August hockey heats up

Although I'm away from the Czech Republic for the month of August, the world of hockey continues on. Perhaps the most significant thing I've missed in my absence is the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. In 2011, I attended every game played in Břeclav, covering it for Czech Hockey Report as well as Eurohockey.com.

In 2012, Eurohockey was on hand again, with Jon Rowson, Henrik Lundqvist (not the goalie) and Romon Solovyev doing a good job of providing coverage. For those who missed it, Canada won the tournament for the fifth straight year, defeating Finland 4-0 in the final. The Czech Republic, who feared a lack of offense heading in, made it to the semifinal where they fell 2-1 to Sweden on a late goal.

However, the Ivan Hlinka was not the only hockey event going on in Moravia this weekend. The Women's Summer Camp finished up in Brumov-Bylnice, with Tyler Bilton providing coverage. Slavia Praha was the Czech representative at the seven-team event, finishing second by taking 13 of a possible 18 points. Slavia's only regulation loss was to Russian club HC Tornado, who blew away everybody they faced, outscoring their opponents 32-1 over the course of the tournament.

Kverka takes the opening faceoff vs Norway. mhl.khl.ru

While two international tournaments finished on Saturday, another began. For the second straight year, HC Karlovy Vary is representing the Czech Republic at the World Junior Club Cup in Omsk, Russia. They finished second place last year and are off to a good start in 2012, beating the Norway U20 national team 3-1 in the opening game. KV got two first period goals from Tomáš Harkabus and another in the first minute of the second from captain Jaromír Kverka, while Vladislav Habal stopped 19 of 20 Norwegian shots.

"Today it was a very important game that we did not want to lose, we wanted to gain confidence, which we finally did," Kverka told the MHL website. "Norway played aggressive hockey and at the beginning we had problems, but then we started playing smarter and we won."

Things should only get more difficult from this point. After playing the United States Hockey League's Waterloo Black Hawks on Sunday (16:00 MSK, 14:00 CET, 7am CT), they play two MHL teams: the host Omsk Hawks (Tuesday) and Dinamo-Shinnik Bobrusk (Wednesday). Karlovy Vary will be a member of this league too in the upcoming season.

Tournament semifinals will be played Saturday and the final on Sunday.

National Youth Academy Project

The problems that the Czech Republic has had developing young players in recent years has been well documented on this site and elsewhere. IIHF.com's Jooeri Loonen examines the steps that the Czech Ice Hockey Association is taking to reverse that trend.

When Slavomir Lener speaks, hockey leaders in the Czech Republic listen. The veteran coach and Czech Ice Hockey Association coach supervisor has been very vocal in the past few years about the state of hockey in his home country, and it seems that Czech hockey is beginning to listen.

Michael Frolík (left) and Ondřej Pavelec are two young Czechs
that have bucked the trend and found success in the NHL and
internationally. Photo: Matthew Manor, HHOF-IIHF images.

In recent years Czech hockey has seen Extraliga teams focusing more on short-term success on the ice, mainly due to financial incentives. Operating on tighter budgets, there was no time for teams to have developmental seasons in which to build for the future.

The effects have been disastrous for Czech hockey. Hampered by a lack of ice time, juniors left for the North American junior leagues where they often faded among their American and Canadian peers before returning home disillusioned.

The Czech Republic had 21 players drafted in 2004, but the number sank to just three in 2009. The national U18 and U20 teams, previously accustomed to competing for medals, instead were fighting to avoid relegation from the top levels.

In order to bring this slide to a halt, the Czech Ice Hockey Association (ČSLH) had to come up with something to change the mentality of the clubs. As money and prestige matter, they decided to reward teams that took good care of their development centres. Nine clubs took on the challenge to be rated by the ČSLH and get compensated for their good efforts. In the end six teams passed the tests sufficiently and were officially given a star academy accreditation.

The various criteria needed for accreditation crossed all aspects of junior development. The ČSLH was not only looking into the on-ice facilities but also rating what the various clubs offer their juniors in terms of education and medical support, realizing that not every player can become a pro. Having players take classes next to their hockey activities ensures they will not be sidelined on the job market if they don’t make it to the pro ranks following their junior careers.

Other criteria to which the clubs were measured to had to do with the number of licensed youth coaches and the amount of international contacts that gave juniors the opportunity to play teams abroad.

In return for their investment, the association offers the teams a number of benefits. Not only will they receive financial compensation but they can also count on the experience of foreign coaches and their junior teams being protected against relegation.

“It offers these teams an opportunity to work with juniors on a long term strategy,” Lener said. “They will not have to worry about short term results.”

“Each team will get three coaches paid and offered by the ČSLH. Their impact will be immediate. It is important to harmonise training methods and style of play within the whole organization from the youngest juniors to the A-team.”

Two teams rated a near perfect score on all areas: HC Karlovy Vary and Bílí Tygři Liberec. Four others, HC Pardubice, Sparta Praha, HC Vítkovice and Czech second-tier team KLH Chomutov managed to be rated at least the minimum of 80%.

