Pardubice & Plzeň advance to semis with dramatic game 7 wins

A pair of dramatic seventh games this week rounded out the final four of the Czech Extraliga playoffs. On Tuesday night, Pardubice beat Víktovice in overtime and on Wednesday, Plzeň scored late in the third period to beat Zlín.


Pardubice 5 - 4 Vítkovice (overtime)
(Pardubice wins series 4-3)

Daniel Rákos wins it in overtime. Photo: Jan Jedlička, hcpce.cz.

The first 50 minutes of the game in Pardubice offered a fair amount of excitement for the fans of the two teams; three times the visitors from Ostrava took the lead and twice, once each in the first and second, the home team tied it. As the third period reached its midpoint, Roman Szturc's unassisted goal at 6:56 of the second period was the difference in the 3-2 hockey game, and a tone of nervousness was coming over the Pardubice fans. They were getting lots of chances, but Vítkovice goaltender Roman Málek was showing no chinks in his armour and they were slowly running out of time.

Then Petr Pohl was sent of for slashing, and the crowd became energized. Pardubice saw its chance, and capitalized, when Radovan Somík finished off a pretty passing play with 8:30 on the clock. The game was tied, but the drama was just starting.

Just 2:23 later, veteran Jiří Burger hushed the crowd when he deflected a shot from the point into the net. It was his second goal of the game, and his team's fourth go-ahead goal. Then Jan Kolář went off for slashing with 5:36 left.

By the time the minor penalty was killed off, there was only three and a half minutes left. With two minutes to go, goaltender Martin Růžička was lifted for a sixth attacker and Pardubice continued to get chances. Finally, with just 31 seconds on the clock, Martin Bartak fired home the tying goal, his second goal and third point of the game.

According to Extraliga rules, a seventh game that goes to overtime is not limited to ten minutes. However, in this game, not even one minute was needed. The intermission did not stop the scoring barrage, as Daniel Rákos fired a long shot that went over the shoulder of Málek at the 55-second mark to end the game and the series, send the Víktovice players and fans into sudden shock, and Pardubice players and fans into utter euphoria.


Plzeň 4 - 2 Zlín
(Plzeň wins series 4-3)

Celebrating the series-winning goal.
Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz.

The next day, in Plzeň, there was more drama for fans of Czech hockey. Again, it was a game that saw the visitors taking the lead and the home team tying it. Zlín led 1-0 after one period and led 2-1 late in the second when defenceman Jiří Hanzlík fired a shot from the point to even the score after 40 minutes.

Most of the third period was played in the end of Luboš Horčička, who was by far the busier of the two goaltenders on the night, but the Zlín keeper made several saves to keep his team's chances alive. In the game, Plzeň fired 52 shots at Horčička, while Adam Svoboda in the Plzeň goal faced 32, plus one shot that didn't count that almost cost his team the series.

With less than five minutes left, it looked like the visitors had pulled ahead. From behind the net, Zlín's Petr Leška received a pass in front and beat Svoboda with a quick shot. However, in the battle behind the net for the puck, the back of the net had come up and the referee quickly stopped play, blowing his whistle before the puck went into the net, which was back in position by the time it went in. The Zlín players on the ice pleaded for a video review, but it was not a reviewable play, as the whistle had gone before the puck entered the net.

Given a second win, Plzeň scored the series winner shortly afterward. With just over two minutes to play, Hanzlík fed a pass to Nick Johnson in the slot, and the American made no mistake, firing a perfect shot off the post and in, and causing the arena to erupt.

Radek Duda added an empty-net goal, his second tally of the game, to put it away.


As the highest seed remaining, Plzeň now plays Kometa Brno in the semifinals. Eighth-place Kometa pulled off a huge quarterfinal upset, eliminating the regular-season winning Sparta Praha in six games. The series begins on Monday. On Saturday, Pardubice hosts Bílí Tygři Liberec to start the other semifinal series.

From hokej.cz, here is the semifinal schedule. Home teams are listed first and all times are Central European. All games will be televised by ČT4 and streamed live and on-demand on its website. All games are also available live internationally at tv.hokej.cz.

Semifinal schedule
HC Plzeň 1929 - HC Kometa Brno
Mon, 26.03.2012	HC Plzeň 1929	HC Kometa Brno	19:10
Tue, 27.03.2012	HC Plzeň 1929	HC Kometa Brno	17:40
Fri, 30.03.2012	HC Kometa Brno	HC Plzeň 1929	18:10
Sat, 31.03.2012	HC Kometa Brno	HC Plzeň 1929	18:10
*Mon, 02.04.2012	HC Plzeň 1929	HC Kometa Brno	18:10
*Wed, 04.04.2012	HC Kometa Brno	HC Plzeň 1929	17:40
*Fri, 06.04.2012	HC Plzeň 1929	HC Kometa Brno	18:10
HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice - Bílí Tygři Liberec
Sat, 24.03.2012	HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice	Bílí Tygři Liberec	18:10
Sun, 25.03.2012	HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice	Bílí Tygři Liberec	18:10
Wed, 28.03.2012	Bílí Tygři Liberec	HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice	17:40
Thu, 29.03.2012	Bílí Tygři Liberec	HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice	18:10
*Sun, 01.04.2012	HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice	Bílí Tygři Liberec	17:10
*Tue, 03.04.2012	Bílí Tygři Liberec	HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice	17:40
*Thu, 05.04.2012	HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice	Bílí Tygři Liberec	18:10

* Game to be played if necessary.

