Gherdëina took Kitzbühel 4:3 in the Alpine Hockey League on Saturday evening, a result that keeps the hosts level on points despite a winless start to the campaign. The game unfolded at 17:30 local time and, by then, the visitors had already tasted both victory and defeat in two outings.
There were no minutes recorded for the individual goals, so the sequence is lost to the record. What remains is the scoreline and the sense that this was never a straightforward affair — the visitors came to a side that had not yet found its footing.
We had called for a home win at 49 per cent confidence, and the result vindicated that assessment. Not that it was ever a certainty, but Gherdëina held their nerve when it mattered, and the line has barely moved in the standings because of it.
The hosts sit eleventh with zero points from two games, while Kitzbühel occupy fourth, also on zero points after one win and one loss. The gap is negligible, which is to say the table says very little at this stage.
Gherdëina's recent form offers a different picture: four losses in five matches across September and April, including a 5:6 defeat to Vipiteno Broncos on Tuesday. Kitzbühel, meanwhile, have shown flashes — a 7:2 win over Unterland on the same day — but also concede freely.
Four goals for and three against is a result that balances on a knife-edge. The home side earned a point they did not deserve, or perhaps they earned exactly what they needed to stay within reach of the teams above them.