“All teams put in a lot of effort in order to be awarded,” ČSLH chairman Tomáš Král said. “Even the three teams that did not make the mark this time are in excellent condition to obtain one next season. For example, second tier Dukla Jihlava did not have enough qualified coaches but they were fine in most other aspects.”

Former Czech 1994 Olympian Pavol Geffert is the head of Sparta Praha’s junior department and also coaches a junior team himself. It is no surprise he’s delighted that his team has been recognized.

“Even before this project saw life, we complied with some of the new standards,” he said. “As soon as we could apply, the whole organization, ranging from team leader Petr Briža to all coaches, stood behind participating in the project. Being awarded not just looks good on paper but also gives us an edge to parents of young players who are looking for the best place to send their children to. They know the kids will be given good care at Sparta Praha.”

One of the areas Sparta Praha had to invest in was upgrading locker room facilities for their youth teams. It is required that these meet the same standards as those of the first team and therefore the team’s academy building will see a complete makeover this summer.

Geffert: “We’ll be setting up state-of-the-art facilities including a dormitory using smart cards. Also, a new junior team will be created that will play in the second-tier junior level. This should ensure we don’t lose the players that do not receive a lot of ice time in our top junior team and used to be surplus to requirement.”

The earlier mentioned educational part of the project is vital, according to Geffert. His team made arrangements with schools so the school schedule can be combined with the practice schedule on ice.

“This is a win-win situation as the player does not have to miss classes while on the other end we get a motivated player not having to worry about exams when practicing.”

The Sparta Praha youth chief admits his team struggled in the past collaborating with school directors, meaning players either missed practices or classes.

“In every top hockey nation such collaborations exist but in the Czech Republic it was somewhat neglected over the years. I am not in favour of the stereotype thinking that the less intelligent a person is, the better hockey player he has become. I even think the opposite is true.”

All six award-winning teams will get together frequently to share experiences and discuss their progress. For the Czech Ice Hockey Association this project will serve as one of the primary measures geared to stop the talent slide.

“The ČSLH Academy will have to become an appealing brand,” said Král. “It’s the first step for us to prevent 15 and 16 year old players to move abroad, by offering them a solid alternative at home.”

The 2011 NHL Entry Draft saw 10 Czech players drafted, a definite improvement over the previous years. Time will tell whether the increased number of Czech players drafted in 2011 was an exception, or just the beginning of a steady progress to numbers that both Czech hockey and the rest of the hockey world is used to.

Red Army beats KV to win WJCC

Krasnaya Armiya Moscow, the junior club of CSKA, won the first ever World Junior Club Championship on Saturday in Omsk, Russia. They defeated Energie Karlovy Vary 7-2 in the final game before a sell-out crowd of 9,500. 

The opening faceoff of the final game before a full house in Omsk.
Photo: Jiří Ryžuka, hokejkv.cz.

After surrendering only 1 goal in its first three games, KV was shelled for 3 in the first period and trailed 5-0 by the time the game was 25 minutes old. In a fairly balanced attack, the Russian club was led by 2 goals and 1 assist from Mikhail Plotnikov, who was the player of the game.

"This was the first time in my life I've seen so many people in the stands. It's an incredible feeling. Such adrenaline. I had never experienced such feelings. When you score, it's just an explosion of emotions!" About the game, he said, "We knew nothing about the Czechs. We had never even seen them, at the hotel or on the ice. And we could have scored more than seven goals. It's too bad that I couldn't complete the hat-trick."

At the team's website, Karlovy Vary's Jiří Ryžuka speculated that their opponent "is maybe the strongest junior club in Europe. It would certainly be an interesting confrontation to see them play the winners of the North American Memorial Cup, the St. John's Sea Dogs."

Indeed, that's the kind of match-up that was hoped for when the tournament was organized. But the calibre of the North American teams sent to compete was a disappointment. The Canadian representative came from the Alberta Junior Hockey League, which is on the second tier of Canadian junior hockey, and the American representative was an all-star team created from the third-tier Eastern Junior Hockey League.

Defending champions of the MHL, the Red Army team were the favourites to win, but they started slowly. They beat Tatranskí Vlci, the junior club of the KHL's Lev Poprad, 4-3 in their first game and then were shut out 2-0 by HK Riga. In their last game of the group stage, they faced a must-win game against the EJHL Selects and blew them out 9-1.

Karlovy Vary entered the final as the only unbeaten team in the tournament. They were a perfect 3-0 in the group stage, surrendering only 1 goal in the process. Goaltender Vladislav Habal posted a pair of shutouts against Mälmo and Shinnik, 4-0 and 1-0, before Fort McMurray managed a goal against back-up Denis Rauscher in the third game, which finished 4-1.

Despite making the finals, no player from Karlovy Vary recorded more than 3 points. Jaromír Kverka scored 3 goals, including 1 in the final game. Martin Funk scored Energie's other goal in the final game.