Sparta and Zlín win pivotal quarterfinal games

Written for Eurohockey.com:

In a best-of-seven series, the third game is always key, whether it's 1-1 or 2-0 going in. On the road, Sparta Praha won to take a 2-1 lead in Brno, while Zlín got its first win of the series on home ice against Plzeň.

Kometa Brno 2 - 5 Sparta Prague
(Sparta leads best-of-seven series 2-1)

Alex Foster (23) tied the game 1-1 early in the second period.
Photo: Michal Eger, hc-kometa.cz.

After maybe being fortunate to escape the first two games at home with a split, Sparta Praha knew it wasn't out of the woods yet, as they had to play two games in probably the loudest arena in the Extraliga--Kajot Arena in Brno. After falling behind in the first, they took control of the game in the second period and ultimately cruised to victory, taking a 2-1 lead in the series.

In fact, Sparta was lucky to escape the first period down only a goal. The always noisy Brno crowd was even more pumped up than usual for a playoff encounter against one of the more hated opponents: the perennial powerhouses from the nation's capital. After Sunday's game, forward Alex Foster said that the key for a road team in Brno was taking the crowd out of it early, but at that Sparta failed miserably on Wednesday. Tomáš Pöpperle, one of the biggest keys to Sparta's first-place finish this year, was the main reason they were still in the game after 20 minutes.

In the 13th minute, Tomáš Svoboda finally scored the game's first goal when Jiří Vašiček's shot from the point went in off his skate. This pumped up the home crowd and the pressure continued. In the last two minutes of play, the puck went in again, but the net had been dislodged moments before, and a penalty shot was awarded. Martin Erat took the shot and tried to go through Pöpperle's legs, but was denied.

If the first period was dominated by Kometa, Sparta was perhaps even more dominant in the second period. They scored three goals to take control of the game, They got goals from Foster, Petr Ton, and then late in the period Michal Sersen on the power play to give the visitors a 3-1 lead heading to the final period.

When Mario Bližňák made it 4-1 early in the third, it seemed pretty academic afterward. Erat closed the score to 4-2, but Petr Tenkrát put it away late on a delayed penalty.


PSG Zlín 1 - 0 Plzeň 1929
(Plzeň leads best-of-seven series 2-1)

Despite all the traffic, Luboš Horčička stopped everything thrown
at him on Wednesday night. Photo: Jiří Zaňát, hcplzen.cz.

After coming up empty on the road, Zlín finally got on the win column on home ice. Like the game in Brno, it was first period goaltending that the victors should be thankful for. Thanks to three power plays, the visitors from Plzeň had the lion's share of chances in the opening frame, but Luboš Horčička kept them off the board.

Early in the second period, Antonín Honejsek fed a perfect pass to Ondřej Veselý, who re-directed the puck past Adam Svoboda for the game's first, and ultimately only, goal. It would be the only blemish on an otherwise masterful night for Svoboda, who stopped 31 of 32 shots and spent the rest of the night keeping his team within a goal.

However, Plzeň's offence was stifled after that, and could never again mount the sustained pressure that they had in the first period. They did have a couple of good chances in the third period, particularly on a goalmouth scramble with eight minutes left when Horčička stopped the puck on the goal line, but kept it out. But the late push for an equalizer never really came, and the game ended 1-0.


Now, both Brno and Zlín trail 2-1 in games with critical fourth games at home. If either is to lose, they will face the prospect of having to win three straight games, two of which will be in enemy territory.

Sparta avoids disaster at home

Written for Eurohockey.com:

On Saturday night, Tipsport Arena in Prague and ČEZ Arena in Plzeň hosted the second games of Czech Extraliga quarterfinal series, with the home teams winning. For Sparta Praha, the win was much more crucial, and by much narrower a margin.

Sparta Praha 3 - 2 Kometa Brno (shootout)
(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Tomáš Pöpperle stops Jakub Svoboda to end the game.
Photo: Jan Beneš, hcparta.cz.

After dropping the first game of the series, Sparta could ill afford to lose a second straight at home. They won to even the series, but barely, as it took a shootout to get the desired result.

Kometa almost pulled it off even though they were dealt a blow in the game's opening minute, when leading scorer Miroslav Holec got tangled awkwardly with Sparta's David Kočí and fell into the boards. Holec suffered an apparent shoulder injury and didn't return.

Kočí was assessed a minor penatly for holding on the play, and Sparta down two men early after Yorick Treille was sent off for tripping 1:09 later. On the two-man advantage, Jozef Kovačík opened the scoring on a one-time bullet from the point.

