Around The Boards #1: Time to play the game

Welcome to Around The Boards, Velvet Hockey’s new weekly digest out every Wednesday giving the lowdown on all the biggest news from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With the hockey season in its embryonic stages, today’s ATB takes a look at Slovan’s scintillating start, Kladno’s new life in the 1.liga and a brief Slovak Extraliga season.

Slovan Bratislava flying high on the road

Three games, three wins. Slovan have started in top gear
Photo: metallurg.ru

It is fair to say that last season was somewhat of a disappointment for Slovan Bratislava. The team impressed in their debut season in the KHL, before crashing to eventual Gagarin Cup champions Dinamo Moscow, but last year Slovan struggled to gain any sort of momentum and missed out on the postseason. The team has strengthened, especially defensively, during the offseason, and it looks like a new lease of life has been given to Rostislav Čada’s team, as they currently sit third in the Western Conference with a 100% start.

Two of the keys to Slovan’s hot start have been new signings Ladislav Nagy and Johan Backlund. Nagy, who split last season with HC Košice and Jokerit in the Finnish Liiga, signed for the club after making his return to the Slovak national team after a three year absence. Somewhat of a journeyman since his return from the NHL, Nagy appears to be enjoying an Indian summer as the 35 year old has found the back of the net four times in three days. He had the best debut possible for his new team, scoring a hattrick at the Slovnaft Arena as Slovan defeated Medveščak 5-2 in their opening game.

Nagy would also score the game winner for Slovan against reigning Gagarin Cup champions Metallurg Magnitogorsk, an incredible result on the road for the Slovak side. Most recently, they scraped a 3-1 victory over Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

Key to all three of these victories has been the performance of new Swedish goaltender, Johan Backlund. After two seasons, Slovan finally realised that they had to spend some money in order to get a quality backup for Jaroslav Janus, who has been prone to suffer from burnout due to his heavy workload during the regular season. Backlund was given the start against Medveščak and has kept his place in Slovan’s other two games so far. Whilst not the most convincing goaltender, and prone to conceding a soft goal such as Metallurg’s opener on Sunday, Backlund has been on the whole stellar, and a 93.2% save percentage is nothing to sniff at. I will admit that when his signing was announced, I was rather wary following his disappointing numbers for Vityaz Podolsk last season, but the 33 year old Swede is proving both me and other doubters wrong with his play so far.

Slovan will be looking to keep up their good form today as they face Ak Bars Kazan in the final game of their opening three game Russian road trip. The side from Bratislava should enter the game with little fear though, as they have a good record over their Tatar opposition, however, one should bank on the game going to overtime, as all of the games over the last two years between the two teams have ended equal after 60 minutes.

Drop that puck

HK Poprad kicked off the SK Extraliga
season with a 4-2 win over HK Orange 20
Photo: hokejportal.net

League action is finally underway in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Slovak Extraliga kicked off with a game between HK Orange 20 and Poprad, who just about managed to gain entry back into the league after another summer of financial problems. They were given an extension to apply for their Extraliga licence, and fortunately the club from the Tatras managed to complete all their obligations in time. Poprad ran out 4-2 winners with Tomáš Sýkora bagging a hattrick. Marquee summer signing Luboš Bartečko, Lev Poprad’s captain back in 2011/12, added two assists on his return to the Slovak Extraliga.

It has been somewhat a stranger summer in the Slovak Extraliga, and a number of veterans have returned to their native land. Dukla Trenčín, rebuilding after a disasterous year where they finished ninth last season, picked up former Slovak national team regular Branko Radivojevic, as well as signing former Extraliga winning goaltender, Branislav Konrád, looking to get his career back on track after Slovan had to leave him behind in their jump to the KHL. Richard Lintner also returns after splitting last season with Dukla and Dinamo Minsk.

Other big signings in the Slovak Extraliga this summer include Milan Kytnar moving to Banska Bystrica, Radoslav Illo returning from seven years in North America to sign for Martín and Žilina’s signing of Jaroslav Kristek.