Two players from Riga finished atop tournament scoring with 8 points in three games. Miks Indrašis recorded 5 goals and 3 assists, while linemate Robert Bukarts scored 4 goals and 4 assists. Also recording 8 points was  Also from Riga, Kristers Gudlevskis was named the tournament's top goaltender. The best defenceman and forwards were both from CSKA: Andrei Sergeev and Roman Lyubimov.

Karlovy Vary's junior squad begins its Junior Extraliga schedule on September 8 at home to Mladá Boleslav.

Karlovy Vary-CSKA in WJCC final

The junior clubs of Energie Karlovy Vary and CSKA Moscow will take to the ice at Omsk Arena on Saturday to play for the first ever World Junior Club Championship.

Tempers flared late in the Karlovy Vary (white)-Fort McMurray
(blue) encounter. Photo: Jiří Ryžuk, hokejkv.cz.

Karlovy Vary was a perfect 3-0 in the group stage, outscoring its opponents 9-1. The only goal they surrendered was in the first period of the third game, against Canada's Fort McMurray Oil Barons. KV had already clinched a spot in the final and started diminutive backup Dennis Rauscher in goal, who stopped 19 of 20 shots in the game. In the final two periods, Energie came back to score 4 unanswered goals and win the game 4-1.

"The fact that we've played three games and heard our anthem played three times, we're very happy," Jiří Ryžuk, head of Energie's youth program, wrote on the club's website. "We would like to have it played and sang again after tomorrow's final."

Energie's offence has been fairly balanced so far in the tournament, with no player recording more than 2 points. Jaromír Kverka is the only player to score 2 goals.

As for CSKA, they opened the tournament with a 4-3 victory against Slovakia's Tatranskí Vlci, the junior club of Lev Poprad, and then lost 2-0 to HK Riga, which set up a must-win game on Friday against the EJHL Selects. The Red Army squad made short work of them, winning 9-1 to nail down a berth in the final.

Vladislav Habal will return to the Karlovy Vary net for the final game. He hasn't surrendered a goal yet through two games in the tournament, but will be hard-pressed to repeat that performance against a team as offensively talented as the Red Army.

Speaking of his opponent, Ryžuk said, "The team we're going up against will be the home favourite, winner of the MHL in 2011-12."

The final game is expected to draw a sellout crowd of up to 10,000 to Omsk Arena. This arena will also be the primary venue for the 2013 World Junior Championships and the enthusiasm shown this week for junior hockey is doubtlessly encouraging to organizers of that event.

The game starts at 20:00 in Omsk, 15:00 CET. It will be televised live on Russian sports channel Rossiya 2, with online commentary available in Russian at mhl.khl.ru.

KV will play in World Junior Club Cup final

HC Energie Karlovy Vary U20 has posted shutout victories in each of its first two games at the inaugural World Junior Club Cup in Omsk, Russia, and is now assured a spot in the tournament's championship game on Saturday.

Though Dynamo-Shinnik wasn't able to get any pucks past
Vladislav Habal on Wednesday, they did manage to put a player
into the net. Photo: mhl.khl.ru.

Vladislav Habal made 15 saves on Tuesday in a 4-0 win over the Malmö RedHawks from Sweden, and then stopped all 23 he faced on Wednesday in a 1-0 win over Dynamo-Shinnik from Belarus. Last season, Habal led the Junior Extraliga in goals-against average (1.97) and shutouts (5) and led KV to the league finals.

Petr Koblasa got things going against Malmö just 26 seconds in, with Adam Shusser and Jaromír Kverka adding to the lead before the first period was out. Marek Švec added the fourth goal early in the second to round out the scoring. Against Shinnik, Martin Funk scored the lone goal midway through the first period.

After an day off Thursday, they will play their final game of the group stage on Friday against the tournament's Canadian representative, the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. The Barons are 0-2, having fallen to both teams that Energie has already beaten. By virtue of this, the best that either Malmö or Shinnik can do is tie Energie. Having beaten both teams, the Czech team would advance on the head-to-head tiebreaker.

In the opposite group, the picture isn't quite as clear. The American representative, a team of Eastern Junior Hockey League All-Stars, is 2-0 like Karlovy Vary. Unlike KV, however, their opponent on Friday, CSKA Moscow U20, is 1-1. Therefore, if the EJHL Selects picks up any points in the game, either by winning in regulation or taking the game to overtime, they will advance to Saturday's final. However, if CSKA wins in regulation, they will be KV's opponents.

Friday's game between Karlovy Vary and Fort McMurray begins at 19:00 local time, 14:00 CET and 6am MT. Live audio play-by-play is available at ustream.tv/channel/MOB-Hockey. Saturday's final game will begin at 20:00 local, 15:00 CET, 9am ET. For those who can read Russian, live online commentary can be seen for all games at mhl.khl.ru/.

