Czech hockey online in English

For the past six weeks, hockey-starved NHL fans have had to depend largely on hockey from Europe to get their fix. While a few games have been on in the United States and the United Kingdom on various ESPN platforms, most have had to search for internet streams with foreign-language broadcasts. These fans should be glad to know that live text commentary will now be available for many games in the Czech Extraliga and KHL.

Left to right: Marek Židlický, Tomáš Kaberle and Tomáš Plekanec
lead Kladno against Brno Tuesday. Josef Poláček, hc-kladno.cz.

All Czech hockey fans are familiar with the site onlajny.cz, which provides online text coverage of every Czech Extraliga game, as well as in lower men's leagues and top junior leagues. In the past couple of years they have also periodically provided English commentary to international events in the Czech Republic, such last last season's U18 World Championship in Brno, Znojmo and Břeclav.

In the past year and a half, I have covered several international events for the site's English version, called eurolivescores.com. Highlights include the 2011 IIHF Inline championship game in Pardubice and the 2012 U18 Women's championship game in Zlín. Typing events from a hockey game as they happen in rapid succession in a coherent manner takes some getting used to, and at first was a bit stressful, but I've gotten used to it.

Tonight, I will cover a professional hockey game in this manner for the first time: Rytíři Kladno vs Kometa Brno. For the third time this season, Kladno will play a home game at O2 Arena in Prague, the largest venue for hockey in the country. Both previous games drew over 15,000 fans and even more are expected this time. The increased interest in watching Kladno play is, of course, due to the NHL lockout and the subsequent arrival of club owner Jaromír Jágr and several other superstars to the team.

In what will surely be a disappointment to all those who have bought tickets, Jágr will not be in the Kladno lineup tonight, sitting out his second straight game with a yet-to-be-specified lower-body injury (though he says it's not the groin, which has given him trouble in the past). However, familiar names such as Marek Židlický, Tomáš Kaberle, Jan Hlaváč and Tomáš Plekanec will be. For Kometa, non-Czechs might know the names Miloslav Hořava and Róbert Petrovický, who both played in the NHL. The game is important for the league standings, as Brno is in 2nd place with 27 points, one ahead of Kladno.

Zdeno Chára and Alexander Radulov face

each other in KHL action on Thursday.
Photo: Jan Rachota, levpraha.cz.

Tuesday's game is actually the second that Eurolivecores has done in the Extraliga; on Sunday, Bill Meltzer of hockeybuzz.com provided commentary for Liberec-Kladno.

Coming up on Thursday, I return to O2 Arena to begin KHL online coverage as Lev Praha hosts CSKA Moscow, a matchup that will feature Zdeno Chára against Pavel Datsyuk. It will be a rematch of last Thursday's meeting in Moscow, where Datsyuk's CSKA club triumped 3-0. As some readers might know, I write for Lev's English website, so I'll try my best not to be a homer. In addition to all Lev home games that I'll be on location for, myself and a team of other commentators will provide commentary of other select KHL games, either from the arena or remotely.

Tuesday's Kladno-Brno matchup begins at 18:15 CET, 12:15 ET. Thursday's Lev-CSKA battle begins at 19:00 CET, 1pm ET.

Cinderella Kometa two wins away

Written for Eurohockey.com:

Who would have predicted this two months ago? Kometa Brno, the eighth-place team in the Czech Extraliga, is now just two wins from its first title in 46 years.

The hungry Brno fans, who have faithfully filled their home arena for years to watch subpar teams in subpar leagues, finally got to see their team on the big stage tonight. They didn’t disappoint and they weren’t disappointed. Far from it.

There was a buzz in the air on the streets of Brno leading to Kajot Arena on a warm spring afternoon before the game. Once inside, the atmosphere was electric, even before the drop of the puck. Once the game started, just watching the crowd was entertaining enough at times.

The game itself was cautiously played for the better part of two periods, in contrast with the loosely-played contests in Pardubice, with neither team wanting to be too reckless in such a pivotal swing game. Jiří Tvaj and Martin Růžička were perfect when they had to be in the first period, and the game was almost half over before the game saw its first goal, the only one of the night for the visiting Pardubice squad.