The score was 1-1 after one period, thanks to Dominik Pacovský's rebound goal, and 2-2 after two periods; Mario Bližňák finished off a nice three-way passing play with Petr Tenkrát and Petr Ton for Sparta and Tomáš Svoboda replied for Kometa after taking a drop pass from Jakub Svoboda (no relation).

The third period and overtime were both scoreless. Sparta had the better chances, but Jiří Trvaj made great saves off of Pacovský and later Alex Foster, whom he robbed with the glove.

"It was Troy (Milam) that gave me a nice pass from behind the net," Foster said about his chance. "It came out front right onto my stick. I tried to go top shelf with it and maybe I should have gone the other way with it, to the blocker side, but anyway the goalie made a really good save."

A nervous crowd in Prague became even moreso in the extra period when the home team had to kill off two penalties, while Brno had to kill off one. Goaltender Tomáš Pöpperle saved Sparta's bacon when he made an unbelievable pad save off of Róbert Petrovický from in close while facing the wrong way; Sparta's best chance was a three-on-one, but the puck was bouncing and they didn't get a good shot.

In the shootout, Ton's shot in the second round went off the post and in for the only goal, while Pöpperle denied all three shooters he faced. When he stopped Jakub Svoboda to end the game, the cheer that rang out from Tipsport Arena was more of a collective exhail. Disaster had been avoided.

It doesn't get any easier for Sparta, though, as they now must play their next two games at noisy Kajot Arena in Brno.

"(Kometa) are difficult to play at home because they get a big boost from their fans," Foster said of the upcoming games. "Both games we played there this year, it was pretty loud and it's probably going to be even louder in the playoffs, so we've got to take the crowd out of it. Hopefully score an early goal."

Plzeň 5 - 1 Zlín
(Plzeň leads best-of-seven series 2-0)

Martin Straka led Plzeň's offence with 3 points in game 2.
Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz.

Though Plzeň 1929 has had fewer problems with its second-round opponent, their 5-1 victory on Saturday night was not as easy as the score indicates. The visitors from Zlín outshot the home side by a 33-28 margin, and it was the goaltending of Adam Svoboda that provided the difference.

Zlín goaltender Jakub Sedláček conceded a weak-angle shot from Ondřej Havlíček to open the scoring in the eighth minute just after his team had killed off a penalty. He made 23 saves in the game.

At the other end, Svoboda was beaten only once in the game, a puck that was actually put into the net by the skate of defenceman Jiří Marušák that was credited to Antonín Honejsek, which cut the lead to 2-1. It remained a one-goal game for half of the third period before the Indians put it away with three goals late in the third.

"I'm not going to worry about it," Svoboda said after the game to hokej.cz's Petr Naar about the miscue that led to the Zlín goal. "Zlín had plenty of other chances and I stopped the others. That's just what happens in hockey sometimes."

Captain, general manager, and part owner Martin Straka had three assists for Plzeň in the game, and Václav Pletka scored two goals: the game-winner on a two-man advantage midway through the second period and the game's final goal with only nine seconds on the clock. Nick Johnson and Jan Kovář also had two-point nights.

Like the Sparta-Kometa series, this series now shifts venues and resumes on Wednesday and Thursday. Zlín will be looking to take both games on home ice if they want to seriously entertain thoughts of winning the series. But though Plzeň is up 2-0, they know they cannot afford to rest.

"We have the lead in the series and that's what we wanted. That was our goal for the home games and we did it, so we have some satisfaction," said Svoboda. "But we have to go to Zlin as if it were still 0-0. We have to play like we did today. The home fans will drive their team, so for us it is not simple at all."

Quarterfinals begin Thursday

On Tuesday night, PSG Zlín defeated Oceláři Třinec 4-1 in the fifth and decisive game of their preliminary round series. In addition to dethroning the reigning champions of the Czech Republic, it also rounded out the field of the final eight teams and locked in the quarterfinal match-ups. Read Jon Rowson's recap of the game at Eurockey.com.

In addition to being a fellow Eurohockey writer, Rowson also blogs about Czech and Slovak hockey at Velvet Hockey, and he recently made predictions about the upcoming quarterfinal round. Rowson has picked all four higher seeds to advance, which is hard to argue with, though it hasn't been the norm in recent years.

Trying to pick the winners of Czech playoff series is often a guessing game, as upsets are common. Every year, there seems to be a club that comes out of nowhere to go deep into the playoffs. Last year, seventh-seeded Slavia Praha upset second-seeded Liberec in the quarters and then led first-place Třinec three games to one in the semifinals before ultimately succumbing. Třinec became the first team since 2002 to finish first during the regular season and then win the playoff tournament as well.

This year, though Sparta and Plzeň would seem to be favourites in their series, nothing is guaranteed, and the other two series are almost up in the air.

