International Ice Hockey Federation

Tychy does it again

Tychy does it again

Polish team moves on to third round

Published 24.10.2016 12:10 GMT+2 | Author Martin Merk
Tychy does it again
The GKS Tychy players are all smiles after winning Group C of the Continental Cup on home ice. Photo: Michal Giel
Like one year ago GKS Tychy won its second-round tournament of the Continental Cup on home ice. Now the Polish team hopes to make the final round again.

Overcoming the first hurdle wasn’t easy though for the runner-up from the Polish league. After blanking Romanian champion Dunarea Galati 12-0 on the opening day including hat tricks from Adam Baginski and Mateusz Bepierszcz they struggled in the second game.

On Saturday evening Tychy outshot Acroni Jesenice 41-26 but had trouble beating a strong Slovenian goalie Zan Us.

Jaroslav Kristek scored Tychy’s only goal of the game to open the scoring with 41 seconds left in the middle frame but Martin Oraze tied it up for Jesenice on a two-man advantage early in the second period and Marjan Manfreda scored the game winner for the Slovenes 77 seconds into overtime.

The loss put the tournament hosts in a difficult position. Hungarian champion DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc started the event with six points after two games with their wins against both Jesenice, 4-1, and Galati, 5-1. Now the Hungarian “Polar Bears” just needed a win or a regulation-time tie against Tychy to advance while the Polish hosts needed a regulation-time win to move back to first place.

Roland Hajos opened the scoring for the team from Miskolc with a power-play marker at 3:36 but Tychy reacted on its man advantages as well. Jaroslav Kristek at 13:42 and Michal Woznica three minutes later gave Tychy a 2-1 first-period lead.

Tychy outshot Miskolc 39-17 but had again trouble hitting the back of the net during the second period while Adrian Toth tied the game at two for the Hungarians on another power play at 1:28 of the frame.

In the third period and after a major penalty against Balint Magosi the Poles eventually found the path to success in front of 2,650 fans. Martin Vozdecky and Michal Kotlorz scored two goals during the five-minute penalty and Kristek with his second marker of the day scored into the empty net with 70 seconds left in the game for the final score of 5-2.

In the next round GKS Tychy will travel to Italian champion Ritten Sport. The other teams in the group from 18 to 20 November will be Shakhtyor Soligorsk from Belarus and Kazakh champion Beibarys Atyrau.

 

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