Košice look favourites to win the Extraliga, although one would be remiss to ignore Nitra. Jozef Stümpel was in fantastic form last season, scoring 67 points and leading Nitra to the Extraliga finals, where they eventually lost in seven games to Košice. Now 42 years of age, Stümpel signed on late in the summer for another season with his hometown club, with the hope of delivering Nitra its first Extraliga title.

Kladno start off life in the 1.liga with a win

Jaromir Jágr behind the bench at Most
Photo: Tomáš Kostečka, hc-kladno.cz

There has been a lot of soul searching at Kladno over the summer, as the Knights (Rytiři) have been licking their wounds following their relegation from the Extraliga in rather calamitous circumstances. Team owner Jaromir Jágr was on the bench as Kladno began their promotion campaign in Northern Bohemia, where they took on Most. A third period brace from Jan Eberle helped Kladno secure a 5-1 victory on the road.

It has been a summer of change for Kladno, not least as captain of seven seasons, Pavel Patera, left the club to keep his Extraliga career alive with new boys HC Olomouc. Tomáš Kaberle’s return to the NHL also leaves a massive void in the defensive unit, as does Třinec’s signing of the Doudera brothers.

News in Brief:

In some of the least surprising news ever, Slavia today announced that top scorer and all round good guy Jaroslav Bednář will be the team’s captain for the coming Extraliga season after Petr Kadlec left for Plzeň. The 37 year old forward, who angered the Sešívani whilst still a youngster after making the cross city switch to Sparta, will start his ninth season with Slavia with the C on his jersey after being an alternate captain last season. (source)

ŠHK 37 Piešťany president Jaroslav Lušňák announced this week that the EBEL was now a “closed door” for the club. Piešťany are the Slovak Extraliga’s newest club, having joined the Slovak top tier two seasons ago and have taken like a duck to water, reaching the playoff semi-finals twice in two years. Whilst still plugging away in the 1.liga ŠHK 37 attempted for three seasons to gain entry to the EBEL, only to be denied permission by the Slovak Federation. “It certainly would not have been a bad thing that we would have represented the whole of Slovakia, but what happened, happened, and we are happy we can play in the Extraliga”, added Lušňák. Piešťany also felt the financial pinch over the offseason, and budgets look to be lower there for the coming season. (source)

HC Olomouc have strengthened once more following my preview three weeks ago that pencilled them in to finish bottom of the Extraliga table. Petr Fiala's team have just announced they have penned a deal with Slovak forward Martin Cíbak, who split last season with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk and Vityaz Podolsk of the KHL, scoring 15 points in 54 games. Cibak has represented Slovakia at two World Championsips and was a member of the 2010 Olympic roster. (source)

Finally, all signs are pointing towards Martin Ručinský signing on for one more season with Litvinov. A number of Czech journalists on Twitter today have confirmed Ručinský's signing. The 43 year old played 45 times for Litvinov last season, scoring 27 points. He looks set to join Jiří Šlegr on the North Bohemian team's roster. (source)

Watch the Czech Extraliga live…For free!

The Czech Extraliga is arguably the best for live free streaming in the whole hockey world, as every Extraliga game is streamed live, for free on their media platform (http://www.tvtipsport.cz/elh/). The quality of the live picture has improved year on year, and there are commentators present at every game. It is already the best hockey in the world, and it is a bonus that they provide such a good service for fans. These streams are not locked geographically and no sign up is required!

This week's pick of the action

Wednesday: Ak Bars Kazan vs Slovan Bratislava (16:30 GMT)

Friday: Třinec vs Pardubice (17:20 GMT)

Sunday: Nitra vs Piešťany (16:00 GMT)

Tuesday: Slovan Bratislava vs Severstal Cherepovets (18:00 GMT)

CZ/SK Lockout update: Jágr's Kladno steals the headlines.