Znojmo wins national junior championship

Orli Znojmo is the champion of the Czech Junior Extraliga, having beaten Energie Karlovy Vary, two games to one, in the final series.

Both teams were a bit of a surprise to make it this far, defeating teams that finished higher than them in the regular season in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. Seventh-seeded Karlovy Vary swept both second-seeded Vítkovice and top-seeded Sparta Praha, while fifth-seeded Znojmo edged fourth-seeded Zlín and third-seeded Slavia Praha, each in three games. In the best-of-three final, the home team won each game.

Game 1 was played in Karlovy Vary on Sunday with the home side winning it's fifth consecutive playoff game, 7-3, before an enthusiastic crowd of 1,870. Tomáš Klíma scored 2 goals and added 2 assists, while Vladislav Habal turned away 31 of 34 shots. At the other end, Ondřej Kacetl was beaten on 7 of 24 shots.

Znojmo took to its home ice on Tuesday night needing a win to prolong the series, and they did so in a big way. Tomáš Rachůnek opened the scoring when he scored on a first-period penalty shot, and that opened the floodgates to a convincing 8-0 victory. Leading the charge were David Bartoš and Richard Jarůšek with 4 points each and Tomáš Komínek with 3. Kacetl rebounded from a shaky first game to post a 21-save shutout.

Photo: Rostislav Pfeffer, www.reklamafoto.cz.

In a decisive third game on Wednesday night, Znojmo continued its dominance by jumping out to a 3-0 first-period lead. As the contest started to become out of reach in the second, frustration began to show on the side of Karlovy Vary, leading way to a wild melée late in the period. Two players for Karlovy Vary and one for Znojmo were kicked out for fighting. By the third period, the outcome was clear and the home crowd of 1,914 began celebrating. The final score was 7-2, and the Znojmo players poured over the boards as the game ended.

"I don't know. We try to play attacking hockey," said Znojmo captain Jan Tojan about the barrage of goals, 27 in three games, in the final series. "Really, the superb fans here in Znojmo supported us and drove us forward. And because of that it challenged us to score."

Of the nine players in the Junior Extraliga playoffs to score 7 or more points, seven were Znojmo players. Leading the way were Komínek with 12 points and Rachůnak with 10. Czech World Junior defenceman Martin Pláněk led all rearguards with 8 points in 8 games.

Znojmo-Karlovy Vary in Jr Extraliga finals

After dropping the first games of their best-of-three series on the road, both Prague-based teams in the Junior Extraliga semifinals needed to sweep two games at home to advance to the finals. Neither was successful.

Tomáš Klíma was the hero for Karlovy Vary in their Junior
Extraliga semifinal versus Sparta. Photo: Jan Beneš,
www.sporting-photo.com.

On Wednesday, Energie Karlovy Vary went into Tesla Arena and defeated Sparta Praha 3-2 in a shootout, knocking out the league's first-overall team in the regular season. After scoring twice in game 1, Karlovy Vary's Tomáš Klíma added 2 more goals in game 2, including the shootout winner, and an assist. 20-year-old Slovak-native Klíma played most of the year in the professional Extraliga and, after the team lost to Slavia in the first round of the playoffs, joined the junior team for its playoff run.

On Thursday, Orli Znojmo had its first chance to join Karlovy Vary in the finals, but met a Slavia Praha team firing on all cylinders. Michal Hellar scored twice as Slavia built up a 5-0 lead midway through the game before Znojmo battled back with a pair of scores to make it a 5-2 final. Znojmo was very upset with the work of referee Štěpán Souček, who awarded Slavia with 8 power-plays compared to 3 for Znojmo, and felt there were several infractions not called against Slavia. In the final minute of play, coach Martin Stloukal was ejected from the game.

In Friday's rubber match, Slavia built up a 2-1 lead halfway through the first period, but after that Znojmo played a very sound defensive game, surrendering very few quality scoring chances, even while penalty killing. Adam Havlík and Richard Jarůšek scored in the second period, and they held on the rest of the way.

Both games at Eden were well-attended by a large contingent of Znojmo supporters, who even outnumbered the Slavia fans on Friday, likely due to the early start time and the fact that most Slavia fans were more concerned with the Extraliga playoff game in the evening.

The Junior Extraliga finals start on Sunday in Karlovy Vary at 17:30. The series then shifts to Znojmo for games Tuesday and, if necessary, Wednesday.

Prague junior teams face elimination at home

Sparta Praha and Slavia Praha, both the higher-ranked teams in their best-of-three Junior Extraliga semifinal series, each dropped the first games on the road, and now must sweep at home to advance to the finals.

Karlovy Vary's Vladislav Habal making one of 47 saves on
Tuesday against Sparta. Photo: Jan Čech, Karlovarský deník.

Both first games were played on Tuesday. In Karlovy Vary, the Engergie junior team beat Sparta 3-2 in overtime, when Tomáš Klíma scored his second goal of the game. As he has done the entire season, goaltender Vladislav Habal was the team's saviour, stopping 47 of 49 shots. Meanwhile, in Znojmo, the hometown Eagles beat Slavia 5-2 before an enthusiastic gathering of 817 fans. Orli was totally dominant in the game, outshooting the visitors 54-26.