The quarterfinal match-ups are as follows:

(1) Sparta Praha vs (8) Kometa Brno
(2) Plzeň 1929 vs (7) Zlín
(3) Pardubice vs (6) Vítkovice
(4) Bílí Tygři Liberec vs (5) České Budějovice

Pardubice-Vítkovice and Liberec-České Budějovice play their first two games on Thursday and Friday, followed by the other two series on Saturday and Sunday. The above mentioned Rowson, Petr Polák and myself will combine to provide daily coverage of the action at Eurohockey.com.

From hokej.cz, here is the schedule of the quarterfinal games that we know will take place. All times are Central European and all games will be webcast at tv.hokej.cz.

Thursday, March 8 - 1st games:

18:10 HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice - HC Vítkovice Steel (Nova Sport)

18:30 Bílí Tygři Liberec - HC Mountfield České Budějovice

Friday, March 9 - 2nd games:

18:10 Bílí Tygři Liberec - HC Mountfield České Budějovice (ČT4)

18:30 HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice - HC Vítkovice Steel 

Saturday, March 10 - 1st games:

17:30 HC Sparta Praha - HC Kometa Brno (Nova Sport)
17:30 HC Plzeň 1929 - PSG Zlín

Sunday, March 11 - 2nd games:

17:00 HC Sparta Praha - HC Kometa Brno
18:10 HC Plzeň 1929 - PSG Zlín (ČT4)

Monday, March 12 - 3rd games:

17:30 HC Vítkovice Steel - HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice
18:10 HC Mountfield České Budějovice - Bílí Tygři Liberec (Nova Sport)

Tuesday, March 13 - 4th games:

17:30 HC Mountfield České Budějovice - Bílí Tygři Liberec

17:40 HC Vítkovice Steel - HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice (ČT4)

Wednesday, March 14 - 3rd games:

17:40 PSG Zlín - HC Plzeň 1929 (ČT4)

18:00 HC Kometa Brno - HC Sparta Praha

Thursday, March 15 - 4th games:

17:30 PSG Zlín - HC Plzeň 1929

18:10 HC Kometa Brno - HC Sparta Praha  (ČT4)

An eventful month for Duda

He makes news often enough, both on and off the ice, that the Czechs have an expression for him: "Radek Duda, hokej není nuda" (Radek Duda, hockey isn't boring). The month of January was anything but nuda for the Plzeň 1929 right winger.

Duda had plenty to celebrate on the ice in
January. Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz.

The month of December went pretty well for him, scoring 11 points in seven games to climb among the leading scorers in the Czech Extraliga. Then, after being held pointless in Plzeň's first game in January, a 5-2 win over Sparta on January 3, he recorded 16 points in the next eight games, with his best game being an awesome five-point performance in a 10-4 win over Liberec on January 15. His two goals and three assists that night thrust him past Petr Nedvěd, who had two points for Liberec in the same game, into the league-scoring lead. Late in the month, the see-saw battle between the two continued, as Nedvěd picked up five points in two games to re-take the lead.

His exploits earned him a nomination for January Player of the Month from Eurohockey.com. Fan voting on Facebook is still open. The field of eight nominees from around Europe also includes Sparta Praha's Petr Tenkrat. (Click here to vote.)

But Duda's on-ice exploits are only part of the reason he's in the news. At the tail end of the month, a couple of incidents from the past have come to the forefront of Duda's life.

A year ago, he became the centre of a huge controversy when he was named as a suspect in a hit-and-run incident in Karlovy Vary. According to numerous reports, Duda nearly hit a pedestrian with his car in a crosswalk and then got out of his car and attacked the man. Facing up to three years in prison, on Monday, January 31, Duda was given a three-month suspended sentence and one year's probation. It is the second time that he has been convicted in a court of law for incidents stemming from apparent road rage; back in 2008, he was convicted of assaulting another driver in České Budějovice.

There have been other incidents as well, such as injuring a teen who threw snowballs at his team's bus in 2006, or even going back to 2002, when on his first tour of duty with Plzeň, he called Třinec coach Alois Hadamczik a "šišlavý Polák" (lisping Pole), a rather insensitive jab at the coach's way of speaking, which is marked by a strong Silesian accent and has also been affected by vocal-cord surgery. Now the coach of the national team, some are speculating that Hadamczik's omission of Duda from the Czech team's roster at the upcoming Oddset Hockey Games in Sweden stems from the incident ten years ago.

"I don't want to speak about it any further," was how Hadamczik responded to hokej.cz's Vaclav Jáchim. "For sure, Duda has some great advantages with his offensive game, but also some weaknesses in the defensive zone."

Apparently, Duda did recently make an attempt to reconcile with Hadamczik. "He called me, wanted to meet. I went to talk with him, which was a positive step, although his behavior towards me and some players was not adequate."

Hadamczik further said that would not close the door on Duda's inclusion on the Czech national team in future events, however.

A seventh-round draft pick of the Calgary Flames in 1999, Duda has always played with an edge on the ice, and that has served him well. That same edge has obviously caused problems away from it, however. Though months rarely seem to be boring for Duda, the combination of on- and off-ice news January 2012 was quite a bit even for him. It remains to be seen if February will be a bit more nuda for Duda.

