Eurohockey.com's Petr Polák reviewed the final day of the Czech Extraliga regular season, Sunday. There was no suspense as to which team would finish first overall and win the Presidents' Trophy, but the two-horse scoring race went right down to the wire.
The history of the Presidents' Trophy in the Czech Extraliga is short. It was established in 2009-10 and the first team awarded the trophy was Plzeň 1929. One year later it was Oceláři Třinec who grabbed it; the team which also got the cup for the playoff champion. This season, the award goes to Sparta Praha. Sparta demonstrated the best regular season record (27-8-10-7) and finished in first place with 107 points, 8 ahead of second-place Plzeň.
Sparta Praha 2 - Slavia Praha 3 (SO)
It should have been a big-style celebration for Sparta. Although they knew they couldn't lose their hold on first place, they still wanted to lift the Presidents' Trophy after a victory over their biggest rival, Slavia. But although Sparta was in the lead until the 58th minute, Slavia tied the score and won the game in the shootout.
Brno 4 - Zlín 1
Zlín owned the chance to grab the last direct ticket to the quarterfinals in its hands before the game in Brno. Zlín would have finished no worse than sixth if the team earned any point. But if you give up two shorthanded goals during the first ten minutes of play, your chances of victory are much slimmer. With the victory, Brno earned eighth place and will start the preliminary round in their home arena. Zlín finishes seventh and has to fight for the quarterfinals in the best-of-five preliminary round.
Vítkovice 5 - Třinec 3
With Brno's victory over Zlín, Vítkovice earned an opportunity to advance to the quarterfinals directly instead of Zlín, but they had to defeat Třinec. After only 23 seconds of play, the first shot of the game ended up in Třinec's net. By the sixth minute it was 2-0, and the home fans started to think about an easy game. But Třinec made it 2-1 within 30 seconds and tied the score at three in the second period. The tie-breaking goal in this thriller came eleven minutes before the last horn from the stick of 39-year-old veteran Viktor Ujčík, and then in the last minute Jiří Burger scored an empty-net goal to make it 5-3.
České Budějovice 2 - Kladno 1
Because Zlín lost the game in Brno, Kladno had a chance for a direct advancement to the quarterfinals as well as Vítkovice, but only if they won and Vítkovice lost to Třinec. Kladno blew a 1-0 third period lead and lost 2-1, thereby not having to watch the result of Vítkovice. With their fate alread decided before Sunday’s victory, České Budějovice goes to the quarterfinals directly. Kladno will fight in the preliminary round.
Pardubice 8 - Litvínov 2
Pardubice said goodbye to the regular season with a huge victory over Litvínov. Jan Kolář scored 4 points (3+1) and was the biggest star of the day. Pardubice climbed to third place and will play against Vítkovice in the quarterfinals, while Litvínov goes to the playout.
KarlovyVary 4 - Mladá Boleslav 2
This was the only game of the round in which neither team had a chance to make the playoffs. Both Karlovy Vary and Mladá Boleslav will participate in the playout and, because of that, this was a very important result in terms of the relegation round. The relegation round against the 1.liga winner will be played by the worst team in the league standings after the playout. At the moment, Mladá Boleslav is in that position.
Liberec 5 - Plzeň 3
Both teams, Liberec and Plzeň, knew where they would finish, so the most interesting question of the game was who would earn the trophy for winning the 2011-12 league scoring title. Would it be Petr Nedvěd of Liberec or Radek Duda of Plzeň? Both Nedvěd and Duda recorded one point, so the 2011-12 scoring champion of the Czech Extraliga regular season is Nedvěd with 61 points (24+37). Duda finished second with 59 (24+35).
The history of the Presidents' Trophy in the Czech Extraliga is short. It was established in 2009-10 and the first team awarded the trophy was Plzeň 1929. One year later it was Oceláři Třinec who grabbed it; the team which also got the cup for the playoff champion. This season, the award goes to Sparta Praha. Sparta demonstrated the best regular season record (27-8-10-7) and finished in first place with 107 points, 8 ahead of second-place Plzeň.
Jan Beneš, hcsparta.cz |
Sparta Praha 2 - Slavia Praha 3 (SO)
It should have been a big-style celebration for Sparta. Although they knew they couldn't lose their hold on first place, they still wanted to lift the Presidents' Trophy after a victory over their biggest rival, Slavia. But although Sparta was in the lead until the 58th minute, Slavia tied the score and won the game in the shootout.
Brno 4 - Zlín 1
Zlín owned the chance to grab the last direct ticket to the quarterfinals in its hands before the game in Brno. Zlín would have finished no worse than sixth if the team earned any point. But if you give up two shorthanded goals during the first ten minutes of play, your chances of victory are much slimmer. With the victory, Brno earned eighth place and will start the preliminary round in their home arena. Zlín finishes seventh and has to fight for the quarterfinals in the best-of-five preliminary round.