Both Prague teams will now try to get back on track at home.

Sparta and Karlovy Vary play the second game of their series on Wednesday night, due to the unavailability of Tesla Arena on Thursday. The game starts at 19:00, and is actually the second half of a double-header, as Sparta's U18 team hosts Olomouc in an Extraliga Starší Dorost playoff game at 15:30. If Sparta wins the junior game, the third and decisive game of that series will be played Friday afternoon at 13:45.

Slavia and Znojmo play their second game at Zimní stadion Eden Thursday night at 18:00. If Slavia wins, a decisive third game will be played Friday at 15:30.

Wild finish to Jr Extraliga quarterfinals

After the weekend's events, the eight remaining teams in the Junior Extraliga have been reduced to four. Sparta Praha, Slavia Praha, and Energie Karlovy Vary all completed sweeps of their best-of-three quarterfinal series on Saturday. Meanwhile, Orli Znojmo beat out PSG Zlín in a series where the road team won each game, despite the efforts of Zlín star Petr Holík, who gave Bill Mosienko's hat-trick record a challenge.

After needing overtime to beat Oceláři Třinec in game 1, Slavia was completely dominant at home in game 2, winning easily 9-3. The Slavia junior team possesses an impressive group of 17-year-old players on its roster, many of whom will be seen at next month's U18 World Championships, and the most impressive of them all is Dmitrij Jaškin. Despite his age, he truly looked like a man among boys on the ice at Eden Arena on Saturday. Tomáš Hertl and Pavel Klhůfek both notched 4 points. For Třinec, 17-year-old defenceman Filip Pavlík is their most noticeable player, quarterbacking the power-play, killing penalties, and seemingly always on the ice.

At the north end of the city, in Holešovice, Sparta needed overtime to eliminate Benzina Litvínov 2-1. Litvínov actually led a fast-paced game 1-0 until Daniel Přibyl tied the score with 4:07 left in regulation time. In the first minute of overtime, Tomáš Rubeš finished off a goalmouth scramble by shovelling in the loose puck. Přibyl and Rubeš assisted on each other's goals, and the 18 year olds are both candidates to play in next year's World Junior Championships.

In the surprise of the first round, seventh-ranked Karlovy Vary finished off a two-game sweep of second-ranked Vítkovice Steel on Saturday. Vítkovice had a 2-0 lead on home ice and was 20 minutes away from extending the series, but they were outscored 4-1 in the third period and lost 4-3. Michal Vachovec scored the winning goal with 5:34 remaining, to go along with 2 assists.

Wild scramble in front of the Znojmo (red) goal. Photo: Petr
Sagner, Zlín Press, hokej.zlin.cz.

In the most interesting series of the Junior Extraliga quarterfinals, Zlín won the opening game in Znojmo and went home with a chance to wrap up the series. With game 2 tied 2-2 with 8 minutes remaining in regulation time, Znojmo scored 3 times in 4:29 to seemingly wrap up the game. At that point, Petr Holík took matters into his own hand and produced a natural hat trick on one shift, 51 seconds to be exact, and tied the score to send it to overtime. However, in overtime, Znojmo's Martin Plánek scored his second of the game to force a third and decisive game on Sunday.

On Sunday, Znojmo scored twice in the second and held that lead until late in the third, when Holík scored for Zlín with 2:11 left in regulation time. In the dying seconds, there was a wild goalmouth scramble in which Holík and Jakub Šlahař both took whacks at the puck and it eventually ended up in the net, a fraction of a second after the expiration of time. Ondřej Kacetl kept the puck out of the net long enough to preserve the victory for Znojmo, and send them into the semifinals.

The semifinals begin Tuesday, with Sparta at Karlovy Vary and Slavia at Znojmo. Both series return to Prague on Thursday and then Friday, if necessary. Times are yet to be announced.

Slavia advances, quarterfinal schedule set

In a decisive fifth game of their play-in series, Slavia Praha won on home ice against Energie Karlovy Vary by a score of 3-1.

Slavia thought they had opened the scoring at the 15:45 mark of the first period, but the goal was called back because a linesman informed the referees of a high-sticking infraction committed by Slavia's Marek Tomica before the goal was scored. Despite the displeasure of the crowd and the protests from Slavia coach Vladimír Růžička, the call was correct and the game remained scoreless after a period.

Tomáš Žižka (left) scores his second goal--the eventual game and
series winner--in the second period on Tuesday. Photo: Martin
Prokop, hc-slavia.cz.

In the second period, Tomáš Žižka struck twice, both assisted by Jakub Sklenář, to put Slavia firmly in the driver's seat. Late in the third, Slavia's Lukáš Krenželok and Karlovy Varys Václav Skuhravý traded goals to make it a 3-1 final and send the crowd of 7,394 home happy and satisfied that they can return for another round.