And then there were none: Czech teams swept out of RBS quarters

With three teams in the field of eight at the Red Bulls Salute, there was a decent chance of a Czech team winning the 2011 European Trophy, or at least qualifying for the finals. Instead, all three lost their quarterfinal match-ups and will now battle for fifth to eighth places. České Budějovice was blown out by Jokerit Helsinki, while Plzeň and Pardubice both lost close ones.

Pardubice goaltender Martin Růžička had a lot of traffic to deal
with in Salzburg. GEPA-Pictures, redbull.com. 

In the early game in Vienna, the South Bohemian club which plays under the corporate name Mountfield stayed close for one period. After Ben Eaves opened the scoring early for Jokerit, Jiří Šimánek tied it on a rebound after goaltender Frans Tuohimaa had stopped Pavel Kašpářik on a breakaway but was unable to freeze the puck. Less than two minutes later, however, Antti Kerälä put the Finnish club back in front to stay. Not even the goaltending of Jakub Kovář, who was kept off the Czech national team this weekend, could help his team's cause. Three goals in the first half of the second period put it away, and the game eventually finished 7-2.

In the latter two games, which ran concurrently, HC Plzeň 1929 took on Swedish club Luleå HF in Vienna and HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice played an EC Red Bull squad that was on its home ice in Salzburg.

Plzeň fell behind 1-0 in the second, then got an equalizing goal on a blast from Jan Kovář early in the third period. After killing off a late penalty, captain Martin Straka got a chance to win it on a breakaway in the dying seconds. However, the combination of chasing down the puck and trying to get his shot off in time caused him to lose his balance and the save was a relatively easy one for David Rautio. After a scoreless five-minute overtime period, the game was decided in a shootout.  Luleå's second shooter, Johan Harju, scored the only goal, one which goaltender Adam Svoboda actually re-directed into his own net. Rautio stopped all three shots he faced to vault his team into the semi-finals.

Pardubice was the Czech Republic's last chance to be represented in the tournament's final four, but they fell 2-1 to the host team. All the scoring was done in a five-minute span late in the second period. Petr Koukal scored Pardubice's lone goal, but Tyler Redenbach scored the game-winner with 1:25 to go in the middle frame. Late in the third, Martin Růžička was pulled for a sixth attacker, but the Czech visitors were unable to beat goaltender Marty Turco.

Saturday's semifinal match-ups will be Jokerit against Luleå and Salzburg against Linköpings HC, who beat fellow Swedish club Frölunda in the other quarterfinal. In placement games, Frölunda plays Pardubice in Salzburg, while Plzeň and Budějovice play each other in Vienna.

Red Bulls Salute on TV

The quarterfinals of the Red Bulls Salute, the playoff round to determine the winner of the 2011 European Trophy, will be played on Friday night and Czech fans will be able to see two of their teams on television. The two games from Vienna, Jokerit-České Budějovice and Plzeň-Luleå, will be televised live on Sport1 at 17:15 and 20:30, respectively. A third Czech team, Pardubice takes on the host Red Bull Salzburg team at 20:30; apparently, it will receive no domestic television coverage.

Sport1 will also carry both semifinal games on Saturday, and the third-place and championship games on Sunday.

Besides the Czech Republic, the Sport1 broadcasts will also be available in Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. ServusTV carries games in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, while Viasat is televising the action to the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Fans in Finland can watch on MTV3. It should be noted that these other carriers will likely choose the quarterfinal games that are most appealing in their regions.

All games will be streamed live online on laola1.tv and servustv.com. Unfortunately for Pardubice fans, these webcasts will be blacked out in the Czech Republic, as well as all countries that receive the Sport1, Viasat or MTV3 telecasts, to protect the television rightsholders. Other than making the five-hour drive south to Salzburg, the best these fans can do is receive online updates and hope for a win, which would mean they could watch their team play on Saturday and Sunday.

Red Bulls Salute Schedule:

Friday, December 16:

17:15 Jokerit Helsinki - HC Mountfield České Budějovice (quarterfinal, Vienna), Sport1

17:15 Frölunda Indians - Linköpings HC (quarterfinal, Salzburg)

20:30 HC Plzeň 1929 - Luleå HF (quarterfinal, Vienna), Sport1

20:30 HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice - EC Red Bull Salzburg (quarterfinal, Salzburg)

Saturday, December 17:

17:15 Losers of quarterfinals in Salzburg (qualification, Salzburg)

17:15 Winners of quarterfinals in Vienna (semifinal, Vienna), Sport1

20:30 Winners of quarterfinals in Salzburg (semifinal, Salzburg), Sport1

20:30 Losers of quarterfinals in Vienna (qualification, Vienna)

Sunday, December 18:

14:00 Losers of qualification games (7th/8th place, Salzburg)

17:15 Winners of qualification games (5th/6th place, Salzburg),

17:15 Losers of semifinal games (3rd/4th place, Vienna), Sport1

20:30 Winners of semifinal games (championship game, Vienna), Sport1

National team and clubs dispute over players for December tournaments

It's not often that European hockey clubs and national teams dispute over the availability of the players. In contrast with North America, where the NHL is king, wearing the national colours in Europe has always taken priority and, normally, domestic leagues shut down for international tournaments. However, on the third weekend in December, there are international and club tournaments scheduled to operate at the same time, and Otakar Duben of ceskatelevize.cz is reporting that some of the Czech clubs involved have made it clear that they intend to take their full rosters.

