One of the quarter-finals in the Czech Extraliga features defending champions PSG Zlin, who finished sixth in the regular season, facing third-placed Kometa Brno – the team they beat in last year's finals. After a poor start, Zlin seem to have found their game at just the right time. 

by Vojtech Jurak

BRNO, Czech Rep. – PSG Zlin started the season really badly and lost their first six games. They took just nine points in total out of 39 possible in the first quarter and the huge crisis went on for most of the autumn. It was definitely the worst start within the last few years and the club spent a lot of the early season in 14th place – last in the league. 

The first indications of improvement came at the end of November when the team put together a five-game point streak to climb out of last place. Zlin started battling again for a seat in the top 10 and for the playoffs. 

“It was a tough period of time. Anybody who goes through something like that finds out how difficult it is coming to the arena as the last-placed team,” said veteran defenceman Tomas Zizka.

While the first half of the regular season was a nightmare, the second half, and especially the last two months, were a dream. Zlin got onto a hot streak, started winning and rising up in the standings. They won 10 out of their last 12 games and finally made it to sixth place, which is the last position for direct advancing to the quarter-finals in the Czech Extraliga. 

“We managed an amazing thing and I am really happy to be a part of this team,” smiled Zizka, who started his career in Zlin but returned this season after a 12-year absence. In the meantime, Zizka played two seasons with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and spent the past three seasons playing for Kometa Brno, the team Zlin now faces in the quarter-finals.

Brno and Zlin are separated by less than 100 km and these two Moravian-based clubs are big rivals. Furthermore, they met in the league finals last season, which Zlin won in six games to claim their second-ever title, so fans of both teams are really excited about this series.

In the first game of the series, this anticipation proved to be correct, as Zlin went into Brno, notoriously one of the hardest places for visiting teams to play in the league due to the crowd noise, and won 3–2 in overtime. This came after surrendering a last-minute equalizing goal, which could have been devastating to a less experienced team. The two teams meet again in Brno in game two on Thursday night.

“We are looking forward to playing Kometa, because games against them have a wonderful atmosphere,” Zlin's veteran captain Petr Cajanek said before the first game. “The cities are close to each other and there is a huge rivalry. The teams haven’t changed much since the finals last season so I am awaiting another great series.”