All five games in the series were won by the home team. Slavia won the first two at home, the first one in a shootout, before Karlovy Vary bounced back with a home-ice overtime victory in game three on Saturday night. They then followed that up with a 7-0 triumph, which included 5 first-period goals, to force the fifth and deciding contest on Tuesday night.

The Slavia victory sets up a quarterfinal date with Bílí Tigři Liberec in a series that begins in Liberec on Saturday night. Also starting that night will be Benzina Litvínov, who earned a spot in the quarters with a play-in victory over Plzeň, visiting top-seeded Oceláři Třinec. The other two quarterfinal series, the match-ups already determined before the play-in round, begin on Thursday. Those series feature Vítkovice Steel against Mountfield České Budějovice and PSG Zlín against Eaton Pardubice.

Click here to see the entire playoff schedule, including statistics of games already played. 

Television channel ČT4 Sport is scheduled to televise one game every night that there is one, although some of the games won't be shown live. Here is the schedule for the first four games. Note that all televised games will also be available online at www.ct24.cz/sport and most other games will be available live at tv.hokej.cz. All times listed are Central European (UTC +1).

Thu, Mar 3		PSG Zlín	ČT4 Sport 18:00 face-off 18:10
		HC Eaton Pardubice

Fri, Mar 4		Mountfield Č. Bud.	ČT4 Sport 18:00 face-off  18:10
		HC Vítkovice Steel

Sat, Mar 5		Bílí Tygři Liberec	ČT4 Sport 19:30 face-off 19:40
		HC Slavia Praha

Sun, Mar 6		HC Oceláři Třinec	ČT4 Sport 18:00 face-off 18:10
		HC Benzina Litvínov

Mon, Mar 7		HC Eaton Pardubice	ČT4 Sport 18:00 face-off 18:10
		PSG Zlín

Tue, Mar 8		HC Vítkovice Steel	ČT4 Sport 17:30 face-off 17:40
		Mountfield Č. Bud.

Wed, Mar 9		HC Benzina Litvínov	ČT4 Sport 18:45 face-off 17:30
		HC Oceláři Třinec

Thu, Mar 10		HC Slavia Praha	ČT4 Sport 18:00 face-off 18:10
		Bílí Tygři Liberec

KV wins in OT, Plzeň shuts out Litvínov

Both needing to win to stave off elimination, Energie Karlovy Vary and Plzeň 1929 both did that at home on Saturday night so that they can continue fighting on Sunday. Now, they need to do it again so they can force fifth and decisive matches on Tuesday in Prague and Litvínov, respectively.

Energie Karlovy Vary 4-3 Slavia Praha (overtime)
(Slavia leads best-of-five series 2-1.)

Petr Kumstát dives to the ice after scoring the overtime winner in
game three. Photo: Milan Mikeš, hokejkv.cz.

In the first game of the series, Karlovy Vary built up a 2-0 lead and then let it slip away, eventually losing in a shootout. On Saturday night, they almost let it happen again. They got first-period goals from Petr Sailer and Tomáš Klíma before Slavia came back to tie the score. Early in the third, rookie Dmitrij Jaškin gave Slavia the lead and the visitors were less than three minutes from closing out the series when Lukáš Pech scored the tying goal.

In overtime, Petr Kumstát worked out of the corner and cut his way to the front of the net, where he fired a backhander that beat goaltender Miroslav Kopřiva to give Energie its first victory of the series. For Kumstát, it was his third goal of the series.

Click here to watch game three of Karlovy Vary-Slavia Praha in its entirety.

Sunday's game begins at 18:00 Central European Time (UTC +1). To watch live online, check tv.hokej.cz. 

Plzeň 1929 4-0 Benzina Litvínov
(Litvínov leads best-of-five series 2-1.)

Jan Stránský deflecting Nick St. Pierre's shot past goaltender
Martin Volke to put Plzeň up 3-0. Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz.

After falling behind early in each of the series first two games, Plzeň finally got off to the start they wanted at home, scoring three times in the first period. After not scoring any goals all season, Nick St. Pierre scored in game two Thursday night and was originally credited with the 3-0 goal Saturday night. However, replays show that his point shot was deflected in front of the net by Jan Stránský, and the scoring play was eventually changed. Windsor, CT's Nick Johnson appeared to put Plzeň up 5-0, but it was ruled that he put the puck into the net with a kicking motion.

Plzeň was led by 2 goals from Pavel Vostřák, 3 assists from Tomáš Vlasák, and a goal and an assist from Martin Straka. Luboš Horčička made 25 saves for the shutout.

Sunday's game can be seen live, starting at 18:10 CET on ČT4 Sport and www.ct24.cz/sport.

