Trinec won Czech Midget Extraleague

This year HC Ocelari Trinec and HC Continental Zlin fought their way into the finals. Trinec captain Premysl Skapa acquired presents from the general sponsor Nutella for the regular season’s best team and also Trinec was said to be a slightly better team than Zlin. During the whole season Trinec, coached by respected coach Radomir Kuzilek, played an attractive offensive style where lots of goals were scored. They were dominating the B Group and swept their opponents with ease on their way to the finals. No wonder, they have lots of gems on the team. Centers of all three lines have seen playing time with the Under-16 team this season, with swift skating Jan Danecek being the best one. But unfortunately, after suffering a broken ankle early in the season, Danecek had severe problems with his ankle again and was sidelined for the whole series. The other two centers are then Radomir Cizek and David Krejci. Tough, sized Vaclav Meidl was also a regular for the youngest Czech national team this season and is considered to be a solid 2004 prospect. Two more Trinec players wore the Czech national team sweater this season. Forwards Michal Rak and Jan Steber skated for the Under-17 team in 2001-2002 and this duo appeared also on the World Hockey Challenge. Trinec also boasts two 1987 born gems, who have an international career ahead. Skilled forwards Tomas Pospisil and Ondrej Fiala (isn’t eligible until the 2006 NHL Entry Draft) showed a steady improvement during the season and will likely play for the Under-16 team next season.

On the other side, Zlin relied more on defense and team play than on the showings of bright individualities. They have only two players who have seen a significant playing time for any of the junior national teams. Stay-at-home defenseman Jiri Paska was a regular with the Under-17 team while playmaker Stanislav Balan fought his way into the Under-16 team. There are two more players in Zlin who could pan out to be bright prospects. Twins Roman Psurny and Michal Psurny, 1986 born, shone for the 9th grade team last year and this year they adjusted to the midget cathegory extremly well and were one of the leading personalities. Zlin had his advantage in better defense and size of the players – Trinec waterbugs had only five players taller than 5’10” on their roster.

The first contest took place in the Trinec Arena and the idea of a high-scoring offensive game could be forgotten after the first minutes. Both teams were waiting for the mistakes of the opposition and both goalies stole the show – Marek Wolf in the net for Trinec and Tomas Sturala for Zlin. And Zlin was the team who made the first mistake. Trinec’s Jaroslav Hubner broke into the Zlin zone off the left wing, avoided a hit from the defenseman and has beaten Sturala blocker side high. Zlin was a bit down then but they found their game again soon.
But on the other side, Trinec increased the lead. It was a play of the elite line, consisting of national team players Jan Steber-David Krejci-Michal Rak. Steber won the puck at the boards in the neutral zone and as he crossed the blue line, has left it behind himself, where Michal Rak was waiting for this situation. Rak then immediately fed David Krejci, who had a good scoring chance now. Krejci shuffled the puck, made two strides to improve his position and after aiming his shot he sent it behind Tomas Sturala’s back. This turned out to be the game winner, scored with two minutes left to play in the second.
Soon after the opening faceoff of the third period Roman Psurny fired a wrist shot on Wolf, who allowed a rebound but Psurny instead of trying to shoot again went with the puck behind the net and found his twin Michal with his pass. Michal Psurny then chipped the puck into the empty net to cut the deficit. Zlin pressed hard in the third stanza but even if Trinec made some mistakes, Zlin couldn’t make use of them. Marek Wolf made 38 saves to earn the win and now Trinec was just one win shy from the championship title.

Zlin didn’t want to see Trinec crowned in their own arena, but faced serious trouble with injuries. So it came that on the third line there had to be three defensemen used to fix the roster. The pace of this contest was the same as the game before and Trinec picked up where they left last game – with some dumb penalties and mistakes. But they could get rid of it soon as head coach Kuzilek used his authority. After that it was a waiting for the first goal, which could be the deciding one. Once again, Trinec scored first. David Krejci made a beautiful pass across the neutral zone right on the tape of Michal Rak, who was waiting at the Zlin’s blue line. Thanks to this Rak was awarded by a breakaway situation. With a bit of luck he deked Tomas Sturala with his backhand move and gave the lead to Trinec. David Krejci could give Trinec a two-goal cushion as he raced for another breakaway in the second period, but this time Sturala was the succesfull one. Trinec created a steady pressure, but Zlin was still able to create scoring chances. However, all of them ended on Marek Wolf, who had another stellar showing that game. So it came that after 60 minutes of the game Trinec midgets could celebrate the championship title with the golden medals around their necks and captain Premysl Skapa hoisted the cup for the Midget Extraleague champions. The win was really a deserving one!

Top playoff scorers Trinec