HC Sparta Prague Reach Extraliga Quarter-Finals After Dramatic Playoff Preliminary Series Against Kladno
The quarter-final series against HC Plzeň in western Bohemia begins for Sparta on Wednesday
Foto: HC Sparta Praha | Facebook
HC Sparta Prague have reached the quarter-finals of the Extraliga. After a dramatic series against Kladno, the Prague side will now face a particularly defensively strong opponent in HC Plzeň.
HC Sparta Prague qualified for the quarter-finals of the Extraliga after a dramatic playoff preliminary series against Kladno. Captain Filip Chlapík decided the fifth game only in the 77th minute with a powerplay goal to secure a 3–2 victory. Sparta will now face a strong opponent in HC Plzeň.
In the playoff preliminary round against Kladno, the team from the capital struggled with bad luck for a long time in the decisive game. Sparta struck the goal frame several times, and the decisive goal was slow to come. Captain Filip Chlapík ultimately saved his goal for the crucial moment: in the 77th minute of the fifth game, he fired his team into the quarter-finals with an unstoppable volley in the powerplay.
Foto: HC Sparta Praha | Facebook
The quarter-final series against HC Plzeň in western Bohemia begins for Sparta on Wednesday, 18 March. Sparta will meet the team from western Bohemia in the playoffs for the first time in ten years. The series will then move to the traditional arena in Holešovice on Sunday, 22 March.
Plzeň are enjoying a strong season. Under coach Josef Jandač, the team worked its way to the top of the Extraliga and finished the regular season in second place with 93 points. The foundation of this success is above all an excellent defence: with only 104 goals conceded, Plzeň had the best defence in the league.
Foto: HC Sparta Praha | Facebook
In the regular season Sparta had a negative record against the “Indians”. However, a look at history tends to favour the Prague side. The two clubs now meet in the playoffs for the third time – and Sparta prevailed in both previous encounters, in the quarter-finals in 1998 and the semi-finals in 2016.
A special constellation also arises when looking at the past: when the two teams last faced each other ten years ago in the battle for a place in the final, current Plzeň coach Josef Jandač was still sitting on Sparta’s bench.
Foto: HC Sparta Praha | Facebook
The quarter-final series begins with two games in Plzeň on Wednesday, 18 March, and Thursday, 19 March. The first home game in Holešovice will follow on Sunday, 22 March. At least one more game is scheduled there for the following day, 23 March.
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