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After five long years, Oceláři Třinec’s reign as Extraliga champion is over, following the team’s quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Sparta Prague.
Actually, it’s been longer than that. The last time a team other than Třinec won the Czech league title was Kometa Brno in 2017-18. Třinec won it all in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. There was no champion in 2019-20 due to the pandemic causing the cancellation of the playoffs.
Sparta finished first overall in the Extraliga standings this season with 104 points in 52 games. Třinec finished 10th in the 14-team circuit with 74 points and had to win a play-in series against HC Litvínov to reach the quarters while Sparta rested. On paper, this shouldn’t have even been close.
But although this series ended in five games, they were five close games – five one-goal games with two decided in overtime. At some point in all five games, Třinec had the lead.
“Faith in the team, in our teammates,” explained Sparta forward and former OttawaSenator Filip Chlapík, who had six points in the five games. “Every game we play, we believe we can come back.”
“Everyone wants to dethrone the winner,” said Třinec’s ancient mariner, 39-year-old Martin Růžička who, in addition to the run of five in a row, was a member of the club’s first championship win in 2011.
Last season, the team came perilously close to being knocked off on numerous occasions – Třinec fought off seven match points in the playoffs, including a four-game comeback against Sparta in the semifinals.
That semifinal series last year was something else. Sparta, the higher seed, won the first three games before seeing their series lead dwindle to 3-2. In each of the last two games, Sparta carried the lead into the final minute of regulation time only to see Třinec tie it and win in overtime. Game 7 lasted until the fourth overtime before Miloš Roman scored the series winner.
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Down 0-3 in semis, Třinec wins 4 straight vs Sparta, wins Game 7 in 4OTOceláři Třinec, the four-time reigning champion of the Czech Extraliga, has kept alive its “drive for five” in the most improbable of ways. “We won five times in a row, so everyone was gunning for us – Sparta, Pardubice,” Růžička continued, referring also to the team they beat in last year’s finals. “We believed in each other. We knew what it tasted like, what we had to do for it. Unfortunately, it’s over.”
“Even though it was 3-1, we said, ‘Don’t trust them because they are so dangerous,’” Sparta coach Pavel Gross said about his team’s lead in Game 5. “(Then) boom, it was already 3-2. But we managed the rest of the game well.”
“It had to happen eventually,” Růžička admitted. “This is a feeling I haven’t experienced in seven years. It’s a bummer, of course, but I’d like to congratulate Sparta. They deserve it.”
The two teams met again in this season’s Champions Hockey League quarterfinals, where Sparta won 5-2 on aggregate before bowing out in the semis.
“They're a great team – they won five in a row,” said Sparta captain Miroslav Forman. “Hats off to them. They played great. They were just as strong as last year.
“We knew, with all due respect to everyone else. that this was the toughest opponent we could get. We’re glad we were the ones to finish them off.”
As for Sparta, perhaps the Třinec demon has been exorcised, but this is still a team that hasn’t won a national title since 2007. Since then, strong regular seasons followed by playoff disappointments have become the norm.
“It’s only the quarterfinals; we still have a long way to go,” said Chlapík.
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Caps Prospect Petr Sikora Out Of Czech Playoffs With Leg Injury Czech center Petr Sikora will miss the remainder of the 2025 Extraliga playoffs with an injury, according to a social media post on Thursday from his club, Oceláři Třinec. Continue reading...