Kometa fell down two men when first Tomáš Žižka was called for slashing and then, 22 seconds later, Jiří Vašiček cleared the puck over the glass. After over a minute of sustained pressure, Radovan Somík, who had been denied by Trvaj just moments earlier, finally put the puck in when he converted a pass from the side of the net.

As the third period began, the Brno fans continued to keep the building alive, despite the fact that their team had yet to score, or even get many good chances. In the game’s 47th minute, they were finally rewarded. Vašiček nicely set up Jakub Svoboda, whose backhander slid under Růžička for the tying goal, turning Kajot Arena into a madhouse.

Suddenly, Kometa began coming at Pardubice in waves, pushing the visitors back on their heels and forcing Růžička to come up big a few times. But it didn’t take long for them to penetrate once more. With 10:33 left in regulation time, Růžička made the initial save on Jakub Koreis, but was down and out as Hynek Zohorna picked up the loose puck and stuffed it inside the post for the go-ahead tally.

Minutes later, Kometa was penalised for the third time in the game for shooting the puck out of play; this time the puck went into the bench, which unlike elsewhere is a penalty in the Czech Republic. Pardubice generated chances, both on the power play and afterward, but they couldn’t finish them off, as the Kometa defence did a good job of keeping the front of the net clear.

The crowd rose in unison with two minutes remaining and remained standing the rest of the game, with the visitors now desperately trying to tie it. When Pardubice went offside with 8.8 seconds left, the game was effectively over, and the celebration began.

The two teams go right back at it in less than 24 hours, as game four goes Saturday night back in Brno, where Pardubice will try to win back home ice advantage and Kometa will try to move to the brink of a championship.

Kometa in ELH finals means changes to U18 schedule

When Brno's Hala Rondo (since renamed Kajot Arena) was named the primary venue of the 2012 IIHF U18 World Championship last August, the possibility for a scheduling conflict was possible.

After all, the arena is also home to Kometa Brno of the Czech Extraliga, and the tournament has traditionally coincided with the league finals. However, when one considered that Brno hadn't won a national championship since 1966 or even a playoff series in the top league since the late '80s, the decision seemed safe.

Five weeks ago, Kometa qualified for the Extraliga's post-season for the first time since joining in 2009 and quickly dispatched of Kladno, whose recent track record has been almost as futile, in the preliminary round.

Waiting in the wings, however, was Sparta Praha, the league's first overall team, in the quarterfinals. After dropping two of the first three games, Kometa then stunned a large percentage of the nation's hockey fans by reeling off three straight wins to take the series.

Their roll continued into the semifinals against #2-ranked Plzeň 1929, a team that has the league's best combined record over the past three seasons. No matter. The streaking Kometa went into West Bohemia and took the first two games.

With their path to the final now clear, people began to see the clear conflict ahead, and many wondered aloud what would happen. Would Kometa be rewarded for their improbable finals appearance by having to play the entire series on the road? Or their "home" games at a neutral site? Would the Extraliga radically alter their pre-determined schedule to make it work?

On March 28, the club made an announcement on its website.

"The priority is the domestic league. Kometa isn't migrating anywhere," said general manager Zdeněk Zikmund. "There is already an agreement in place. We have an alternate plan. That will be announced in the event Kometa advances beyond the semifinal. For sure, though, we can say that the whole tournament will be played in Moravia."

They have indeed advanced, as Kometa went into Plzeň on Monday night and won in convincing fashion, 7-2, to finish off the series in five games. Thus, it became time to speculate on what that alternate plan might be.

