It was the Vítkovice goalie’s save in the 45th minute when the score was 1:0 for the home crowd that was discussed the most when going home. And what exactly were they talking about? About the fact that the visiting forward Jakub Rychlovský first tricked the home goalkeeper with a loop very well, but Stezka was able to turn incredibly quickly in the goal area and bounce the puck away from the practically uncovered goal at that moment.
“The opponent played the event nicely. At first I thought he was going to shoot as a righty and I wanted to jump in there. But then I saw that he stops his movement and goes into a loop. So I just tried to turn to the other side,” Stezka described the key moment of the 39th round of the match.
Photo: Vladimír Pryček, CTK
From the left, Adam Najman from Liberec, Vítkovice goalkeeper Aleš Stezka and Juraj Mikuš from Vítkovice.Photo: Vladimir PrycekCTK
“It was a moment that could have brought Liberec back into the match and Aleš made a fantastic save,” praised the work of Stezky’s coach Vítkovic Miloš Holaň. “He was already practically outside the goal and Rychlovské probably only had to lift the puck and he would have been in the goal. But he didn’t wrap it up, he fought until the last moment and he deserved to win,” Holaň added.
“I’m trying to catch the puck in any way, even if it looks like I can’t. I just don’t want to give anything up. I was very lucky, but then again, if I hadn’t gone towards him, it probably wouldn’t have turned out that way,” explained the goalkeeper from Vítkovice, who immediately received appreciative pats on the equipment from his teammates.
“The guys laughed, they said it was great. It’s nice to hear such words, but I try not to notice it at the time, so as not to succumb to it. There were still more than ten minutes to go and I needed to fully concentrate on my performance. It’s great to pull off such a save or score a clean sheet, but above all we wanted to make up for the last home game we lost against Kladno,” explained Stezka.
Photo: Vladimír Pryček, CTK
From the left, Petr Fridrich from Vítkovice looks for the puck in front of Liberec goalkeeper Petr Kváča.Photo: Vladimir PrycekCTK
The guests did not use their best chance in the game and were punished for it. Three minutes later, Marek Kalus shot from a corner kick, Jakub Kotala hit the puck, and Petr Kváča in the Liberec goal could only shrug his shoulders helplessly after conceding the second goal.
“We were close to equalizing and that moment could have given us a chance to score points in Ostrava, but we don’t blame Kub (Rychlovský). He did it well, but Stezka pulled off a miraculous save that we may not see again this season,” said Liberec assistant Jiří Kudrna.
