One of the highlights of opening game day in the CHL wa the performance of Vitkovice Ostrava youngster Patrik Zdrahal. This 19-year-old Czech played his first professional game against ERC Inglostadt and made a huge impact with 2 goals and 1 assist.

by Marek Kratochvil

Patrik Zdrahal put Vitkovice Ostraa in front with a power-play goal in the second period and, less than one minute later, he assisted on what later proved to be the game-winning goal of by Peter Huzevka.

"We had plenty of chances in theh first period, but we couldn't capitalise on them. In the dressing room we were told to be more agressive around the net," Zdrahal revealed after the game.

The member of last year's Czech national junior team then scored the last goal five minutes before the final horn which would hae secured him the special "Top Scorer" gear for Saturday's game against EV Zug.

"I’ve already received the helmet from Jiri Burger, who wanted to get rid of it. Now it’s probably on me to wear it for the next game," he laughed.

Unfortunately, however, he will have to pass the jersey and helmet to a teammate after it was revealed on Friday that Zdrahal wouldn't play on Saturday due to an injury.

"We didn’t expect such a big difference in the final score, but it’s true we had lots of chances. It’s good for us to enter this competition with a win," acknowledged Zdrahal, who spent the last two seasons in the QJMHL playing for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Rimouski Oceanic. He gathered 33 goals and 46 assists in 113 games overseas. Now he's trying to crack Vitkovice’s first-team lineup.

Even though the Czech team won 5-1 on Thursday, its players wasted plenty of chances before they broke the deadlock.

"We've struggled in front of the net lately," said Zdrahal. "Thank God we scored some goals in the last two periods, but we have to be more efficient. We had 15 shots in the first period and that simply has to lead to at least a goal."