From the U18 tournament's official website and hokej.cz, here are the schedules for the two events in conflict:

Date	KAJOT Arena in Brno (Group A)	Zimní stadion Znojmo (Group B)
Thursday 12-04-2012	16:00   DEN - CAN (1)	16:00   LAT - RUS (2)
	20:00   FIN - USA (3)	20:00   GER - SWE (4)
Friday 13-04-2012	15:30   CZE - DEN (5)	18:00   SUI - LAT (6)
	-	-
Saturday 14-04-2012	13:00   USA - CZE (7)	14:00   RUS - GER (8)
	18:00   CAN - FIN (9)	18:00   SWE - SUI (10)
Sunday 15-04-2012	14:00   DEN - USA (11)	18:00   LAT - SWE (12)
	-	-
Monday 16-04-2012	16:00   CAN - CZE (13)	16:00   GER - LAT (14)
	20:00   FIN - DEN (15)	20:00   RUS - SUI (16)
Tuesday 17-04-2012	16:00   CZE - FIN (17)	16:00   SWE - RUS (18)
	20:00   USA - CAN (19)	20:00   SUI - GER (20)
Wednesday 18-04-2012	Day Off
Thursday 19-04-2012	15:00   A2 - B3 (21) - quarterfinal	15:00   A4 - B5 (22) - relegation
	19:00   B2 - A3 (23) - quarterfinal	19:00   B4 - A5 (24) - relegation
Friday 20-04-2012	15:00   B1 - W21 (25) - semifinal	15:00   A4 - B4 (26) - relegation
	19:00   A1 - W23 (27) - semifinal	19:00   A5 - B5 (28) - relegation
Saturday 21-04-2012	14:00   L21 - L23 (29) - 5th/6th	-
	-	-
Sunday 22-04-2012	12:00   L27 - L25 (30) - Bronze	-
	16:00   W27 - W25 (31) - Gold	-

Extraliga Final schedule
Pardubice or Liberec - HC Kometa Brno
Mon, 09.04.2012	Pardubice/Liberec	HC Kometa Brno
Tue, 10.04.2012	Pardubice/Liberec	HC Kometa Brno
Fri, 13.04.2012	HC Kometa Brno	Pardubice/Liberec
Sat, 14.04.2012	HC Kometa Brno	Pardubice/Liberec
*Tue, 17.04.2012	Pardubice/Liberec	HC Kometa Brno
*Thu, 19.04.2012	HC Kometa Brno	Pardubice/Liberec
*Sat, 21.04.2012	Pardubice/Liberec	HC Kometa Brno

When observing these schedules, there does seem to be a bit of wiggle room. Note that on Friday the 13th and Sunday the 15th, there are single tournament games scheduled for early afternoon, leaving the evenings free. Games 3 and 4 of the Extraliga Final, to be played in Brno, are slated for the 13th and 14th. Surely they could change the Saturday game to Sunday, no? That would still leave a day off before game 5.

As for the quarterfinals, scheduled for the same day as a possible sixth game, perhaps they could be moved to Znojmo in the event the game becomes necessary. That would mean relegation round games being moved to Saturday.

Of course, none of that takes into account the logistical nightmare of redesigning the rink back and forth. Anyone who's seen an Extraliga game knows that the ice is littered with advertising to an almost nauseating level. IIHF tournaments, meanwhile, have different and, mercifully, far fewer on-ice ads. Would changing them back and forth be feasible?

Apparently not.

On Tuesday afternoon, the club announced that five games are being moved out of Brno: only one to original co-host Znojmo, and four to Břeclav, which now becomes the tournament's third host city. Břeclav is no stranger to U18 international hockey as a regular host of the annual Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

Presumably, the five games being moved are the single game on the 13th, and the two each on the 14th and 19th, and the game going to Znojmo is the one on the 13th: Czech Republic-Denmark. A revised schedule has not yet been released, however.

"We have an understanding," Zikmund said to news agency ČTK. "We are working on it with the IIHF and after the meeting with the (tournament) organizing committee and the international federation, it will be published officially."

EDIT: Within two hours of this post being published, the revised schedule was released by the official website of the U18 World Championship and HC Pardubice eliminated Bílí Tygři Liberec to advance to face Kometa in the Extraliga Final.

Junior Extraliga championship goes Friday

In order to inject a little more fan interest in Czech Junior hockey, the Czech Ice Hockey Association has taken a page out of the Canadian Hockey League's book and created a one-game national junior championship.

Former Brno goaltender Jan Strmeň, now with Chomutov, will
try to beat his former team in Friday's junior championship.
Photo: Lenka Rybaříková, piratichomutov.cz. 

