How to explain the wild course of the match?
There were many chances from both sides, many goals were scored, but the goalkeepers caught many chances. Once in a while there is a crazy game with a lot of goals, but we know that if we want to win, it will mostly be about a goal. Of course, I would like us to score as many goals every game, but in our hockey it is not at all possible.
Where did the crazy match break in your favor?
Certainly at the beginning of the third period, Klépa (Klepiš) mixed them up almost at forty-five and we bounced back by three goals. I think that was the nail because if they score we will be worried again. I think that Klép’s goal turned the whole match in our favor.
Did you play the best third period of the season?
Maybe yes, mainly we tried to play actively. We lost a lot of games by starting to play passively and waiting to see what our opponents would do to us. And with good teams with excellent forwards, fast and skillful on the puck, it’s only a matter of time before they succeed when you start waiting to see what they’re going to do to you. So we tried to be active, go after them so that they didn’t get into breaks and weren’t on the puck so much.
Photo: Radek Petrášek, CTK
Jaromír Jágr from Kladno during the match in Liberec.
After the last loss at Sparta, you used the term anarchy at the disco, do you still have one today?
It was crazy with Sparta… But even now in the second period there were eight minutes where it was up and down. I know people enjoy this, but when you need every point, you don’t want this at all. So I’m happy with how we responded. But one won match after a long time will not move us anywhere extra. We have to collect points in January, when there are an awful lot of games, look only at ourselves and work as hard as we do now.
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Liberec – Kladno 3:3 (23. Smoleňák) Video: Tipsport Extraliga / BPA
You have two goals, one was set up by Jaromír Jágr.
Džegr was yelling at me from the red to play back to him, so I gave it to him and drove in front of the goal. Whenever Džegr has the puck on his stick in the offensive zone, even at his age he can come up with something and it is really difficult to take the puck from him and read what he wants to do from the position of the defending player. He had more of those events there.
He played for the third time in the season, what does he do to improve the team’s performance the most?
In the offensive zone, when he has the puck, the only way to take it away from him is to maybe double him. Of course the players want to go after him, they probably want to show off, which is completely normal, and he is strong in that the players go after him and the guys have more space with him on the ice. He is valuable in that and we are glad that he is mainly healthy and that he is playing.
Is he the loudest on the ice?
He will have his say on it. Who else should shout but him… We are trying to use the things he is good at and in Liberec he was seen in a lot of situations in the attacking zone.
Even in Liberec, he impressed before the match by warming up with a rubber hook on the guardrail. How often does he do this before a duel now?
I always see him taking some propriety with him, that’s his stuff, something suits everyone. And it obviously works for him when he plays. I won’t do it, but it works for him. So fine.
At the end, you drove yourself to the goal, what was missing from the hat-trick?
I think I already had it, but I guess he downloaded me from Youtube… (laughs) It’s a shame, Tony (Melka) gave it to me there. But it wasn’t that important anymore. If it was by a goal, or if we were losing, I would probably be pissed. I certainly don’t care, but then again, it’s certainly not something I should break down over. The performance was good from everyone and it was nice.
Even Boleslav is winning behind you, do you look after yourself a lot?
We can only look at ourselves, because 100% the teams will be strengthening in January, everyone will try to figure out what they can to get into the top 12, or even the top four. We can’t watch it at all. We have to win the very important matches that await us and keep looking ahead, because we don’t want to finish in March or wait forty days for a crazy playoff. We have to look after each other. And let Bolka do what he wants.
2023-12-28 21:37:22
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