30/8/2023 | Lucie Citterbart, Daniel Ryl
6, Wednesday 30 August 2023, Fortuna Sports Hall
Sparta – polar bears Berlin SPA – ICE
Sparta: Kovář – Kempný, Mozík, Krejčík, Mikliš, Moravčík “A”, Krutil, Němeček – Forman, Sobotka, Řepík – Kousla, Horák “A”, Kestner – Vitouch, Lajunen “C”, Hauser – Fábry, Najman, Konečný
Polar Bears Berlin: Stettmer – Wissmann “C”, Kaiser, Filkenstein, Melchiori, Bettahar, Geibel, Nowak, Mik – Pföderl, Byron, Noebels “A” – Ronning, Boychuk “A”, Tiffels – Cormier, Eder, Veilleux – Bergmann, Hoerdler, Heim
Goals and assists: 4. Kempný (Sobotka), 7. Kestner (Kousal), 25. Kousal (Hauser, Krejčík), 39. Řepík (Sobotka) – 41. Byron (Pfoederl, Melchiori). Referee: Čáp, Šindel – Thuma, Lhotský. Exclusion: 5:9. Usage: 3:0. Underweight: 0:0. Spectators: 3,077. Course of the match: 4:0, 4:1.
The winning streak continues, we beat the German Eisbären Berlin even in the home rematch! We accompanied a great performance with two goals in the first and second period, and although the guests reduced the score and tried to provoke unnecessary interventions at the end of the game, our team coped with the situation from a psychological point of view and, with the great Jakub Kovář behind them, walked on for the sixth victory in the preparation.
Comment
We dominated the opening third of the Prague rematch. The match was started by Michal Řepík’s chance, a few seconds later Miroslav Forman scored an unsuccessful shot. In the second minute, Roman Horák also showed himself, who tried to shoot Stettmer with a shot from a sharp angle. The first goal was offered only by the first power play, in which Michal Kempny took advantage of Sobotka’s pass and skilfully sent the puck past Stettmer. A few seconds after the throw-in, the Spartans got another great chance, unfortunately they only hit the post!
Three minutes later, in the second power play, we fought our way into the attacking third, and after a pass from Pavel Kousal, our new foreign signing Josh Kestne made his way through the middle circle.r. His shot bounced off the crossbar of the opponent’s goal for Stettmer. The Spartans did not allow themselves to be weakened and did not allow their opponent from Germany to reduce. Even in the second half of the third, Michal Moravčík, or defenders Michal Kempný or Ondřej Mikliš, got a lot of chances. But Stettmer caught their attempts.
The second period offered us the same number of goals as the previous one. Moments after the throw-in, the Berliners showed up, and after a long time checked Jakub Kovář, but did not reduce the loss. After a few tens of seconds, Roman Horák took charge of the puck again, but his shot narrowly missed the goal. The Spartans took advantage of Blaine Byron’s foul and went on the attack – and it resulted in another goal! Petr Hauser took hold of the puck and fired at Jonas Stettmer, he was able to knock down his puck, but was unable to guard the goalpost Pavel Kousal.
Roman Horák was close to the fourth goal, but his run from the area in front of the goal was stopped by the Eisbären goalkeeper on the goal line, and the joy of the fans was premature. The youngest player of the team, Andrej Fábry, immediately got a chance, who tried to hit the visitors’ goalkeeper, unfortunately unsuccessfully. Michael Krutil and Jakub Konečný also tried unsuccessfully to end the event. The couple Vladimír Sobotka and Michal Repík however, she succeeded when the first after the throw-in immediately charged her partner for a precise shot from her knees.
The beginning of the final third of the return match was a little more cheerful for the opponents, when they managed to reduce the lead To Blaine Byron. But this third was somewhat more intense than the previous two. Personal battles and emotions increased on the ice. The game was briefly interrupted after the goal’s author ran into goalkeeper Jakub Kovář, who left his elbow sticking out on impact. However, karma manifested itself, because while the Spartan goalkeeper was only slightly concussed, the opponent had to go to the cabin for stitches.
Immediately, a scuffle broke out on the ice, which was quickly stopped by the referees. Michal Kempný, Ondřej Mikliš and Jakub Konečný still had chances for the fifth goal, but their shots went wide. Despite the frustration of the opponent, our team did not allow themselves to be provoked and scored their sixth win in a row.
