Game report
The visitors from Merano started the game more actively and tested Juniors goalie Luca Haitzmann several times. However, the Salzburg goalkeeper remained steadfast, and as the game progressed, the Red Bull Hockey Juniors also found their way into the game. The early stages were characterized by fast back-and-forth play with precise passing, but the first period ended goalless.
In the second period, Benedikt Krainer opened the scoring for the Juniors in the 24th minute. Haitzmann then made several dangerous saves to keep his team in the game. But Merano took advantage of strong forechecking by Samuel Claesson and Daniel Gellon scored the equalizer in the 28th minute. Just five minutes later (33rd), David Trivellato put the visitors ahead. The young Salzburg team survived a subsequent shorthanded situation unscathed before building up pressure again towards the end of the period.
The final period began evenly, with both teams looking for the next goal and keeping up the pace. The Juniors had a great chance to equalize on a power play, but failed to break through the Italians' solid defense. In the last ten minutes, the Red Bulls finally took control, throwing everything forward and forcing Merano into further penalties with their hard offensive play. It wasn't until the 58th minute that the deserved equalizer came: after winning an offensive face-off, Fabian Baumann shot the puck from the blue line through the traffic in front of the goal to make it 2-2. In overtime, the Juniors pressed hard at first but missed several good chances. Merano, on the other hand, showed no mercy: in the 64th minute, Tommaso Traversa converted a pass from Daniel Gellon to seal the away win.