With the NHL Lockout seemingly stretching from September into October, European hockey is buzzing with the news of locked out NHLers in many cases returning 'home' to play in their domestic leagues. The Czech Extraliga has been one of the most active leagues in the lockout, with a grand total of 18 NHLers taking up spots in the highest level of Czech domestic hockey. The Czech Republic's greatest ever play, Jaromir Jágr, has stolen most of the headlines so far, as the Czech's favourite son returned to lace them up for his hometown team, Rytíři Kladno. Incidentally, Jágr is also an owner of Kladno. However, Jágr is just one of a plethora of NHL stars now on the Kladno roster, as another Kladno native, Montreal Canadiens forward Tomáš Plekanec joined up. Plekanec is currently the top scorer in the Extraliga, racking up 11 points (6+5) in just four games. In comparison, Jágr has been somewhat subdued, with 9 points (2+7) in the same amount of games. Most recently, Plekanec scored a hatrick in a 6:3 rout of Pardubice, which has helped Kladno climb up to fourth place in the Extraliga, after beginning the season with three straight losses. Also featuring on the Kladno roster is another forward, Jiří Tlustý as well as veteran defencemen Tomáš Kaberle and Marek Zidlicky, who have been paired together on the powerplay.

Jaromir Jágr salutes the travelling faithful at the o2.
Photo: Josef Poláček

The furore around Jágr and Kladno has been so intense that the club has decided to move their home games to the o2 Arena in Prague, which is where HC Slavia Praha usually play their home games. In all seriousness it is not that preposterous, as Kladno is only just over 30km from Prague itself, plus the club is providing free transportation for all ticket holders coming from Kladno. Also, if the crowds continue to flock in their droves to watch the games, then long will it continue. Kladno have played two games at the o2 Arena so far, but over 15,000 attended each of the games. It is interesting to note that while HC Lev Praha, just across the city at the Tipsport Arena, are struggling to get over 6,000 to their games, that Kladno, playing in Prague, are getting well over double the crowds. It certainly was strange seeing Slavia playing as the away side at the o2 Arena last Wednesday, as Kladno brought forward their home game with Slavia and played it at the o2. However, it wasn't the debut that Jágr and his comrades were hoping for, as Slavia managed to snatch a 3:2 victory, with more than a little help from their locked out NHLers.

Last season was an awful one for Slavia, their worst in a long time. However, optimism is somewhat high after the club managed to nab Vladimir Sobotka and Roman Červenka. The latter was due to begin his rookie season for the Calgary Flames this year, after two very productive seasons with Avangard Omsk in the KHL. Červenka comes back to the Extraliga after two seasons away. His last campaign, in 2009/10 saw him single handedly carry Slavia to the semi finals. He won the scoring title by a mammoth 18 points, and had more than double the amount of points of anyone else on the Slavia roster. Červenka and Sobotka were paired with Slavia's main off-season acquisition, Jaroslav Kalla, in the game against Kladno, and both of the locked out NHLers had 1+2. However, Slavia still only sit in 10th place, as both Červenka and Sobotka have only added a point each since, and Slavia's anaemic offence has only managed to find the back of the net 10 times in 6 games. Still, if it's any consolation, they are still ahead of fierce rivals Sparta, who signed the extremely average looking Michal Neuvirth, whose save percentage is under .900.

Vladimir Sobotka (red) flattering to deceive with Slavia
Photo: Petr Vančura

Sitting at the top of the Extraliga tree so far is HC Oceláři Třinec, who have won five out of their six games so far. However, they have barely made a splash compared to the likes of Kladno, as they have only brought in Rostislav Klesla. Still, they did manage to bring back Martin Růžička, who has picked up where he left off after the 2011 playoff run, as the flashy forward has already found the back of the net seven times. Interestingly, sitting at the bottom of the table are Bílí Tygři Liberec and HC Pardubice. Petr Nedvěd's Liberec, who promise so much every year yet always fall short, have got off to a dreadful start picking up just three points in six games. Liberec signed defenceman Ladislav Smid and netminder/drunk driver Ondřej Pavelec to lockout deals, but they have yet to shine, with Pavelec being far outplayed by the mercurial Marek Pinc as of now. Even Nedvěd is having a shocker by his standards, scoring only 3 points in 5 games to go along with a -5 rating. On his showing so far, he made the right decision not to make the move to HC Lev.

