Our Steelers played last week on the opponents' ice in Central Slovakia. However, they failed to bring the match to a victorious end in either match; they have only one point after a loss 1:2 with Banská Bystrica after penalty shots. They will have an opportunity for remedy in the double match against their East Slovakian rivals – HK Dukla Ingema Michalovce and HK Poprad. The match with a newcomer will take place on Wednesday, January 29, at 5:30 PM, we will play against Poprad on Friday, January 31 at 6:00 PM.

The newcomer in our highest league has already established himself among their rivals. Following the recent successful period, they jumped to the seventh place on the extra-league chart and Michalovce have already sixty points. Currently they need to get eight points to get to the top six, but the sixth Zvolen played one match less. Most recently the players from Zemplin presented themselves to their supporters and won 2:1 in the thrilling match against Poprad. Korhonen and Šimun shot both their goals.  We have already met our East Slovakian rival three times during the current Tipsport League, and we won all matches. In the first ever match between Košice and Michalovce in the top competition we won 3:0, retaliations in Michalovce had to be decided by overtime or raids, but we enjoyed our wins 3:2 and 2:1. Several players who have experience with the Košice Club play in the jersey of Dukla in this season – specifically the defender Marek Kolba and forwards Gabriel Spilar, Peter Galamboš, Tomáš Hričina, Lukáš Hvila, or Peter Boltun, who is currently injured.   

After arriving in Zemplín, the Canadian Christophe Lalancette was ranked among the leaders of the Dukla offensive. 25-year old native from the Quebec Province was drafted by the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins Team in 2012, but he was not given a chance to play the best competition in the world. Based on experience with several clubs of ECHL he decided to accept the offer of the newcomer of Tipsport League and in 41 played matches he scored 11 goals and 24 assistances. The forward Jakub Linet, his next pursuer, is already a stable member of Dukla Michalovce, he has already played four seasons in Zemplin. In this season he played 40 matches and, also is the best player of the team, he scored 13 goals. Igor Safaraleev excellently managed the transition to the highest league. 25-year old Russian forward scored 5 times and passed for additional 15 goals. Adam Trenčan is the stable “number one” in the net of Michalovce already for the fifth season. 29-year old goalkeeper who also played in Zvolen, Detva, Skalicia or Nitra, was given an opportunity in 35 matches. During the matches he was 92.06% successful, which ranks him in the top ten goalkeepers of Tipsport League.

HK Dukla Ingema Michalovce players of the last match against HK Poprad:
A. Trenčan - Hančák, Ventela, Pukka, Mesikammen, Ťavoda, Vorobjev, Zekucia - Korhonen, Lalancette, Spilar - Mons, Galamboš, Giľák - Hričina, Linet, Mašlonka - Chalupa, Šimun, Hvila – Farkaš

Two days later we will welcome on our ice another member of the highest league from Eastern Slovakia – HK Poprad. As mentioned already above, Poprad was the opponent of Michalovce on Sunday and on Wednesday there also will not be an easy opponent. The Chamois will travel to the capital to play a match against the home team Slovan. After a little longer start and exchange of coaches the team of Poprad started to perform well and currently they are ranked fourth with 72 points. This will also be the last match of our team against the team of Poprad in the preliminary rounds. In the previous cases, we enjoyed the home win 2:1 and we have also the points from Poprad, when we lost the first match only after the overtime 3:2 and last time our convincing win was 4:0. 

The first best productive player just before the end of the preliminary rounds is the forward Marek Zagrapan. 33-year old native from Prešov scored 15 goals and 17 assistances, which means that he also is the best shooter of the Poprad team. Club-trained Michael Vandas came during the season from Bratislava to Poprad. He benefited from the change of the environment and so far, he has already scored 14 goals and 17 assistances. Also, the captain Patrik Svitana was trying to get himself in shape at the beginning of the season but it seems that he already enjoys the game. He has already scored 10 goals and 20 assistances. Tomáš Vošvrda is establishing the leading position already the second season. 30-year old Czech goalkeeper again performs excellently, and he managed to keep his 92.30% rate of successful actions. Matej Kristín is his colleague. Until recently the goalkeeper of Nové Zámky, he came to Poprad in exchange for Patrik Nechvátal.

HK Poprad players of the last match against HK Dukla Ingema Michalovce:
Vošvrda - Erving, Ulrych, Brejčák, Kozák, Larkin, Dalhuisen, Česánek - Matúš Paločko, Preisinger, Handlovský - Svitana, Zagrapan, Takáč - Lapšanský, Jacobs, Vandas - Kundrík, Bjalončík, Matej Paločko

Do not hesitate and come together to Steel Arena to create a great atmosphere. Let´s support our Steelers Team to win again! You can buy your tickets in advance via : https://www.hckosice.sk/vstupenky.

KOŠICE GO, GO, GO!

(ypm)