Plzeň and Karlovy Vary face elimination Saturday

A pair of Extraliga playoff games will be played in West Bohemia Saturday night, with each of the home teams facing elimination. To the surprise of many, Plzeň 1929 dropped both games in Litvínov and now must win three in a row to advance to the quarterfinals. Likewise, Energie Karlovy Vary lost twice in Prague, and now must run the table against Slavia to advance. In Plzeň, the teams will face off at 19:30 Central European Time (UTC +1) on tv.hokej.cz, while the puck drops in Karlovy Vary at 19:40 on ČT4 Sport television and www.ct24.cz/sport.

"We are in a difficult position but we will fight. We haven't lost yet," said Plzeň left winger Tomáš Vlasák, who played 10 games for the Los Angeles Kings in 2000-01. Vlasák led the league this season with 30 goals and 68 points and linemate Martin Straka was tops in assists with 44 and second in points with 61. Both picked up a goal and an assist in the two games in Litvínov. In each game, Plzeň dug themselves a hole by falling behind by 2 goals in the first period, then spent the rest of the game trying to battle back. "Both games were very similar. It was more battling than pretty hockey. We weren't particularly successful in the first, Litvínov took advantage and deservedly won." 

 Assistant coach Milan Razým thinks that they can't rely too much on the duo of Vlasák and Straka, and must get some offensive production from other players. "We rely on them, but the opponent knows that and they put on a special defensive formation against them. But we are a team, so when the top five don't produce, we need others to step up, which didn't happen. We failed on the power play, we need to get that going."

Nick St. Pierre scored his first Extraliga goal Thursday, but Plzeň
still trails the series 2-0. Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz.

Plzeň did get a goal from one unexpected source in game two when defenceman Nick St. Pierre scored his first Extraliga goal. "The truth is the loss takes away the joy at the end of the game, but at the moment I was really very happy," said the 25-year-old native of St-Étienne, QC who went to Colgate University. He went goalless in 33 regular season games, but his slapshot in the second period of game two cut the deficit to 3-2. Plzeň ultimately lost 5-2. "But we're not playing badly, we're trying as hard as we can. The coach keeps reminding us that we have to work hard, really battle. And Martin Straka leads us on the ice."

For their part, Litvínov isn't counting their chickens before they hatch. "We're up 2-0, which is absolutely perfect so far and better than we expected, but we still have one step,"said assistant coach Jiří Kučera. He also said that injured forward Martin Ručinský will definitely not return before the end of this series.


Karlový Vary lost a pair of close games in Prague, 4-3 in overtime and 3-1. Coach Václav Baďouček is optimistic about his team's chances, and thinks they were unlucky to leave Prague down 2 games. "The difference is cashing in on our chances," he said. "We can create them, but in the end we didn't finish. We need to improve."

"I wouldn't count Karlovy Vary out at home," said Slavia assistant coach Jiří Čelanský. "They play good hockey, they have nothing to lose and will play hard."

Litvínov and Slavia win series openers

Both Extraliga play-in series opened Wednesday, with Benzina Litvínov hosting Plzeň 1929 and Slavia Praha hosting Energie Karlovy Vary. In both cases, the home team won. Litvínov beat Plzeň 4-2, while Slavia edged Karlovy Vary 4-3 in overtime.

Benzina Litvínov 4-2 Plzeň 1929
(Litvínov leads series 1-0)

Martin Heinsich celebrates the goal that puts Litvinov up 2-0.
Photo: hokej-litvinov.cz.

Litvínov dominated the first period of this game, with Jakub Černý opening the scoring after 28 seconds, and the lead being increased midway through the period on a power play by Matěj Stříteský.

In the second period, the home side looked to increase its lead, but Plzeň goaltender Luboš Horčička committed grand larceny against Litvínov forward Lukáš Rindoš, making an incredible glove save when he had almost the entire net to shoot at. Finally, Pavel Vostřak cut the lead in half when he one-timed a pass from Martin Straka past goaltender Martin Volke. In the final minute of the period, Litvínov's two-goal lead was restored when Ivan Svarný deflected a point shot past , making the score 3-1 after forty minutes.

Once again, Plzeň cut the lead to one early in the third period. Straka dropped a pass to Vostřak, whose shot rung off the crossbar behind Volke. Tomáš Vlasák was then in the right place to sweep the loose puck into the unguarded cage and make the score 3-2 Litvínov. Černý scored his second of the game with under six minutes to play, and Plzeň couldn't cut into the lead any further, despite a late power play. Litvinov took game one on home ice.

Click here to watch Game one between Litvínov and Plzeň in its entirety.



Slavia Praha 4-3 Energie Karlovy Vary (shootout)
(Slavia leads series 1-0)

Tomáš Svoboda scores the shootout winner in game one.
Photo: Martin Prokop, hc-slavia.cz.

The visitors jumped out to the early lead in this game, with Tomáš Klíma and Petr Kumstát giving them a 2-0 lead before Jiří Vašiček cut their lead to 2-1 in the last minute of the opening period.


