After the representation break and two games taking place in the opponent's arena, the fans of Košice finally got what they had been waiting for ! In the 26th round of Tipsport League we welcomed the last but one Liptovský Mikuláš. Duel with players from Liptov had a specific atmosphere, and not only goal-wise - the duel was carried out within the spirit of the International Student's Day. Therefore, the opening face-off was done by the Rector of Pavol Jozef Safarik University, Pavol Sovák. 

Both teams entered the game carefully, but our players were more active. In 8th minute, Dalibor Bortňák opened the score, but the score 1:0 lasted only until 11th minute, when Marcel Haščák launched its goal cannonade which continued throughout the whole match, and the unequivocal man of the game finished with a score 4+2. After successful second period, the forward Pavel Klhůfek livened up home tribunes by the fifth goal in the net of players from Liptov. And right after, our captain David Skokan tipped the puck into the opponent's net. In the third period, Oliver Jokeľ yielded the final 8:0 score. For the Czech forward Dávid Květoň, it was the premier and at the same time successful home game in the uniform of HC Košice. He added 4 assists to his credit. David Skokan together with Růžička also improved their personal statistics both by gaining 3 points.

Marcel Haščák: "I know I scored 3 goals, I don't know who scored the fourth one, I only assisted. The video is going to reveal it. Those goals were important, but the most important thing is our victory. We finally managed to use almost every chance we had. I did my best to make it my evening. I took a good rest and gave 100% on ice for the team. I am glad for that, and I hope that we will continue playing better and better. I didn't know I needed only one more point to reach the record of the league, I wasn't thinking about it, we were playing the power-plays and today everything went into the net. On Friday it's going to be a completely different match, we have to prepare well for it."

Dalibor Bortňák: "Finally, we managed to score goals in the first period, and then it was easier to play as we didn’t have to be catching up. We cannot underestimate anyone and anything in this game because every team is tactically well prepared. Mikuláš played a good game in Bystrica, they are dangerous, and that's why we value this victory. When it comes to derby that is going to take place on Friday, it is always hyped up. There are going to be many battles for the puck, the tempo will be high. People are already looking forward to it, and we are looking forward to it too. Surely it will be a high-quality game."

Oliver Jokeľ: "Liptovský Mikuláš is currently 11th in the table, but it can also be a tough opponent as every single team in the league. Even when we played in their rink, it was a close game. Every single team can play, so we need to be careful in every single game. Today we used our chances, we were the leaders in the match. We stayed calm and controlled the game also mentally. Right now, we need to take a good rest and prepare for the match on Friday. We are not looking at our opponents, we are focusing on ourselves. We want to play good hockey, give a high-quality 60 minute performance, and success will come.

David Květoň: Considering today’s result, I felt good and I enjoyed the game. We entered the game fully prepared, we couldn’t underestimate anything. We knew what we wanted to play. The most difficult thing for me was to fit in the system that is being played here. I hadn’t played any match for a month before this one, so sometimes it wasn’t physically ideal, but I am happy about the victory”.

Václav Čížek: “We expected a tough game because we needed to win after losing to Hungary. We know that Mikuláš is always dangerous and it is always an unpleasant oponent. Such victory definitely helps. I felt great in the rink, everything was working out as planned and you could see the joy from the game. I am only sad a bit that we led 8:0 and arena was quiet. When we are losing, there is always noise. Today we showed productivity, but the arena was quiet. It shouldn’t happen in such a big arena. We play this hockey for the fans.”

Opinion of the coach of HC Košice

Peter Draisaitl, head coach: ”First goal was crucial for us. Up to that point the players seemed to be quite nervous. Two pucks got in front of our goal, and they were dangerous. The important thing was that we were able to score the second and the third goal as we hadn’t been able to do it for a longer period of time. We managed to finish the game responsibly and in an orderly way.”

After achieving the maximum amount of points, we moved to the second place in the current ranking, and right now, we are losing 10 points against Slovan, however, third Bystrica still has 2 more games to play. Our next game will take place on Friday, when we are going to welcome the Chamois from Poprad. The opening face-off is planned for 17:30 (5:30PM). Come to support our players during real eastern derby!

HC KE Media Team (zek)