HC Kosice defeated KAC Klagenfurt in a shootout on Thursday night to secure a spot in the Champions Hockey League's Round of 32. After the game, goaltender Dominik Riecicky and forwards Jiri Bicek and Marek Bartanus expressed their feelings. 

by Tomas Schugerl

KOSICE – Before the start of this year's Champions Hockey League, HC Kosice had a goal of finishing in the top two teams in Group H and reaching the playoff stage. Thanks to Thursday night's 2–1 shootout win on home ice over KAC Klagenfurt, they've accomplished that goal and will play in the Round of 32.

Dominik Riecicky was one of Kosice's heroes of game, stopping 18 of 19 shots in 65 minutes of hockey and stopped all four of Klagenfurt's shootout attempts. He was satisfied after the game with big smile. 

“It's true that the opposing goalie faced more shots,” Riecicky said about Klagenfurt goalie Pekka Tuokkola, who stopped 39 of 40 shots. “However, I was also concentrating well and felt fine. The shootout finished well for us, we work on that a lot in practice, so I am glad that we did it.”

“We didn't start so well, Kosice played good. It was hard for us – our players didn't have much space on the ice. Our performance wasn't as good as we needed today, I am a little disappointed in that,” Tuokkola said afterward from the opposite dressing room.

Jiri Bicek is Kosice's Cramo Top Scorer and scored the the team's lone goal in the game, as well as the shootout-winning goal. He played on a line with Jakub Suja and Marek Bartanus, which was dangerous the whole game. 

“It was a tough game,” Bicek began. “We knew, that we needed at least two points to qualify for the playoffs. However, we didn't plan to play defensively, we just wanted to play responsibly without mistakes. We were holding  the 1–0 lead for a long time, then Klagenfurt scored just after the power play ended and tied it.”

Klagenfurt's goal was scored by Kevin Kapstad, just two seconds after a Kosice penalty had ended, so it was essentially a power play goal with just 5:30 remaining in the third period to give the visitors some life.   

After the game, Kapstad explained that, “Hockey is all about momentum changes. It was like that with our equalizer – it definitely gave the whole team a lift right after that. But we didn’t score a second goal, so what can you do?”

Bartanus missed several minutes of the first game between these teams last Sunday in Klagenfurt. It looked like an injury, but he finished that game and also played well in the home game against Klagenfurt. He could be also satisfied with a team performance and result. 

“We are happy to win. It was our target to make the playoffs and we're glad to have done that. It was a great game, thanks to all guys for their effort, especially Riecicky. He was unbelievable,” Bartanus raved. 

It seemed that all of the Kosice players had nothing but praise for their netminder. 

“What can I say about the performance of Riecicky?” Bicek asked rhetorically. “He also stopped one big opportunity from Klagenfurt in the third period. We really wanted badly to make the playoffs – everything we did was geared toward that and I'm very happy that we won the game.” 

“We are happy that the game was great for 'Richie',” Bartanus continued. “I hope that he will continue to play this way for as long as possible. At the same time, I believe that Marcel Melichercik will recover from his injury and we will have two great goaltenders.”

Bartanus went on to explain that, despite needing only two points to make the playoffs, Kosice set out to try to win it in regulation time, and nearly did that. “We started the game pretty well, had more shots on goal. The game was tight, that's true, but we still had more chances, hit crossbars, etc. It's unfortunate that we didn't win in regulation time, but that didn't discourage us and we won in the shootout.” 

“We don't play games like this every day,” Bartanus said about facing international competition in the CHL. “We got some experience last season, and we want more this season. We've reached our goal of making the playoffs, and now we're looking forward to playing more games. Playing against opponents from Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, etc . . . That's great for us. We don't play against them every day. We want to enjoy these great games in the CHL!”