K a r l o v y V a r y – After moving from the capital to the west of Bohemia, Brno Kometa faced Karlovy Vary Energia in the 40th round. The first third was extremely successful for the home team. Nevertheless, Kometa was able to return to the game and tried to erase the goal deficit in the third period. The Moravians dramatized the duel in the west of Bohemia and in the end strove for the desired point gain. However, despite all the efforts of the guests, he did not appear in the end. Defender Patrik Fajmon celebrated the premier goal in the extra league, Kometa captain Martin Zaťovič scored two goals in the match and became the player of the match.
HC Energie Karlovy Vary – HC Kometa Brno
Goals and saves: 5. O. Beránek (Koblasa), 7. Koblasa (Pulpán, Černoch), 12. O. Beránek (Koblasa, Bartejs), 38. O. Beránek (Černoch, Koblasa), 54. Redlich – 12. Pospíšil (Holík) , 41. Fajmon (Kollár), 44. Zaťovič (Šalé, Zboril), 57. Zaťovič (Vincour, Horký).
Referee: Veselý, Šindel – Komárek, Gerát.
Exclusion: 3:3, plus Havlín TH – Dufek 5+DKU.
Use: 2:1. In weakening: 0:0.
Spectators: 3463.
Shots on goal: 34:27.
Course of the match: 3:0, 3:1, 4:1, 4:3, 5:3, 5:4.
Players of the match: Ondřej Beránek – Martin Zaťovič.
Habal – Huttula, Pulpán (A), Stříteský, Bartejs, Dlapa, Havlín, Rulík – Koblasa, Černoch (C), O. Beránek – Rachůnek (A), Gríger, Kohout – Juusola, Hladonik, Koffer – Redlich, Jiskra, Kofroň .
Čiliak (12th Furch) – Kučeřík, Kundrátek (A), Ščotka, Fajmon, Ďaloga, Hrbas, Němec – Pospíšil, Holík, Horký – Zaťovič (C), Kollár, Flek – Raška I, Zboril, Šalé – Vincour (A) , Süss, Dufek.
Commentary on the match
Domácí Energie entered the second home game in a row actively and opened the scoring very early when, at 4:10, he won the puck in the corner of the Koblas attack zone and sent it to the edge of the goal area, from where Čiliaka beat Ondřej Beránek. The home team’s initial onslaught continued and the West Bohemians forced a power play, which they used after a volley shot from the blue line Petr Koblasa. Subsequently, Brno had to face another numerical advantage of the home team, but this time they managed to defend themselves without conceding a goal. However, Karlovy Vary had a perfect start to the game at 11:07. The home team benefited from a face-off won in the offensive zone, Bartejs fired from the blue line, put the stick of Koblas in the puck and thanks to his run he reached the finish line Ondřej Beránek and with his second hit of the game he sent the home team to a three-goal blockbuster.
The Komety coaches reached for the third conceded goal to change the goalkeepers, and the necessary impulse for the South Moravian team came immediately, when at 11:42 he showed a perfect individual action Kristián Pospíšil and reduced to 1:3 from the point of view of the Brno team. Comet could have returned to the game with a five-minute power play, during which Šalá had the best opportunity to equalize when he received a precise pass from Holík, but the home goalkeeper Habal flashed a brilliant save, who was able to move in time and catch the youngster from Brno. After the first twenty minutes, the home team held a two-goal lead.
Kometa was able to get in touch at the beginning of the second act, when it was given the possibility of another power play, but it did not celebrate its use even for the second time. On the contrary, Bernáek could have increased the home team’s lead when he weakened himself, whose independent escape ended up on the top post of the Brno goal. The Brno forward Dufek also made a promising escape, but at the last moment the returning Gríger made it impossible for him to finish.
However, Dufek soon made an illegal tackle on Jiskra and, just like in the first period of the home Havlín team, the visiting player had to take a shower early. Karlovy Vary finally took advantage of a five-minute overtime when Dufko’s penalty came through again ten seconds before the end of the penalty Ondřej Beránek, and thus completed the hat trick. Energy was significantly closer to a three-point profit after two thirds.
Kometa managed to get back into the game at the start of the third period. First, at 40:55, he raised hope for Brno with his first extra-league hit on a defender Patrick Faimon. In less than two minutes, the Brno team got in touch with a single goal. Šalé was able to find the captain of the Moravians on the edge of the goal area Martin Zaťovič, he leveled the puck on his stick and beat Habal. Brno subsequently had an onslaught and attacked the equalizing goal. Other numerical advantages could have helped them to do so, but the Southern Moravians were not granted it. Karlovy Vary then struck like a bolt from the blue when he ended his individual breakthrough with a precise shot into the corner of Furch’s goal Tomas Redlich.
Brno did not give up, during another Karlovy Vary exclusion, they called off the goalkeeper more than four minutes before the third siren and it paid off. After working with Vincour, the captain celebrated the second hit of the match Martin Zaťovič, which this time headed directly under the crossbar from the center of the pitch. In the end, Kometa tried to equalize the score, called the goalkeeper again, but ultimately did not achieve the desired point gain.
Testimonials from coaches
Vojtěch Šik: We knew how difficult the two weekend games would be. We wanted to score as many points as possible, which we succeeded in and we are happy about it. We had an excellent start to the game and gained a lead. In the second period, we created a few chances, but we failed to enter the final 20 minutes. The opponent pressed us and we were under a lot of pressure. Tomáš Redlich helped us with a goal to make it 5:3 with his individual action. We finally hit on power plays that helped us in this game, which didn’t happen in previous games and sometimes cost us the game. The goals in the power play helped us a lot. We are happy for the backdrop that arrived at the match today.
Jaroslav Modrý: We had a bad start. We thought that Karlovy Vary had managed to enter the match in the last two games and we were preparing for it. Instead we had no movement, conceded a goal and committed two fouls because our feet weren’t moving. We put ourselves in a difficult situation. It wasn’t until the third period when they started to skate more that we held on to the puck. We pushed ourselves back into the match. It was one goal, but a few minutes before the end, we let another goal in, which hurt us. It’s still the same song. We played an excellent match at Sparta, in which we made a few mistakes and it cost us the match. Today we thought it would go away on its own. But the start was terrible and we have to improve on that.