On Friday night, Piráti Chomutov and Kometa Brno will face off in Chomutov for a single game to determine Czech junior hockey's best team in 2011-12.

The best team during the regular season, Chomutov's route to the final went through Prague, with two-game sweeps over both Slavia and Sparta Praha. Brno, the fifth seed in the playoffs, had a more difficult route. They swept Plzeň in the preliminary round before beating Karlovy Vary and Litvínov, needing to win decisive third games on the road both times.

The best storyline of the game revolves around Chomutov goalie Jan Strmeň, who played for Kometa last season.

"We want to beat Chomutov mainly because of him," Kometa captain Vlastimil Bilčík told the team website. "We lost both games this season with Piráti mainly due to his performance, he played really well."

Besides Strmeň, other Chomutov players to watch are defencemen Dominik Tejnor and Radek Havel and forward Jiří Fronk, all of whom are due to attend the training camp of the Czech national U18 team when it's over. Brno defenceman Jan Sedlák will join them.

Kometa's path to the final has been led by the forward line of Jan Kaňa, Roman Jurák and Branislav Jankovič, who are the top three playoff scorers.

Kometa had the best attendance in the Junior Extraliga this season and established a single-game league attendance record on December 3 with 4823. However, hockey fans in the Czech Republic's second city might have their attention elsewhere on Friday night.


In fact, for both teams, their senior men's clubs are still in action, which may overshadow the event. Chomutov is currently in the Czech First League finals against Ústí nad Labem, with the series tied 1-1. The winner of the series earns a chance to play into the Czech Extraliga. Meanwhile, the Cinderella Kometa team has won the first two games of its Extraliga semifinal in Plzeň, and will play the third game on home ice on Friday night.

Friday night's game, in Chomutov, begins at 17:30 Central European Time.

Extraliga ranked 6th in attendance in Europe

The IIHF has released attendance figures for the 2011-12 hockey season, and 11 Czech teams finished in the top 100 in Europe.

Once again, Pardubice led the Extraliga in home attendance.
Photo: hcpce.cz.

Leading the way, as usual, was Pardubice, who drew 217 867 fans to 26 home games at ČEZ Arena, for an average of 8380 per game, which ranks 13th on the continent. That's a drop of 542 per game from last season, when their home attendance ranked 9th in Europe. However, last year's total was inflated  by the Open Air Game on January 2, 2011, when 17 140 watched Pardubice play Kometa Brno outdoors at Pardubice-Svítkov Speedway.

Like last year, Brno ranks 2nd in the Czech Republic. Their average of 6960 was 23rd best in Europe.

The biggest increase in the Czech Republic was recorded by Sparta Praha, which was doubtlessly due to the club's rise from 12th in the Extraliga standngs to first this year. In 2010-11, Sparta averaged 5165 fans per home game, which was 45th in Europe. This year, 6273 per game came to Tipsport Arena, third-best in the country and 29th in Europe.

Across town, Slavia Praha went the opposite direction in the standings and, not surprisingly, in attendance as well. Their average dropped from 5012 per game to only 4492 at the cavernous O2 Arena, leading to a return to the smaller Eden Arena for the playout round and fueling speculation of a full-time return to their former home in the future.

Overall, the Extraliga was the sixth-most attended league in Europe, attracting 4824 fans per game, a slight drop from last year's 4936.

The Czech First League averaged 1130 fans per game, which was 18th-best in Europe. Not surprisingly, the two most popular First League teams are the two best: Piráti Chomutov averaged 2273 per game and Slovan Ústečtí Lvi averaged 2099.

Below are the attendance figures released by the IIHF. Additional statistical information is courtesy hokej.cz.

