(7) Slavia Praha vs (10) Energie Karlovy Vary:
Battling for position in front of the net will only get harder in the playoffs. Photo: Pavel Vrtiška, hc-slavia.cz. |
The teams split the four meetings this season, with each team winning once at home and once on the road. In their last meeting, on January 30, Karlovy Vary tied the game late and won on home ice in a shootout. We'll say the teams again split the first four before Slavia takes the rubber match at home. Slavia in five.
(8) Benzina Litvínov vs (9) Plzeň 1929:
Martin Straka battles in front of the Litvínov goal, December 12. Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz. |
Does that mean it will be a sweep? Well, Litvínov was headed in the wrong direction in mid January and also looked to be in tough to make the playoffs, but made a coaching change and turned things around, going 7-0-1-2 in their last 10. The turnaround began with a crucial 1-0 win over Plzeň on January 23.
We'll say that the teams split the first two games before the Indians finish off the series at home. Plzeň in four.
Both series play their first two games on Wednesday and Thursday, then change venues for games Saturday and Sunday, if necessary. A decisive fifth game, if necessary, would be played next Tuesday, March 1. So far, Wednesday's first game between Litvinov and Plzen is the only game scheduled to be televised on ČT4. However, as in the regular season, most games will be available online at tv.hokej.cz. It should be noted that during the season Slavia home games were unavailable on that platform, so they will likely continue to be unavailable in the playoffs.
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