Unlucky goals and a huge mess. Sparta has been waiting for the title for sixteen years

Those who haven’t experienced it probably cannot imagine what awaits the players in the Sparta jersey. “Wherever we went, it meant something like a playoff match for the opponent,” recalls Pech of his time at the Prague club. “Everyone was preparing for us and wanted to show off. I had the same feeling against Sparta when I played for Vary.” he tells.

He also recalls the moments when he was closest to the title with Sparta. Paradoxically, he does not talk about the final with Liberec from 2016. “For me, we were the closest during my first year. That was a tough team, we scored 200 goals in the regular season, Pardubice scored forty fewer this year. That’s when we really enjoyed the season,” says the attacker.

So how come the title didn’t work out? Sparta overcame Vítkovice in the series 4:1 on matches. But then she ran into Kometa Brno, when it was the decisive seventh match and experts are talking about an early final. “We were 2-0 up early in that game and I expected us to do it. But then came the unlucky goals. For example, I was blocking a shot that hit me in the thigh, then it jumped onto the ice and ended up under the lid. Even though we were grinding and going for blood, Kometa turned it around. But she didn’t have the strength in the final and Zlín washed her away,” adds the experienced hockey player.

The battle for the title with Liberec was different in that the people of Prague were dealing with a problem with a huge marodka. “This was really extreme. There are always injuries, but here it was close to ten casualties,” says journalist Škvor, what slowed down Sparta.

In addition, the moderator Jan Homolka reminds that if the seventh decisive match was reached in the series, Sparta has not been successful even since 1998, i.e. a quarter of a century. “You want to win every time. But it’s easier for the teams that are in seclusion. Like we had it with Motor. We just suddenly took off, we beat Pardubice, who had been at the top all season. We were the surprise of the season, no one expected it from us,” recalls Pech about Motor’s campaign last year.

And even this year’s title fights are not going too well for the Prague team. After Sunday’s 0:3 defeat, they are losing 2:3 to the defending champions from Třinec. Sparta will fight to equalize on Tuesday on the ice of Ocelarů.