In Group G's last game, Sparta Prague needed a win in regulation time against Adler Mannheim to advance. Although there were some tense moments, particularly in the second period, they got the job done and captain Tomas Rolinek is pleased with his team's effort.

by Vojtech Jurak

PRAGUE - Having lost their last two Champions Hockey League games, Sparta Prague needed a big effort if they wanted to advance to the playoffs. Afterward, captain Tomas Rolinek was happy with his team's performance.

“Our pace was really good and we played like in the playoffs. Although there were tough moments and we were behind at the start of the second period, we came back,” he said.

The Czech forward discounted the notion that the team was disappointed about the first period. Sparta fired 22 shots on goal whereas Mannheim had only four, but the score was tied 1–1. “A hockey game is 60 minutes long, so we didn’t let up our effort. We had some chances to increase our lead, but unfortunately we didn’t,” he explained. “We went minute by minute and our goal was to celebrate a victory at the end.”

Personally, Rolinek played a strong game against Mannheim, scoring one goal and adding two assists. He assisted on Marek Hrabas's game-opening goal, then with the score 3–2 in the third period he got his second assist on the most memorable play of the game. Tripped on a breakaway and with the referee's arm in the air for a delayed penalty – almost certainly a penalty shot – Rolinek had the presence of mind to pass the puck over to Petr Kumstat driving to the net, who scored the eventual game-winning goal. Rolinek then added the final goal of the game into the empty Mannheim net to make it a 6–3 final.

"Mannheim played hard every single shift," The Sparta captain said of the German club's work ethic, noting that even when Sparta had a two-goal lead in the third period, Mannheim pushed back with a goal and pulled their goalie looking for more. "I think that's what German hockey is like – teams keep battling right to the very end, and that's what Mannheim did. They pushed hard and wanted to win, but in the end they didn’t."

Rolinek said that the whole team is happy to win and advance to the next round of the CHL, which the club considers very important and prestigious.

“We're really happy we got through the group stage. It was one of our goals and now we will just wait for our opponent in the next round.” Playing against clubs from different countries is an interesting experience, and Rolinek admits he had been hoping at the beginning that Sparta would be drawn together with Nottingham. “I though meeting the Panthers would be nice. I would be interested in playing a hockey game in England.”