In the second period, Kumstát tallied his second of the game, giving the visitors a 3-1 advantage, but Slavia came back in the third period with goals from Petr Jelínek and Jakub Krejčík to tie the score. After a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shootout. Tied at two goals apiece, Tomáš Svoboda broke the tie and scored the shootout- and game-winning goal against Lukáš Mensator as Slavia struck first blood in the series.


Both series play their second games Thursday. The start times are 17:40 in Litvínov and 18:15 in Prague and it seems that both games should be available at tv.hokej.cz. 

Playoff time! 1st round preview

On Wednesday, two best-of-five series begin to determine which teams will join the top six in the Czech Extraliga's quarterfinals. Czech Hockey Report previews the two series for you.


(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.

This is a rematch of the league finalists from 2008 and 2009. This is also a meeting between tight-checking Slavia and run-and-gun Karlovy Vary. Slavia had trouble scoring at times, but were tied for the second-best-ranked defence in the league. Karlovy Vary had trouble keeping the puck out of their net this year and Lukáš Mensator didn't have his best season in goal, but he's only two years removed from backstopping Vary to the championship. At the other end, Miroslav Kopřiva sported a 2.39 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage, so the series could turn into a good goaltending duel.

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.

These two teams each finished the season with 77 points, with Litvínov earning the tie-breaker by earning more points in the season series. However, that is deceiving information, as Plzeň was actually stripped of 19 points by the league, including 6 points against Litvínov, which caused them to lose the tie-breaker. If they hadn't lost those points, they would have tied Třinec for first place. They have the leagues top two scorers, Tomáš Vlasák and Martin Straka, and late in the season they vastly tightened up their defence and goaltending, which were question marks earlier. After the points penalty, it looked like making the playoffs would be a longshot, but they went 11-2-1-2 in their last 16 games.

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.

Litvínov and Karlovy Vary clinch, playoff teams set

Back in November, when they were in third place, not many people imagined that Kometa Brno would end up in a position where they would have to win their final 2 games of the season and get some help in order to make the playoffs.

Yet, as they took the ice in Kladno on Friday night, the Kometa players knew they weren't in a position to control their own destiny. They needed to win and they needed help. In the game they could control, they did their job, getting 2 goals from Jozef Balej in a 5-1 road win. After that, they could only hope that either Energie Karlovy Vary or Benzina Litvínov, or both, lost in regulation.

Goalmouth action from Friday night's Česke Budějovice (red)-
Karlovy vary game. Photo: hokejcb.cz.

Karlovy Vary went into their game in České Budějovice needing only a point to get in. After Mountfield's Pavel Kašpařík and Energie's Petr Sailer traded goals in the first period, goaltenders Jakub Kovář and Lukáš Mensator closed the doors the rest of the way. When regulation time expired with the score tied, Karlovy Vary was in. With the outcome no longer important, Karlovy Vary even replaced Mensator with Lukáš Sáblík for overtime, and he stopped the only shot he faced in the five-minute extra period, but Mountfield ultimately won in a shootout.

The Česke Budějovice-Karlovy Vary game can be seen in its entirety here:

http://www.ct24.cz/sport/115889-vary-jdou-i-pres-prohru-do-predkola-play-off.

Like Karlovy Vary, Benzina Litvínov also needed only a single point to qualify for the post-season. They trailed the visiting Liberec team 4-3 in the third period, but Richard Jareš tied the game with just under 16 minutes to play. Then, with only 1:29 remaining in regulation time, Jareš struck again with the game-winner, putting an exclamation point on the game and assuring his team a playoff spot.

Goals from the Litvínov-Liberec game can be seen here: 

http://www.hokej-litvinov.cz/files/videoplayer/videa/goly-18-2-11.flv

Třinec's Martin Lojek and Plzeň's John Lammers collide on
Friday. Photo: hcocelari.cz.

The race for first place was also settled on Friday night, as Oceláři Třinec shut out Plzeň 1929 4-0. Combined with Liberec's loss in Karlovy Vary, they clinched top spot in the Extraliga standings, which will earn them a spot in next year's Champions Hockey League if it actually occurs. Třinec got 2 goals from Radek Bonk and 26 saves from Peter Hamrlík, who earned his league-leading sixth shutout of the season. In an interesting note, defenceman John Slaney of St. John's, NL played on a forward line Friday with Nick Johnson of Windsor, CT and John Lammers of Langley, BC, creating for Plzeň what might have been the first all-North American forward line in Czech Extraliga history.

BK Mladá Boleslav kept alive their hope of avoiding a play-out series by beating visiting Slavia Praha 1-0. Former Vancouver Giants goaltender Marek Schwarz made 26 saves for the shutout. Boleslav still sits in last place, but trails Kladno by only 2 points. In their last game, Boleslav visits Eaton Pardubice, while Kladno hosts Litvínov.

With Karlovy Vary and Litvínov clinching, all 10 playoff teams have now been decided. As well, the top six teams, who automatically advance to the quarterfinals, have been determined as well. Games on Sunday will determine seeds 3 through 6, and 8 through 10.