Attendance figures in European hockey leagues 2011-12
		Club	League	Average	Cap. %
1.	(1.)	SC Bern	SUI	15,779	92.11%
2.	(3.)	Dynamo Minsk	KHL	14,193	94.08%
3.	(2.)	Eisbären Berlin	GER	14,073	99.11%
4.	(4.)	Kölner Haie	GER	10,494	56.72%
5.	(6.)	Frölunda Gothenburg	SWE	10,482	87.03%
6.	(11.)	SKA St. Petersburg	KHL	10,126	81.01%
7.	(5.)	Adler Mannheim	GER	10,018	73.66%
8.	(20.)	Hamburg Freezers	GER	9,221	72.02%
9.	(10.)	Jokerit Helsinki	FIN	9,173	67.13%
10.	(7.)	Avangard Omsk	KHL	9,143	88.61%
11.	(8.)	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	VHL	8,961	98.80%
12.	(13.)	Medvescak Zagreb	EBEL	8,835	96.50%
13.	(9.)	HC Pardubice	CZE	8,380	82.21%
14.	(26.)	HIFK Helsinki	FIN	8,284	102.02%
15.	(12.)	Salavat Yulayev Ufa	KHL	7,950	100.00%
16.	(15.)	Dinamo Riga	KHL	7,733	75.08%
17.	(16.)	Djurgården Stockholm	SWE	7,723	95.42%
18.	(14.)	ZSC Lions Zurich	SUI	7,625	71.26%
19.	(18.)	Traktor Chelyabinsk	KHL	7,337	97.83%
20.	(22.)	HV71 Jönköping	SWE	7,232	103.31%
21.	(19.)	Amur Khabarovsk	KHL	7,100
22.	(27.)	Met. Magnitogorsk	KHL	7,035
23.	(17.)	Kometa Brno	CZE	6,960
24.	(26.)	Linköpings HC	SWE	6,903
25.	(21.)	Genève-Servette	SUI	6,769
26.	(25.)	Fribourg-Gottéron	SUI	6,636
27.	(23.)	Färjestad Karlstad	SWE	6,589
28.	(32.)	Atlant Mytischi	KHL	6,278
29.	(45.)	Sparta Praha	CZE	6,273
30.	(29.)	EV Zug	SUI	6,265
31.	(35.)	Brynäs Gävle	SWE	6,265
32.	(30.)	MODO Örnsköldsvik	SWE	6,119
33.	(64.)	Malmö Redhawks	SWE-2	6,072
34.	(34.)	Kloten Flyers	SUI	6,041
35.	(28.)	Sibir Novosibirsk	KHL	5,918
36.	(114.)	Slovan Bratislava	SVK	5,907
37.	(37.)	Kärpät Oulu	FIN	5,821
38.	(33.)	HC Košice	SVK	5,678
39.	(31.)	HC Plzeň 1929	CZE	5,584
40.	(40.)	TPS Turku	FIN	5,534
41.	(52.)	Torpedo N. Novgorod	KHL	5,481
42.	(36.)	AIK Stockholm	SWE	5,450
43.	(51.)	Tappara Tampere	FIN	5,358
44.	(41.)	SCL Tigers Langnau	SUI	5,290
45.	(44.)	DEG Metro Stars	GER	5,225
46.	(42.)	Ilves Tampere	FIN	5,208
47.	(43.)	Luleå HF	SWE	5,154
48.	(39.)	Bílí Tygři Liberec	CZE	5,140
49.	(112.)	Växjö Lakers	SWE	5,099
50.	(50.)	Skellefteå AIK	SWE	5,078
51.	(46.)	Neft. Nizhnekamsk	KHL	5,037
52.	(81.)	Vienna Capitals	EBEL	4,906
53.	(54.)	Ak Bars Kazan	RUS	4,876
54.	(47.)	HC Vítkovice Steel	CZE	4,867
55.	(103.)	Met. Novokuznetsk	KHL	4,822
56.	(65.)	Straubing Tigers	GER	4,820
57.	(53.)	Leksands IF	SWE-2	4,820
58.	(66.)	Lausanne HC	SUI-2	4,798
59.	(59.)	Ässät Pori	FIN	4,781
60.	(80.)	Pelicans Lahti	FIN	4,750
61.	(60.)	EHC Biel	SUI	4,749
62.	(62.)	Nottingham Panthers	GBR	4,694
63.	(58.)	PSG Zlín	CZE	4,553
64.	(93.)	Sev. Cherepovets	RUS	4,548
65.	(61.)	HC Davos	SUI	4,544
66.	(49.)	Timrå IK	SWE	4,523
67.	(72.)	Yuzhny Ural Orsk	RUS-2	4,493
68.	(48.)	Slavia Praha	CZE	4,492
69.	(63.)	Krefeld Pinguine	GER	4,486
70.	(69.)	KAC Klagenfurt	EBEL	4,343
71.	(62.)	HC Litvínov	CZE	4,336
72.	(56.)	HC České Budějovice	CZE	4,319
73.	(-.)	HC Lev Poprad	KHL	4,313
74.	(-.)	Kassel Huskies	GER-3	4,293
75.	(91.)	Augsburger Panther	GER	4,267
76.	(77.)	KalPa Kuopio	FIN	4,170
77.	(67.)	Rapperswil-Jona	SUI	4,135
78.	(75.)	HC Lugano	SUI	4,125
79.	(90.)	Iserlohn Roosters	GER	4,124
80.	(57.)	Nürnberg Ice Tigers	GER	4,112
81.	(-.)	Löwen Frankfurt	GER-3	4,056
82.	(95.)	Yermak Angarsk	VHL	4,036
83.	(38.)	UHC Dynamo Moscow	KHL	4,026
84.	(76.)	JYP Jyväskylä	FIN	3,975
85.	(97.)	Khanty-Mansisk	VHL	3,937
86.	(87.)	Belfast Giants	GBR	3,898
87.	(82.)	ERC Ingolstadt	GER	3,854
88.	(78.)	Lukko Rauma	FIN	3,849
89.	(70.)	Hannover Scorpions	GER	3,847
90.	(79.)	EHC München	GER	3,843
91.	(55.)	Barys Astana	KHL	3,756
92.	(84.)	HC Ambrì-Piotta	SUI	3,707
93.	(68.)	Espoo Blues	FIN	3,682
94.	(-.)	Donbass Donetsk	VHL	3,556
95.	(73.)	Yekaterinburg	KHL	3,550
96.	(125.)	Black Wings Linz	EBEL	3,512
97.	(94.)	HPK Hämeenlinna	FIN	3,480
98.	(83.)	Oceláři Třinec	CZE	3,444
99.	(102.)	Fehervar AV19	EBEL	3,437
100.	(88.)	VSV Villach	EBEL	3,422

