Oceláři Třinec hosted Swiss team Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in Czechia for both teams' first game of the 2023/24 season and boy what a celebration of ice hockey it would turn out to be! Four powerplay goals, a six-goal final frame and an OT game-winner - where to start with this one.

Rather surprisingly, the game didn't get off to the quickest of starts. The Swiss started off tonight’s game on a better note but despite many attempts, they struggled to find the back of the net. Třinec drew first blood after capitalising on a well-aimed wrist shot goal from Czech defenceman Tomáš Kundrátek to go 1-0 up.

Rapperswil didn’t let the game development discourage them and made the game 1-1 when Yannick-Lennart Albrecht scored after receiving a spectacular pass right in front of the net.

The scoreboard changed exactly four times during the second period, first running through its gears when the home team reinstated their lead when the loss of a defenceman’s stick played into Třinec’s hands. The score went up by one more when Adam Polášek’s precise shot from the blue line gave his team a two-goal buffer.

Třinec racked up two penalty calls late into the second period, ending in a 5-on-3 powerplay goal that brought back hope to the visitors, though it was short-lived. The two-goal buffer was reinstated less than thirty seconds later when the Czechs scored a shorthanded goal which erased the minor penalty against them, as per the CHL's new rules.

A late Albrecht cross-checking call carried over to the third period and gave Třinec an early chance to run up the score which was exactly what they did. With the score at 5-2, Rapperswil's counteroffensive started.

Two powerplay goals in under two minutes and two more goals in the final six minutes of game time saw the visitors slide into a 6-5 lead and turn this game upside down. But Třinec weren't prepared to let the win slip away and pulled their goalie with two minutes of regulation left, desperately hunting for that late equaliser...

And it came. Libor Hudáček was the messiah, firing in a comfortable shot from within the circles to take this game to OT.

OT, as was the case for the entire game, did not disappoint but did end rather prematurely when Rapperswil's Jordan Schroeder fired in a rocket after going 2-on-1 with teammate Maxim Noreau. Both players finished the night with three points and were two of the sharpest players of the game.