Game report
The Italians dominated the opening minutes: Nicholas Porco finished off a counterattack in the 4th minute to give his side a 1-0 lead. The Red Bulls then found their feet and tested Riccardo Santangelo several times, but Asiago defended compactly and waited for mistakes. Porco struck again in the 7th minute to make it 2-0. The Juniors were not impressed and continued to press. In the 14th minute, Moussa Hackert scored his first AlpsHL goal to make it 1-2 after a pass from Vadim Schreiner. The momentum shifted: Paul Oberhauser made it 2-2 in the 17th minute after a solo effort, and shortly before the first break (20th minute), Florian Lanzinger scored to give the Juniors a 3-2 lead after good work from Maxim Eliseev.
The second period got off to an ideal start: Maximilian Wurzer scored in the 22nd minute to make it 4-2, shortly after which Santangelo was replaced by his teammate Rudy Rigoni. The Red Bulls kept up the pressure but failed to capitalize on a two-minute 5-on-3 power play. Asiago, boosted by the goalie change, came back and reduced the deficit to 4-3 through José Antonio Magnabosco Aguirre (27th minute). The response was swift: Moritz Warnecke made it 5-3 in the 28th minute after a pass from Florian Lanzinger, also his first goal in the Alps Hockey League. The final phase of the period became more physical. Lucas Chiodo brought the visitors back into the game in the 38th minute (5-4), before Nico Koschek made it 6-4 in the 40th minute.
In the final period, both teams fought for every inch. The Juniors survived a 5-on-3 power play for Asiago (44th) with concentrated defensive work. The game went back and forth at a high tempo before Jesse Juhola set up Paul Lemke perfectly in the 55th minute to make it 7-4. In the 57th minute, Ryan Valentini narrowed the gap to 7-5. The visitors tried to pull out all the stops in the last two minutes of the game with a sixth field player, but even a penalty for the home team did not change the result. The Red Bulls remained steadfast, celebrated their fifth win in a row and consolidated their lead in the standings.