Alois Hadamczik might not have all the players he wants in
Chomutov and Moscow. Photo: Kateřina Šulová, ceskatelevize.cz.

From December 15 to 18, the Channel One Cup, which is the second leg of the 2011-12 Euro Hockey Tour, will be held in Moscow. It features the national teams of Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic. That same weekend, the Red Bulls Salute, the playoff round to determine the winner of the 2011 European Trophy, will be held in Vienna and Salzburg, Austria. Among the quarter-finalists that have advanced from the pre-season tournament are one team each from Austria and Finland, three from Sweden, and three Czech clubs: České Budějovice, Pardubice, and Plzeň.

At the recently completed Karjala Cup in Finland, the Czech roster included goaltender Jakub Kovář and forward Aleš Kotalík of České Budějovice and forward Petr Koukal of Pardubice. It appears that they might not be there the next time.

"I have a responsibility to the owners, partners and fans (of the Pardubice club)," said general manager Zbyněk Kusy. "I cannot let an elite player miss a top club event and replace him with somebody from the First League." Meanwhile, Budějovice's general manger, Josef Zajíc said, "If Kovář is going to be used as a back-up as he was at the Karjala, it will be better for him to play the tournament in Austria."

National team coach Alois Hadamczik, for one, is aghast that some clubs are threatening to withhold players from the national team for what he considers to be an inferior tournament. "If someone would rather play in a third-rate tournament, that's pretty sad. To argue that the European Trophy is more beneficial to the player than games with Russia, Sweden and Finland? Those are far more important confrontations."

Kusy told newspaper Sport that the issue has already been settled, claiming "(National team general manager) Slavomír Lener announced to the APK that the European Trophy finalists will have all their players and they will not be selected for the Channel One Cup."

Lener, however, claims that he did not make such a promise, and that ultimately Hadamczik is free to choose the team he wishes. As for who he will choose, Hadamczik says, "I have a moral obligation to select who I think are the best players available."

Making the dispute more interesting to Czech hockey fans might be the fact that one of the opening games of the Channel One Cup will be played in Chomutov. The North Bohemian city's brand new arena will play host to the Czech Republic-Sweden game on December 15.

The Finnish and Swedish rosters might also be affected by this conflict, as they both have players on their national teams that are in the Red Bulls Salute. From Finland's Karjala Cup roster, defenceman Ossi Väänänen plays for Jokerit, forward Topi Jaakola plays for Luleå, and forward Mika Pyörälä plays for Frölunda. From Sweden, goaltender Johan Gustafsson and forwards Simon Hjalmarsson and Johan Harju play for Luleå, defenceman Klas Dahlbeck and forward Andreas Jämti play for Linköpings, and defenceman Christian Bäckman plays for Frölunda. The fact that two Finns play for Swedish clubs involved could complicate things further.

It remains to be seen how Czech television handles the concurrent tournaments. ČT4 normally shows most Euro Hockey Tour games, and all games involving the Czech Republic. However, they also televised several European Trophy games in August and September, and it would seem odd to ignore the playoff portion of the tournament with three Czech teams involved.

Here is the schedule for the Channel One Cup (all times are Central European):

Thursday, December 15:

17:00 Russia - Finland (Moscow)

18:20 Czech Republic - Sweden (Chomutov)

Saturday, December 17:

11:00 Russia - Sweden (Moscow)

15:00 Czech Republic - Finland (Moscow)

Sunday, December 18:

11:00 Russia - Czech Republic (Moscow)

15:00 Sweden - Finland (Moscow)

And here is the schedule for the Red Bulls Salute:

Friday, December 16:

17:15 Jokerit Helsinki - HC České Budějovice (quarterfinal, Vienna)

17:15 Frölunda Indians - Linköpings HC (quarterfinal, Salzburg)

20:30 HC Plzeň 1929 - Luleå HF (quarterfinal, Vienna)

20:30 HC Pardubice - EC Red Bull Salzburg (quarterfinal, Salzburg)

Saturday, December 17:

17:15 Winners of quarterfinals in Vienna (semifinal, Vienna)

17:15 Winners of quarterfinals in Salzburg (semifinal, Salzburg)

20:30 Losers of quarterfinals in Vienna (qualification, Vienna)

20:30 Losers of quarterfinals in Salzburg (qualification, Salzburg)

Sunday, December 18:

14:00 Losers of qualification games (7th/8th place, Salzburg)

17:15 Winners of qualification games (5th/6th place, Salzburg)

17:15 Losers of semifinal games (3rd/4th place, Vienna)

20:30 Winners of semifinal games (championship game, Vienna)

3 Czech teams in Red Bull Salute

Teams from the Czech Extraliga have acquitted themselves well so far at the 2011 European Trophy. Heading into the final weekend of play, Plzeň 1929 and Pardubice had already clinched spots among the final eight. On Saturday night, České Budějovice joined them, beating Kometa Brno 3-1.

