HC Oceláři Třinec

“It was frustrating to wait so long. But there are things that one cannot rush. I’m not the youngest anymore, so I was more careful. I couldn’t train or go on the ice for a long time with the injury, but it looks good,” confided the 37-year-old captain from Třinec, who started in the third attack between Vladimír Dravecký and Aron Chmielewský.

In Litvínov, Vrána scored one shot and was sent off for fouling. And he admitted that he was a little worried about the operated arm. “I would be lying if I said otherwise. Training is one thing, but nobody spares you in a match. I have to knock, the hand was holding, it wasn’t painful even during the hits,” Vrána described.

Thoughts about the end of the hockey player’s career with NHL experience in the New Jersey Devils team did not occur during the long recovery. “No, no, not at all! I don’t know what would have to happen to make it worthless. I was looking forward to the hand being fine, I will play again,” Vrána confided.

The team’s discomfort bothered him more than injuries as the season progressed. “It’s frustrating to watch a team that doesn’t do well. You can see it in the boys. The team was used to winning. But not all of our games were downright bad. I noticed that we also lost a lot of games at the end, in the last minutes. And those are the moments that decide,” he pointed out.

Even at thirty-seven, Vrána felt slight nervousness after a long break. “She was there a little bit. I haven’t played in a long time, so I didn’t really know what to expect. However, I am disappointed after the match, we played it well, but we lost the lead due to unnecessary fouls and lapses. We’re happy for at least that point, but it’s a shame,” explained Vrána after Třinec’s fourth defeat in a row.

In Litvínov, however, the guests got off to a great start and in the 3rd minute were leading 2:0 after goals from Nestrasil and Hudáček. But they lost the match in overtime. “We have periods when we don’t play the hockey we want, but the season doesn’t end. We don’t play for the whole sixty minutes, we prepare ourselves for points with our own game. We still have matches ahead of us in which we can work on our game and prepare for the playoffs,” reflected the native of Šternber.

And in it, the team wants to take it as far as possible again. “No one could have expected me to come back and start winning. Although that would be nice. It’s up to us how we put it together. I will try to get into the game and be ready for the peak of the season,” said Vrána.

In his current position outside the top (Třinec fell to 6th place with the defeat in Litvínov), he tried to find a positive. “Maybe we don’t get talked about as much now. Everyone can see how much Pardubice invested in the season. Sparta and Vítkovice also found great players. It will certainly be interesting, the playoff will have new favorites, a different charge, but nothing changes for us. We still want the same thing,” outlined the captain of the three-time champions from the last three completed seasons.