johnson, Fischer-Lakos, Piff-Preiser; Bauer-Wukovitz-Archibald, Besse-Nissner-Loney, Richter-Vause-Rotter, Artner-Großlercher-Kittinger Coach: Cameron

Gates: 1:0 Anthony Bardaro (12.02), 1:1 Marco Richter (12.41), 2:1 Brett Findlay (13.11), 3:1 Mike Halmo (19.19), 3:2 Ty Loney (21.43), 4:2 Daniel Frank (34.13), 5:2 Angelo Miceli (43.48), 5:3 Ali Wukovits (46.00), 6:3 Luca Frigo (59.40)

Standings in the best-of-7 series: 2:1

Further game dates: April 3th, 5th, possibly April 7rd, 9th The 2nd semi-final duel: Klagenfurter AC – Red Bull Salzburg 6-0

Gates: 1:0 Thomas Hundertpfund (3.10), 2:0 Samuel Witting (18.51), 3:0 Thomas Hundertpfund (37.00), 4:0 Nick Petersen (41.36), 5:0 Manuel Ganahl (45.13), 6:0 Nick Petersen (56.33)

Standings in the best-of-7 series: 3:0

>>> Click here for the now traditional monthly report from the HCB cracks

ICE Regular Season ICE	SP	TV	P
1. Klagenfurt	47	183:101	102
2. Fehervar	46	146:126	89
3. Salzburg	46	142:107	87
4. HCB South Tyrol	46	137:125	76
5. Linz	46	146:116	75
6. Villach	46	155:136	74
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Cracking duel: Vienna acts with hardness, Bolzano with goals

HCB Südtirol Alperia took a step towards the final on Thursday evening: The Foxes only had 18 shots on goal to bury Vienna under a small avalanche of goals. They reacted with excessive severity.

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