The Champions Hockey League has a tendency of throwing up late drama and the 2021/22 season is no exception.
In Sunday’s Gameday 2 meeting as Sparta Prague travelled to Finland to take on TPS Turku, nothing could separate the sides at the end of regulation, with TPS scoring in the third it sent the Group A matchup to overtime, and eventually a shootout.
Both goalies held strong in the shootout, but one had to give. In the third round, Filip Chlapík found a way past Andrey Kareev to give Sparta the 3-2 win on their visit to Turku.
Despite the win, team captain Michal Řepík was quick to identify ways to improve.
“We have to look at our mistakes with our video coach. Some of them we already know about,” Řepík said after their 3-2 victory.
“We are taking more penalties and against these strong teams than we can afford to. We need to improve it.”Michal Řepík, Sparta forward
Turku scored one of their two goals on the powerplay, through Mitch Hults late in the first period, and both goals they conceded in a Gameday 1 loss to the Växjö Lakers came on the man advantage as well.
“It was a tough game, Turku has a pretty young team which skates a lot. In the second period, we took a lot of penalties and they had plenty of chances.”
Despite straight away recognising where the team needs to improve moving forward, Řepík did acknowledge his pleasure at the result.
“We had to skate in the game a lot and we are very happy that we took the win in the shootout.”
For defenceman David Němeček it was a win against his former team. As a young player, Němeček spent time with TPS, playing for their under-20 team in the 2014/15 season, while also making a handful of appearances with the senior side that year as well.
“In Turku I had a perfect season,” Němeček said of his days with the organisation.
“With the juniors we even won the title. I played my first senior game here and when look back I really appreciate it. I was very happy to be back here in Turku, I have lot of friends here and every time we have something to talk about. I have great memories from here, and I´m very happy that I could remember these times.”
One thing that was even better than remembering his past in Turku, was leaving there this time with a win.
“We played another tough game, and we are very happy that we are coming home with this win in the pocket. Two points are so valuable for us.”
After the result, Němeček was also quick to recognise where the team need to improve as they head back to home ice for their next two Group Stage games.
“I am looking forward to our home games. We played well against the top European teams,” he said.
“On the other hand, I think that our game can still be better. We still have some gaps in our game that we definitely need to improve.
“We have really interesting games waiting for us, we definitely have something to look forward to.”