HC Nové Zámky — HC Košice 4:5 (2:2, 1:3, 1:0)
Goals and assistance: 11. Stupka (Pospíšil, Bajtek), 13. Holovič (Ordzovenský, Pospíšil), 21. Jurík (Fábry, Obdržálek), 45. Andrisík (Števuliak, Holovič) — 3. Rapáč (Bortňák, Suja), 15. Pavlin (Chovan), 23. Milý (Skokan, Růžička), 31. Majdan (Pavlin, Skokan), 33. Suja (Rapáč, Bortňák)
Penalized players: 7:4 for two minutes, power plays: 1:2 penalty kill: 0:0, Referees: Orolin (SVK), Kókai (HUN) — Rojík (SVK), Kis-Király (HUN); 1,378 visitors
HC Nové Zámky: Pavlas (Vyžinkár) – Ordzovenský, Hatala, Fereta, Drtina, Mikuš, Pavúk – Stupka, Bajtek, Pospíšil – Jurík, Fábry, Obdržálek – Andrisík, Hruška, Števuliak – Rogoň, Holovič, Jaša
HC Košice: Košarišťan (Škorvánek) — Slovák, Růžička, Pavlin, Koch, Čížek, Repe, Bučko — Majdan, Skokan, Belluš — Květoň, Chovan, Klhůfek — Rapáč, Bortňák, Suja — Milý, Vrábeľ, Jokeľ
Within the 30th round of the Tipsport League, the Košice ice hockey-players headed for southern Slovakia where they tried their strength against the home team Nové Zámky. The game offered very interesting pictures from the beginning, the Steelers succeeded for the first time in the half of the third minute. Košice used their first chance when Bortňák perfectly found Rapáč who in turn safely shot through Pavlas into the net. In the course of the first period the defenses of both teams were paying more attention to the more serious opponent's chances; paradoxically we saw other three goals even before the break. In the 11th minute the free player of Nové Zámky Stupka received the puck; he was able to take advantage of the situation and shot the puck into the uncovered part of the Košarišťan's net. Furthermore, our opponent then went into the lead. It happened during our second power play. During the power play Rapáč lost his stick on the ice and although the trio of the Steelers tried devotedly to defend, they were powerless against five skaters of Nové Zámky. At the end of the 13th minute Holovič sent the home team into lead for the very first time. However, already two minutes later the score was equalized again. Slovenian national defender Pavlin shot another nice goal; it was his very first accurate goal in Košice jersey. Pavlas was powerless against his hard shot from the blue line. And since none of the teams has developed another important chance before the break, after 20 minutes the players left the ice at 2:2.
Naturally, during the middle part of the game the players wanted to change this score. This time the home team started better, when Jurík got to an individual break-away already in the 21st minute. And he “seasoned it” also with the third goal of Nové Zámky, when he scored by his backhand shot and sent the puck beyond the Košarišťan's back. However, it was again true that by-standers in the Ice-hockey Stadium were not given more space to relax. Because the audience of the stadium enjoyed the lead of Nové Zámky on the light board only until the beginning of the 23rd minute. Then Milý guided the puck into the face-off circle and perfectly hit the upper corner of Pavlas's net with a nice shot. Then there was a series of penalties of home players, which finally proved decisive. That is Belluš even tipped the good shot of Klhůfek and failed, but the Steelers went into the lead a few seconds later. Majdan sent them
there. He guided the bounced puck into the net, i.e. Pavlas had just kick the puck back to the game after another good end-play of Pavlin. Furthermore, Košice also got into the two-goal lead for the first time before the break. At the end of the 33rd minute Suja received a millimeter backhand pass by which he also sent it to the net of Nové Zámky. It was the last change of the score in the middle period. After forty minutes the score 0-0 was no longer the case — Košice led 5:3.
If the home team still wanted to score the points, they had to score at least twice in the third period and, at best, not concede any more. However, this seemed to be a very difficult task against successfully playing Košice players. After all, the Steelers also confirmed it by their increased activity. However, an unfortunate moment for them came in the 45th minute. Andrisík received the puck behind the net and passed it to Košarišťan from a large angle and so the goal-keeper of Steelers swept it off into his net. The home team thus got back to the match with this goal. Both Drtina and Pospíšil tried to pass the puck in the front, but they were not successful in their effort. On the contrary, the Steelers needed to focus more and more on the part of defenders. And since they no longer let their opponents into a more serious chance, they added three more points to the chart. So Košice remained at the top of the league ranking.
Miroslav Mosnár, Coach of Nové Zámky: “Today we played a good match against the chart leader. During the first period the score was equalized, in the second period we paid for our power plays and good end-play of the opponent. I liked the fact that we fought for the result even in the final part of the match, but we also lacked some luck. The opponent was better in the end-play, we still have to work on it.”
Peter Draisaitl, Coach of Košice: “We played well forward, but our defense was not that optimal. Unusually, we did not use a lot of chances, which we usually do not commit. Today we did not play sixty minutes in the manner so that we could say that we deserved to win. We had many deficiencies in defense, we have to solve them.”