Regular-Season average attendance Europe & Asia
	League	Attendance
1.	Sweden - Elitserien	6,385
2.	Switzerland - National League A	6,305
3.	Germany - Deutsche Eishockey Liga	6,060
4.	Russia - Kontinental Hockey League	5,891
5.	Finland - SM-liiga	5,103
6.	Czech Republic - Extraliga	4,824
7.	Austria - EBEL	3,606
8.	Slovakia - Extraliga	2,687
9.	Great Britain - Elite Ice Hockey League	2,028
10.	Norway - Get Ligaen	1,462
11.	France - Ligue Magnus	1,391
12.	Denmark - AL-Bank Liga	1,301
13.	Belarus - Extraliga	1,111
14.	Asia League (CHN/KOR/JPN)	1,024
15.	Italy - Serie A	987
Regular-Season average attendance 2nd-tier leagues Europe
	League	Attendance
1.	Sweden - Allsvenskan	2,606
2.	Germany - 2. Bundesliga	2,303
3.	Russia - VHL	2,252
4.	Switzerland - National League B	2,112
5.	Finland - Mestis	1,172
6.	Czech Republic - 1. liga	1,130

Five largest crowds in Czech Extralga history:

OpenAir Hockey, January 2, 2011:
HC Eaton Pardubice – HC Kometa Brno: 17,140

Game 7, 2008 Extraliga Finals:
HC Slavia Praha – HC Energie Karlovy Vary: 17,123

Game 4, 2009 Extraliga Finals:
HC Slavia Praha – HC Energie Karlovy Vary: 16,730

Game 5, 2008 Extraliga Finals:
HC Slavia Praha – HC Energie Karlovy Vary: 16,617

Game 5, 2006 Extraliga Finals:
HC Slavia Praha – HC Sparta Praha: 16,182