Next, with a score of 3:1 on the matches, Třinec will have Hradec Králové on the ice on Wednesday. “Everyone says the last step is the hardest, and it is. We had a great chance at the end of the match, we didn’t give and as they say – you don’t give, you get. That’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately. They wanted us to celebrate with the fans at home. We have a trip to Hradec, we will rest and we will want to take it there,” said the 34-year-old attacker from Třinec.
Do you see it as Hradec punishing you at the beginning of extra time for not being able to take advantage of your chances at the end of the third period?
Machy (Matěj Machovský) made a great save for them, even though once it jumped to the goal and it looked like it would fall on his back and into the goal. Unfortunately, today was a big one. He caught our chances and we will try to burn him in Hradec.
Why didn’t you enter the extension?
I wouldn’t say it didn’t work out. Our defender tried to throw the puck out of the zone, theirs caught it, he just slapped it, there was a run and I think Káca (Ondřej Kacetl) didn’t register it at all. And there was also bad luck in that as Kanis (Lukáš Kaňák) wanted to save it, he knocked it into the goal.
The celebrations for the next title were slowly getting ready, and now comes this one. Will it be hard to clear your head?
I think we considered both options. It’s not that we’re already heads at parties. No way. As they say, the last step is the hardest, Hradec stole it from us today, so we will want to steal it there.
What goes through your mind when you lose such an important game in overtime, where there is no way to fix it?
I would probably say that it doesn’t matter if it’s in regular time or overtime. We just lost the match and now we will rest in peace and prepare for the next one.
The coaches asked for a coaching challenge after the goal in overtime. Did you see in real life right away that it wasn’t going to be a high stick, that it was probably just a test?
Like… As we saw the ice hockey stick from the cube, you couldn’t directly tell if it was higher than it should have been. But the referees reviewed it on video and awarded the goal, unfortunately.
The goal was scored in the first period by Boby Jank, whom you know from his time in Třinec. He jumped up to the third game, he plays with self-denial…
And unfortunately I helped him to the goal, because I hit it with the hockey stick. Káca (Ondřej Kacetl) should have had it, but because I dribbled it lightly, it flew into his hand and he was no longer able to react.
You are an experienced manchaft, you can stay calm. But can this success give the opponent a kick?
It can, they won, and every victory is a pleasure. Somehow, the team will kick on. But we will not focus on them, but only on ourselves and above all on scoring goals. It’s even, always by a goal or two. But usually one goal decides. We have to stuff it in there, let’s put more of them.
