Sparta squeezed the opponent from the opening goal and was rewarded with two hits by Forman. “Similar situations. Very similar situations. I train often. I had a lot of space between the rings, so it was quite easy,” the attacker described.
He was waiting for a point for five matches, and now he even scored two goals. However, he did not get a hat-trick. “The guys weren’t looking for me much anymore, they were more like passing on my heels. I guess they were nice and didn’t want me to have to pay at the register,” laughed Forman.
Prague won the tenth of the last eleven duels. Goalkeeper Jakub Kovář also played an important role in this, as he had not conceded for almost 197 minutes. Although he scored his first save against Plzeň after eight minutes and really hard work awaited him only in the second period, despite only 11 saves, the fifth clean sheet of the season is very valuable. “Kovy has a lot to do with the recent wins. Catches great. With confidence in the goal area, the game is much better,” praised Forman.
On the other side, Kovář’s counterpart Dominik Pavlát shined, hitting 33 shots, but even he could not prevent Škoda’s third defeat in a row. West Bohemia, who have been waiting for a goal for 139 minutes, are plagued by an unpleasant wave of colds and viruses. “Anyone who was healthy went to the match. You can hear it in the voice that we are not well,” said the 23-year-old goalkeeper in a weak voice.
Goalkeeper Svoboda, defender Baránek and forwards Lang, Adamec and Schleiss were dropped from the Indians’ lineup. In addition, Alarm Clock and Blomstrand are injured. “Over Christmas, we will top up with vitamins and we will pray that the sick will return and no one else will lie down,” revealed Pavlát.
However, coach Petr Kořínek did not want to make excuses about health complications. “Every team has you. Sparta was clearly better. We have to quickly forget about the game. One of the worst performances of the season,” criticized the coach.
Even Sparta is far from complete. She is missing forwards Kaše s Přbyl and defenders Krejčík, Němeček and Kempný due to injuries. He should join the team after Christmas in Davos, Switzerland, where Sparta will participate in the traditional Spengler Cup after 12 years. “I’m really looking forward to it, I’m taking my whole family with me. We want to show that Czech hockey is at a high level and we will try to win,” added Forman. The people of Prague were supposed to visit the famous tournament two years ago and last year, but both years were canceled by covid. Now in the group they are waiting for home Davos and Canada’s selection.