One place above Nedvěd's flounderers are last seasons champions HC Pardubice, who have forward Aleš Hemský and Jakub Kindl on their roster, as well as the distinct possibility of also grabbing David Krejčí, although insurance issues have been stalling the deal so far. Pardubice, who are desperate to become the first team to retain the Extraliga title since Sparta did it in 2007, are certainly experiencing the winner's hangover on their showings so far, although the losses of Petr Koukal and Jan Kolář to Neftekhimik in the KHL gutted the team of two top quality first liners. Pavel Brendl, their big summer signing, has been dreadful so far, putting up a paltry two points from five games. Martin Růžička's goals against average isn't looking too healthy when it's pushing four as well.

Petr Nedvěd and Ondřej Pavelec both need
to be better for Liberec
Photo: Joerg Stephan

Extraliga new boys Piráti Chomutov are doing well in eighth, and will only improve with the lockout acquisition of Michael Frolik, and the indirect lockout affected transfer of Radek Duda, who was released by Geneve-Servette to make room for locked out NHLers. Duda, arguably more renowned for his antics off-ice rather than on them, is still a top quality addition to a roster that looks big on grit but low on top end talent. If they can add a better goalie (Slovak press was hinting that Slovan outcast Ville Hostikka could be on his way), then making the playoffs should be an achievable goal. Martin Straka's Skoda Plzeň, who are the San Jose Sharks of the Extraliga, made their moves later than most teams, but certainly strengthened their team with the addition of Tuukka Rask in goal, as well as adding Michal Rozsival on the backend. České Budějovice added Canadian Andrew Ferrence and Radek Martinek to their defensive unit. Both incidentally played for the club in the last lockout. Lets hope Ferrence won't flip off the Czech crowds like he did in Bruins colours. The club will need him as the injury struck Jakub Kovář will likely have at least another month on the sidelines. Finally, Vitkovice penned Roman Polak and Pavel Kubina, with the Ostrava side desperate to move up from their current ninth place standing.

Ľubomír Višňovský celebrates
his goal against Avangard
Photo: Ján Skalican/Ziakoo

There is also obvious KHL interest in locked out players, and the likes of Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk have all headed back to their native land to lace up for Dinamo Moscow, SKA St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow respectively. However, both HC Lev Praha and Slovan Bratislava have also jumped on the lock out bandwagon, and both have made some solid acquisitions. Lev bolstered their scoring ranks, signing Jiří Hudler and Jakub Voráček for the duration of the lockout. Voráček has certainly impressed, scoring four points in four games, including a beauty of an assist on his debut against Avangard Omsk. Lev certainly needed some forward help though, as apart from free scoring Jakub Klepiš, they have lacked consistent scoring from their forward ranks. Slovan Bratislava were not to be outshone by their Czech rivals, who sit a remarkable first in the Western Conference with 7 wins in 10 games. Slovan first put pen to paper to sign Ľubomír Višňovský. The former Slovan junior has already made his mark, shoring up Slovan's defence, with the club currently on a five game winning streak which has seen them move up to third in the Western Conference. He also bagged a goal on his debut against Avangard Omsk. The club has also managed to come to an agreement with another top quality Slovak defenceman, as Andrej Sekera will soon join up with the club.

Last but not least, a quick mention for Tomáš Tatar, the only NHL player at the moment who has taken up a place in the Slovak Extraliga, playing for the league's new boys, ŠHK 37 Piešťany. He was part of the roster which sent shockwaves through the Extraliga following his side's 8:2 demolition of HK36 Skalica, a side featuring a number of players in the Slovan system. However, his side were humbled 9:5 by HC Košice two days later. Tatar currently has four points in three games. It is interesting to note how hockey has changed in Slovakia, as the last lockout saw Pavol Demitra, Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa line up for Dukla Trenčín, Višňovský and Miroslav Šatan play for Slovan, Ziggy Pálffy for Skalica, Richard Zednik and Michal Handzus lace up for Zvolen, and even Ladislav Nagy played for Košice. Still, I guess that's a story for another day.

The lockout will once again increase knowledge of European competitions, if only for a few months, but it's certain that the Czech Extraliga, already incredibly competitive, will benefit (from an entertainment point of view) from the influx of Czech NHL talent to the league. It's a boost that the league desperately needs.