After domestic victories over Zvolen and Detva another two matches to gain important points in the Tipsport League are ahead of us. On Friday we will travel to Liptov region and on Sunday we will play in front of own supporters in the derby of Eastern Slovakia against Poprad.

Last time Liptovský Mikuláš surprisingly won over then leading Dukla Trenčín on their ice 2:1. This victory brought a three-point advantage on the eighth place before their followers from Nové Zámky.

The team from Liptovský Mikuláš currently has to face the loss of their most productive player – Marek Uram (32 matches – 8 goals, 21 assistances). He broke his arm and will be missed by his employer for some time. Besides him also defense players Mário Kurali, Ján Tabaček and forwards Patrik Koyš and Branislav Rapáč were not playing as well. The most opportunities in the net was given to Andrej Košarišťan, whose success rate in 36 matches is 92.55 %. Juraj Hollý played in four matches only, but his success rate is also excellent – 92.78 %.

Mutual matches of Košice and Liptovský Mikuláš in this season are surprisingly equal. Both teams managed to win once during the regular playtime and once after penalty shooting. The score from mutual matches before the Friday's fight is 12:12.

The team from Liptov is currently on the eighth place of the Tipsport League chart with 40 points. As far as Žilina on the seventh place they are losing 10 points but have advantage of three points over the ninth Nové Zámky.

On Sunday the team from Poprad will arrive to Steel Arena. Last time they did not succeed in the match with Žilina, when they lost 2:4. Only two players managed to score, the ex-Košice players Samuel Mlynarovič and Dávid Buc.

The most productive player of Poprad before this week's matches is the forward Patrik Svitana. In 38 matches he scored 14 times and passed for additional 19 goals. He is followed by other forwards Samuel Mlynarovič (39 matches – 12+16) and Andreas Štrauch (38 matches 10+11). Among the defenders a noticeable player is Daniel Brejčák, who in 33 matches scored 3 times and added 13 assistances. The Canadian goalman Mathieu Corbeil has in 27 matches a 92.69 % success rate and in 2 matches of this season he managed to maintain a no-goal score. His Russian colleague Alexej Ivanov had opportunity in 14 matches, where his success rate was 91.51 %.

Košice and Poprad will meet for the fifth time during this season. In previous four matches our hockey players enjoyed the victories on the home ice 5:2 a 3:1. In Poprad they won 1:0, but the last time they lost there 2:4.

In the chart of the top Slovak competition Poprad is currently on the sixth place with 67 points. They are losing seven points against Nitra on the fifth place and have advantage of 17 points over Žilina on the eighth place.

The Steelers lately used their players and in this double-match the coaches of Košice can also count on the defender Ctirad Ovčačík and returnee from Finland, the forward Michel Miklík.

After the Sunday’s victory 4:3 over the newcomers from Detva the team of Košice moved to the fourth place of the chart. But as far as the leading Banská Bystrica they are short of 5 points only. Therefore, they will need also your support during these difficult matches! Do not hesitate and come on Sunday on January 21, to support our team in the home match with Poprad. The beginning of the match is scheduled at 5:00 PM.

ATTENTION! The beginning of the match is scheduled unconventionally at 4:00 PM.

KOŠICE GO, GO, GO!