The opening act between HC Bolzano and JKH GKS Jastrzębie was a bit of meat and potatoes hockey, without the meat. Errant passes and mishandled pucks were had on both sides as the Foxes and the Polish champs struggled to sustain any offense for long stretches of the first period. 

That was until just after the ten-minute mark when Bolzano’s Angelo Miceli delivered a silky cross-crease feed to Daniel Catenacci who slid it comfortably behind Jastrzębie netminder Patrik Nechvátal for Bolzano’s first goal of this CHL campaign. 

Play started opening up a bit more following the goal as Jastrzębie spent some time in their offensive zone, putting sustained pressure on Bolzano’s netminder Justin Fazio. Fazio hadn't been tested much up to this point but did well staving off the few quality chances the home team fired his way.

With five and change left to play in the opening frame, Jastrzębie would seemingly find the equaliser as the puck took a bad bounce off the boards preventing Fazio from handling it cleanly and leaving a gaping hole where the backstop should be. Fortunately for the Italian side, the puck somehow stayed out of the net and play resumed with Jastrzębie still down by one.  

Their moment to tie the game would come, however, courtesy of some second and third chance opportunities as the home side managed to pot their first with just under four minutes to go in the first period. A beautiful blind feed into the slot from Vitalijs Pavlovs reached Arturs Sevcenko who launched it into the visitors’ net and tied the game at one apiece. 

Jastrzębie's play continued to improve and they managed to go up on the man-advantage when Domenic Alberga was called for interference. The powerplay spilled into the second period and Jastrzębie had a chance to go up early. 

What started as a five-on-four skating situation to begin the second stanza briefly became a six-on-four when Bolzano was called for another infraction. But some solid penalty killing coupled with Fazio’s glove were enough to keep Bolzano and Jastrzębie level. 

The tempo picked up a bit more in the second and a chance for the home team came that was almost too good to be true.

A miscommunication between Fazio and his defender gave the Polish side an easy pass and the opportunity to go up one. But the Italian netminder quickly dove in front of his net and smothered the puck before any damage could be done. 

His heroics were challenged again but this time with different results thanks to a Mateusz Bryk wrister that beat Fazio glove side to put the Polish side up by one. With time to think, Maciej Urbanowicz dished a saucer to Bryk who did the rest giving Jastrzębie their first lead of the night.

A spectacular showdown between Fazio and Nechvátal characterized most of the remaining minutes of the second period, as both clubs pelted the netminders with a healthy amount of rubber. For a while, the score seemed destined to remain unchanged – until the Czech netminder flinched.  

A breakdown in the Polish zone lead to Catenacci notching his second tally with 58 ticks remaining giving Bolzano some life heading into the third.

As play got underway in the third stanza, Bolzano were able to feed off this equaliser and force Jastrzębie into making a few mental mistakes leading to back-to-back powerplay opportunities for the Foxes. However, the away team were unable to capitalise due to some sloppy play of their own.

With nine minutes to play in regulation, you started to get the sense that the next one would be the game-winner, and after 60 minutes of hockey it turned out to be the case as neither side broke through for their third, requiring OT to decide the three points.

Rinkwide action ensued with each club trading quality scoring chances including a couple of breakaways. Again, the netminders sparkled, especially Nechvátal who fought off a number of grade-A opportunities while Bolzano were on the man-advantage midway through the extra session. No change in score meant the teams advanced to a shootout.

Fittingly, the netminders took center stage again, where it would be Justin Fazio who came up large for his club stopping all 5 shots that came his way. Brett Findlay's patience started the scoring off for the Italian side, and four skaters later, Angelo Miceli wasted no time in roofing one over the glove of Nechvátal to secure the win and the three points.