Red Bull Salzburg lost the prestige duel at the regular season winner Bozen 3:4. David Cernik first scored in the ICE Hockey League.
Under normal circumstances, the ICE Hockey League 1st vs. 2nd game would have been a real smash hit. However, the league schedule meant that leaders Bozen and pursuers Red Bull Salzburg only met again in the very last round – and by then both teams had already secured their tickets for the Champions League and could neither improve nor deteriorate in the final table of the regular season.
Salzburg coach Matt McIlvane gave a number of ailing top performers a break at the prestige duel in South Tyrol on Saturday and once again gave the youngsters a chance. Even if it ended in a meaningless 3: 4 defeat for the table, the Red Bull talents at least showed a courageous game and made some strong exclamation marks on the ice.
For example, 21-year-old Lucas Thaler, who coldly scored the 1-0 from a lightning-fast counterattack (7th). The youngsters from Salzburg were not shocked by the Bozner equalization in a 5:3 majority (14 th ). After preparatory work by Aljaž Predan and Philipp Krening, with whom he had played with the Juniors in the Alps Hockey League on Saturday, David Cernik was there and confidently converted a rebound from Bolzano goalie Sam Harvey with his ice skates after skilfully taking the puck to 2: 1 (19th). The jubilation of the 18-year-old and his teammates was huge, as it was his first goal for the professional team in the ICE Hockey League.
At the beginning of the middle third, Bozen used another power play to equalize. Salzburg captain Dominique Heinrich restored the narrow lead (served ideally by 20-year-old Nikolaus Heigl) (38′). The hosts had luck on their side in the final section. First Angelo Miceli (again in the power play) deflected the puck from the air into the goal (48th). Then Cole Hult’s Salzburg keeper David Kickert surprised him with a concealed long-range shot from a tight angle into the short Kreuzeck (58′).
“We were really good in the 5-on-5 game today. We only had problems with our opponents when we were outnumbered and that was ultimately the difference in this game,” said Coach McIlvane, summing up the 3:4 defeat.