semi final

The White Tigers have already mastered that in Prague and stopped a historic turn. “Even though Sparta made it then, we still had a lot of faith in ourselves even for the seventh match. We figured if we were this close we could handle it. The mood in the team was still amazing. I remember that we were all tense, I remember the silence before the storm, how everyone was focused,” said Liberec goalkeeper Petr Kváča two years ago, who can empathize with the current feelings of East Bohemian hockey players.

He was in a similar situation. The White Tigers then won 5:1 and 3:1 on Sparta’s ice, and secured three match points with another triumph at home 3:2 in overtime. Repík et al. however, they gradually wiped out all of them after winning 5:0 and twice in extra time 3:2.

“One step was enough for us then and we were in the final. It was extremely mentally demanding. The opponent also knew that one defeat and the season was over, he had nothing left to lose. We tried to go into the seventh game with a clear head. We told ourselves that we wanted to remember him forever and we would leave everything on ice and move on. It was already about one match, we wanted to give it our best and what has to happen will happen. At least that’s how I felt,” recalls the 25-year-old goalkeeper. With Liberec in the quarter-finals this year, he was not good enough against Mountfield in Hradec Králové. After three matches with the White Tigers, he is retiring and next season he will play catch in Sweden for BK Rögle.

“And you also have to give credit to the team that doesn’t wrap it up at 0:3 and still manages to level the series. It was true for Sparta and now also for Vítkovice,” noted Kváča, who with his teammates won the seventh duel 2:1 after goals from Vitásk and Najman. Kváča then contributed 19 saves to the progress.

“I vaguely remember that at first we couldn’t even believe that we had already won. Only when the boys jumped on me did I think: You do! we did it,” he described the moment he prevented Sparta from completing a historic turnaround from 0:3 to 4:3, which no one has ever managed in the Czech Extraliga. Vítkovice now have a chance.

However, both teams will go into Saturday’s battle with a record-long game in their legs. Lakatoš only ended the grueling battle with a time of 138:51. “It will be extremely difficult for the boys. You finish at half past twelve, you have to eat, it takes a while to fall asleep. Then the trip to Vítkovice and the match on Saturday, in which you have to show your best again. On the other hand, the guys are professionals. They will probably pay attention to everything, so that no one makes a big mistake, and they will decide on little things. Physically it will be extremely difficult, maybe even more than mentally,” predicted Kváča, adding that he does not dare to guess who will advance to the final.

“Extraliga is so extremely balanced this season that every game is completely different. We know what power Hradec has, but also what Vítkovice had. It’s impossible to predict how it will turn out,” concluded Kváča.