Jakub Kovář has been nearly unbeatable in the Budějovice goal.
Photo: Roman Kantor, hc-kometa.cz.

"I think that is was very good preparation," said Budějovice assistant coach Milan Kupka. "The key for us was surviving the first penalty and scoring the first goal. And of course, we were also helped by a great performance from our goalkeeper."

Great performances from the goalkeeper have become commonplace in České Budějovice. Last season, Jakub Kovář was voted the top goaltender in the Czech Extraliga and earned a spot on the Czech national team. This year, he has so far played in all seven of his club's games at the European Trophy and surrendered only 12 goals. His 1.63 goals-against average and .940 are the best in the tournament among goaltenders that have appeared in more than four games.

Bílí Tygři Liberec entered the weekend with an outside shot of advancing, but dropped both games on home ice and will finish fifth in the South Division. On Saturday, they were finished when they lost 3-2 to Luleå HF. Then on Sunday, they were edged 5-4 by Eisbären Berlin in the last game for both teams.

Slavia Praha also played its last game of the tournament on Sunday in Mannheim. Though they were locked in last place in the North Division, they had a chance to play spoilers against Adler, who could have advanced to the Red Bull Salute with a win. Slavia picked up just its second win of the tournament, however, knocking Adler out with a 5-3 win. They were led by 3 goals and 1 assist from Tomáš Svoboda, whose 4-point effort gives him 9 for the tournament; tied for sixth in overall scoring.

The game was a rough affair, in which 290 minutes in penalties were racked up by both teams. The final few minutes were marred by multiple fights in which resulted in the banishments of Jiří Vašiček,  Michal Poletin and Dmitrij Jaškin of Slavia.

The melée at the end of the game was captured by a few fans in Mannheim, who posted their videos to youtube:

 

There are still two more games to be played in the group stage of the European Trophy on Tuesday. They both involve only Czech teams, but neither will have any effect on who adances to the Red Bull Salute. Sparta Praha visits České Budějovice and Pardubice visits Plzeň. Plzeň can still eclipse Budějovice in points and finish atop the division, but both teams will advance, regardless.

The Red Bull Salute will be played December 16 to 18 in Salzburg and Vienna, Austria. It is a three-round single-knockout involving eight teams. This is the schedule, which will be finalised after Tuesday's games:

Friday, December 16:
17:15 Jokerit Helsinki - Plzeň / České Budějovice (quarterfinal, Vienna)
17:15 Frölunda Indians - Linköpings HC (quarterfinal, Salzburg)
20:30 Plzeň / České Budějovice - Luleå HF (quarterfinal, Vienna)
20:30 HC Pardubice - EC Red Bull Salzburg (quarterfinal, Salzburg)

Saturday, December 17:
17:15 Winners of quarterfinals in Vienna (semifinal, Vienna)
17:15 Winners of quarterfinals in Salzburg (semifinal, Salzburg)
20:30 Losers of quarterfinals in Vienna (qualification, Vienna)
20:30 Losers of quarterfinals in Salzburg (qualification, Salzburg)

Sunday, December 18:
14:00 Losers of qualification games (7th/8th place, Salzburg)
17:15 Winners of qualification games (5th/6th place, Salzburg)
17:15 Losers of semifinal games (3rd/4th place, Vienna)
20:30 Winners of semifinal games (championship game, Vienna)

Plzeň clinches spot in Red Bull Salute, Pardubice on the verge

Two Czech teams at opposite ends of the European Trophy spectrum clashed on Wednesday night at Prague's Eden Arena. The visitors from Plzeň came into the contest with an opportunity to clinch a spot in the Red Bull Salute--an eight-team single-knockout competition that will take place in December in Austria. Host Slavia Praha, meanwhile, was way out of contention and saw the game as nothing more than preparation for the approaching Extraliga season.

Petr Sýkora. Photo: hcplzen.cz.

Plzeň led 2-1 after 40 minutes, but Vladimír Růžička Jr. tied the game in the first minute of the third period, then Tomáš Kůrka put Slavia ahead with 10:20 to play. Both goals were assisted by Petr Kadlec, who now has 5 points in seven games, which ties him for second in tournament scoring among defencemen. Petr Sýkora then tied the game with just over seven minutes on the clock, and a pair of Plzeň goals in quick succession put the game away for the visitors from West Bohemia; 5-3 was the final.

For Plzeň, the line of Jaroslav Hlinka, Ondřej Kratěna and Pavel Mrňa scored three of their goals, all at even strength. All three players are summer acquisitions for Plzeň, and all are products of the Sparta Praha organisation. "We came here to win," said Kratěna after the game. On his linemates, whom he is familiar with from their Sparta days, he said, "Jarda is the kind of player who you really can't put a price on, and Pavel is very studious, fits in well with us."