Vítkovice 5 - Třinec 3
With Brno's victory over Zlín, Vítkovice earned an opportunity to advance to the quarterfinals directly instead of Zlín, but they had to defeat Třinec. After only 23 seconds of play, the first shot of the game ended up in Třinec's net. By the sixth minute it was 2-0, and the home fans started to think about an easy game. But Třinec made it 2-1 within 30 seconds and tied the score at three in the second period. The tie-breaking goal in this thriller came eleven minutes before the last horn from the stick of 39-year-old veteran Viktor Ujčík, and then in the last minute Jiří Burger scored an empty-net goal to make it 5-3.
České Budějovice 2 - Kladno 1
Because Zlín lost the game in Brno, Kladno had a chance for a direct advancement to the quarterfinals as well as Vítkovice, but only if they won and Vítkovice lost to Třinec. Kladno blew a 1-0 third period lead and lost 2-1, thereby not having to watch the result of Vítkovice. With their fate alread decided before Sunday’s victory, České Budějovice goes to the quarterfinals directly. Kladno will fight in the preliminary round.
Pardubice 8 - Litvínov 2
Pardubice said goodbye to the regular season with a huge victory over Litvínov. Jan Kolář scored 4 points (3+1) and was the biggest star of the day. Pardubice climbed to third place and will play against Vítkovice in the quarterfinals, while Litvínov goes to the playout.
KarlovyVary 4 - Mladá Boleslav 2
This was the only game of the round in which neither team had a chance to make the playoffs. Both Karlovy Vary and Mladá Boleslav will participate in the playout and, because of that, this was a very important result in terms of the relegation round. The relegation round against the 1.liga winner will be played by the worst team in the league standings after the playout. At the moment, Mladá Boleslav is in that position.
Liberec 5 - Plzeň 3
Both teams, Liberec and Plzeň, knew where they would finish, so the most interesting question of the game was who would earn the trophy for winning the 2011-12 league scoring title. Would it be Petr Nedvěd of Liberec or Radek Duda of Plzeň? Both Nedvěd and Duda recorded one point, so the 2011-12 scoring champion of the Czech Extraliga regular season is Nedvěd with 61 points (24+37). Duda finished second with 59 (24+35).
Scoring champion Petr Nedvěd (top left) celebrates the win over Plzeň with his teammates. Photo: Bořivoj Černý/FOTOFAK. |
Final Standings
# | Club | G | W | OW | OL | L | GF:GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | HC Sparta Praha | 52 | 27 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 163:109 | 107 | |
2 | HC Plzeň 1929 | 52 | 26 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 181:146 | 99 | |
3 | HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice | 52 | 23 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 175:136 | 86 | |
4 | Bílí Tygři Liberec | 52 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 17 | 145:140 | 84 | |
5 | HC Mountfield České Budějovice | 52 | 23 | 5 | 4 | 20 | 129:127 | 83 | |
6 | HC Vítkovice Steel | 52 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 22 | 143:150 | 77 | |
7 | PSG Zlín | 52 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 107:125 | 76 | |
8 | HC Kometa Brno | 52 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 21 | 142:137 | 75 | |
9 | Rytiři Kladno | 52 | 19 | 5 | 7 | 21 | 129:140 | 74 | |
10 | HC Oceláři Třinec | 52 | 19 | 4 | 8 | 21 | 146:143 | 73 | |
11 | HC Energie Karlovy Vary | 52 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 137:154 | 67 | |
12 | HC Slavia Praha | 52 | 15 | 7 | 7 | 23 | 140:158 | 66 | |
13 | HC Verva Litvínov | 52 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 25 | 138:171 | 64 | |
14 | BK Mladá Boleslav | 52 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 27 | 120:159 | 61 |
Note: The top six teams advance directly to the quarterfinals, while teams 7 through 10 play off for the other two quarterfinal berths.
Scoring Leaders
# | Player | Pos | Team | GP | G | A | P | PIM | +/- |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Petr Nedvěd | F | Bílí Tygři Liberec | 48 | 24 | 36 | 60 | 61 | 8 |
2. | Radek Duda | RW | HC Plzeň 1929 | 51 | 24 | 34 | 58 | 84 | 19 |
3. | Petr Ton | RW | HC Sparta Praha | 51 | 25 | 31 | 56 | 22 | 22 |
4. | Jiří Burger | C | HC Vítkovice Steel | 50 | 21 | 32 | 53 | 37 | 5 |
5. | Jan Kovář | F | HC Plzeň 1929 | 51 | 17 | 32 | 49 | 50 | 15 |
6. | Petr Koukal | F | HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice | 50 | 17 | 31 | 48 | 46 | 13 |
7. | Jan Kolář | F | HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice | 51 | 23 | 24 | 47 | 32 | 21 |
8. | Petr Tenkrát | RW | HC Sparta Praha | 51 | 22 | 25 | 47 | 32 | 2 |
9. | Viktor Hübl | C | HC Verva Litvínov | 48 | 20 | 27 | 47 | 52 | 8 |
10. | Martin Straka | C | HC Plzeň 1929 | 51 | 17 | 30 | 47 | 20 | 9 |
Show all stats for season 2011-12 Statistics courtesy Eurohockey.com. |
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