Martin Sevc played in the CHL last season for Skelleftea AIK and went to the semi-finals. Now he plays for Bili Tygri Liberec and in their first CHL game of the season they faced who else, but Skelleftea.
by Karolina Antosova
LIBEREC – It must have been really weird feeling for Martin Sevc. After a really successful season with Swedish club Skelleftea AIK, the 33-year-old Czech defenceman decided to come back home and play for Bili Tygri Liberec. Maybe it was destiny, maybe not, but Sevc didn’t miss his old pals for a long – his new Czech team met his old Swedish club during the CHL group stage on Sunday.
“With the exception of two guys I know probably everyone from Skelleftea,” he said after a 4–0 loss to his old friends. “Of course it was a really special to play against my former teammates.”
Last season Sevc made the CHL semi-finals and the SHL finals. Good, but short of the team's goals. Now he has a new goal – to succeed and help Liberec become one of the top teams in the Czech Extraliga and the CHL.
Your first CHL game of the new season is now behind you. What do you think about your game against Skelleftea?
Well, apart from the result, I think we played solid and tough game against a very strong team. Unfortunately we didn’t score, and as you know, when you don’t score, you can’t win.
You kept pace with Skelleftea more than half of the game. What was the reason you ultimately lost this game?
Mainly their power play. They capitalized on their chances to score but we didn’t. I think that was the biggest difference. Apart from that it was quite an even game.
You especially had many good scoring chances from the point on the power play. What was the problem that the puck never found the net?
Hard to say. If I had known that, I would have changed it already during the game. I would say that we maybe we weren’t strong enough in front of their net and maybe the shots weren’t that exceptional. No big surprise with Markus Svensson in Skelleftea’s net.
Considering the game, the 4–0 score seems a bit harsh, wouldn't you say?
Harsh or not . . . it doesn’t matter if you lose 1–0 or 5–0. It's still a loss and that's the only thing that counts. We are really disappointed.
It must have been a special game for you personally, because last season you played for Skelleftea. How did you enjoy it?
Of course it was really special to play against my former teammates – with the exception of two guys I know probably everyone from Skelleftea. I know what their style of play looks like and what to expect from some players. On the other hand they probably remember me too. That’s why I’m so disappointed about the loss – I wanted to beat them at home.
Where does the CHL fit among the team's goals for this season?
It’s definitely one of our biggest goals this season. We get ready for the CHL the same way as a normal league game. At least we want to advance from the group stage and hopefully go far in the playoff stage too, but we really need to pick up some points. I think that everything we have done during the pre-season was geared toward this game, and we really wanted to be ready. All four games we played before, we played at full strength – no one tried to save any energy – but it apparently didn’t help. We still have three more game in the group, so we need to win them all.
In the next game you face Nitra. Do you believe you can beat them?
We believed we could beat Skelleftea too, but we need to be well-prepared again. Maybe next time we'll be able to score some goals, unlike this game with Skelleftea . . .