The other two were power-play markers by Sýkora, both assisted by Martin Straka. Straka, who turns 39 on Saturday, is now tied for third place in tournament scoring with 8 points.

The win means that Plzeň becomes the first team to qualify for the Red Bull Salute, as they are now 4 points clear of second-place Slovan Bratislava, who have only one game left. Third-place Mountfield České Budějovice could still catch them, as they are 5 points back but still have three games to play. With two games in hand on Slovan, Mountfield is in a good position to take the East Division's second playoff spot.

On Thursday, Mountfield will make up one of those games when they travel to Salzburg to take on Red Bull, while Bílí Tygři Liberec hosts Adler Mannheim in an important South Division match-up.

While they have not mathematically clinched a spot in the Red Bull Salute yet, HC Pojišťovna Pardubice has one all but wrapped up and can secure it on Thursday, even though they are idle. If Mannheim concedes a point to Liberec or HV71 concedes 2 at Färjestads, they're in. They just need Mannheim to get fewer than 6 points over their final two games,  HV71 to get fewer than 5 points over their final two games, or failing that pick up a single point in their last game at Plzeň on Tuesday. Any one of those scenarios will help Pardubice join Plzeň in the Elite Eight.

To that end, Liberec can aid Pardubice's hopes on Thursday with a win, but helping their countrymen is the furthest thing from their mind. Liberec only trails Mannheim by a pair of points and can leap-frog over them and into a second-place tie with HV71 with a win.

Mountfield's game in Salzburg can be seen streaming online, starting at 19:15 CET at europeantrophy.com/livesalzburg.php.

Complete tournament standings and statistics can be found here.

The tournament schedule, with live commentary on games in progress and summaries of completed games, can be found here.

Plzeň & Mountfield battle for group's top spot

While some Czech teams have struggled in European Trophy competition, others have flourished. EuropeanTrophy.com's Per Csongrádi examines the fortunes of two clubs, HC Plzeň 1929 and HC Mountfield České Budějovice, who are currently poised to take the top two spots in the East Division and advance to the Red Bull Salute:

Plzeň (white) and Mountfield (red) battling in their European Trophy

opener in České Budějovice on August 12. Photo: František Panec,
hokejcb.cz. 

Plzeň took over the top of the table on Sunday after defeating Finnish team Tappara 4–0 at home and are in a good position to go through, having two games left to play. ”We look to be in one of the two top positions when we sum up the group, but it is still a tough battle between three, or even four teams, as to which teams will make it to the play-off,” says Plzeň forward Tomáš Vlasák.

Plzen could have been in an even stronger position had they won Saturday's game at home to Slovan Bratislava, a game the Slovaks won in a penalty shootout. That win handed them a lifeline in the race for a place in Salzburg and Vienna mid-December.

But after having won their first four games in the tournament, all four played at home in Bratislava where they picked up 11 out of a possible 12 points, the Slovaks have struggled to repeat those performances away from home. Now they have a tough task ahead of them if they are to pick up the necessary points to finish in the top-two. They play Jokerit away in their only remaining game of the tournament.

And it might not even be enough with a win in Helsinki. The second Czech team in the division, HC Mountfield, is only 1 point behind Slovan Bratislava having played two games less and having recorded a vital win at home to Slovan Bratislava (2–1) last Thursday. Mountfield now have four straight wins after losing the opening game to Plzeň in overtime, and are feeling good about themselves heading into their last three games. ”We are very pleased with the way that we have played so far and we hope we can pick up a few more points, enough to secure a place in the playoff,” says defenceman Jan Novák.

Plzeň and Mountfield must be considered favourites to take the top two spots. They are the only two teams in the tournament that haven’t lost a game after 60 minutes so far.

If they start picking up some points, Finnish side KalPa still has a remote chance of advancing. KalPa also have three games left, but probably have to win all three in order to have any chance of reaching the Red Bull Salute.

Fellow Finns Oulun Kärpät also have 8 points, but only have one game left and no chance of reaching the playoff. The same applies to Vienna Capitals with 4 points and only one game left.

Stats and schedule:


1. HC Plzeň 1929 – 14 points (21–10)
Remaining games: 31/8: Slavia Praha (a), 6/9: HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice (h).


2. Slovan Bratislava – 13 points (23–13)
Remaining game: 3/9: Jokerit (a).


3. HC Mountfield – 12 points (13–7)
Remaining games: 1/9: Red Bull Salzburg (a), 3/9: Kometa Brno (a), 6/9: Sparta Praha (h).


4. KalPa – 8 points (10–12)
Remaining games: 31/8: Oulun Kärpät (h), 3/9: Frölunda Indians (a), 4/9: HV71 (a).


5. Oulun Kärpät – 8 points (17–20)
Remaining game: 31/8: KalPa (a).


6. Vienna Capitals – 4 points (14–28)
Remaining game: 3/9: HIFK (a).

More information on the tournament is available at EuropeanTrophy.com.