Of the 48 teams competing in this year's Champions Hockey League, Vitkovice Ostrava were the first to hit the ice for a pre-season game on Tuesday night. The rust was evident after the long layoff, but the players plan to be in top form by the time their CHL schedule begins on 23 August.
by Tomas Chudy
OSTRAVA – The 2015–16 hockey season is underway. At least it is for one Champions Hockey League club. Vitkovice Ostrava opened their pre-season schedule on home ice Tuesday night, falling 5–3 to KHL club Dinamo Minsk before 1,776 fans at Ostrava Arena.
The home side started quickly, with Jan Kana finishing off a great individual play from Lukas Kovar at the 2:42 mark, but by the end of the first period they were trailing 3–2.
“As always, I was trying to play as well as I can. Unfortunately, we lost the game, but it was the first one after a long break,” said 23-year-old goaltender Pavel Kantor, who transferred to Vitkovice from HK Mountfield Hradec Kralove during the summer. “We've only been training for a week, and it was evident in our game. The first ones are always tough, everybody wants to get to a rhythm. We played against a team from the KHL, and both teams had moments dominating the play.”
After giving up three goals in the first period, Kantor seemed to find his rhythm after that and didn't give up another goal until the 48th minute, when former NHL Maurice Richard Trophy winner Jonathan Cheechoo beat him with an elastic wrister to break a 3–3 deadlock.
Rostislav Olesz, who made news by re-signing with Vitkovice in recent weeks, assisted on his team's second and third goals.
“It was a typical first game, there were chaotic plays,” said defenceman Karol Sloboda, who is returning to Vitkovice after playing last season in the KHL for Lada Togliatti. “We could have easily won the game – four of the five goals were scored after our mistakes and one after a bad change. We can take positives from this game – it wasn’t as bad as the score says. Maybe, we could have skated a little better, but it was the first game. We will only get better.”
Players looking forward to the CHL
The first competitive game for Vítkovice will be in the Champions Hockey League on 23 August on home ice against German champions Adler Mannheim. Most players on the team have experience with this tournament from last year, but Kantor and Sloboda do not, although Kantor in the European Trophy – the tournament's predecessor – and he wants to be in top form by the time in comes around.
“Of course the Champions League is a big competition, not only pre-season, so we aim to be ready for that. Our preparation is heading towards it, because the Champions League games will start our season. We want to succeed, but the competition is very tough.”
Sloboda is an experienced player who has played many games for the Slovakian national team, including in the World Championships. He also played for Slavia Prague during the original CHL in 2008–09 and now is looking forward to playing against teams from Germany, Belarus, and hopefully more.
“We will play many tough European teams, so it will be interesting. We have experience from last year so I hope we play good games,” said the 32-year-old defenceman.
Apart from Adler Mannheim, Vítkovice will play Belarusian club Neman Grodno in Group 9. As an added interest to locals, Neman is coached by former Vitkovice defenceman and coach Milos Holan.