Vitkovice Ridera Ostrava started the night with a one-goal deficit to make up, but finished it with an overtime goal from Radoslav Tybor to become the first team to earn a spot in this year's Quarter-Finals. Read more in Gamecentre. 

by Derek O'Brien

We knew that one of these teams would become the first Czech team to advance to the CHL Quarter-Finals, and that honour goes to Vitkovice Ridera Ostrava after Radoslav Tybor's breakaway goal in overtime broke the aggregate deadlock against Bili Tygri Liberec.

“It was my first game for Vitkovice and I’m very happy,” beamed Tybor, who recently transferred to Vitkovice from Dukla Trencin in Slovakia, but has CHL experience from playing the past two seasons in Pardubice. “It was very hard for me in the first period, I haven’t played on this level for a long time, but after that it was okay. I’m very happy that I was able to help my team with the deciding goal. I’m looking forward for the next round.”

Vitkovice entered the home game trailing by a goal after last week's loss, but Roman Szturc put them ahead with two goals. A late goal from Liberec's Michal Bulir broke Daniel Dolejs's shutout and forced overtime. Dolejs was brilliant all night for Vitkovice, stopping 42 of 43 Liberec shots, while Roman Will at the other end turned away 25 of 27 Vitkovice offerings.

Things looked good early for Liberec, who had the aggregate lead and went to the power play at the 4:42 mark. However, Vitkovice was strong on the penalty kill and Stanslav Balan pounced on a puck in the neutral zone and head-manned it to Szturc. Szturc caught the Liberec defence flat-footed and then made a great move to the backhand on Roman Will to score, meaning that Vitkovice had equalized the aggregate score in the same manner Liberec scored last week's lone goal – shorthanded.

Liberec put on all kinds of pressure for the rest of the period to try to get back in front, but Dolejs was perfect. In the 12th minute there was a mad flurry in his crease but he kept the puck out. 

Nobody scored in the second period, with both Will and Dolejs perfect, but the period ended with an interference penalty plus an additional minor for unsportsmanlike conduct to Vitkovice's Jan Vytisk, meaning that Liberec had a golden chance to start the third with a four-minute power play.

However, Vitkovice killed off the penalty and then, less than a minute later, they took the lead. Yan Stastny intercepted a pass and fed Szturc, who again showed his soft hands to deke out a Liberec defender and Will for the goal. 

“They are very strong on the penalty kill,” admitted Liberec’s Vladimir Svacina. “We said to ourselves that we had to take quick shots, not long combinations. We were always one step too short.”

With time running out on Liberec, coach Filip Pesan called a timeout with two minutes left and pulled Will for a sixth attacker. That produced the aggregate-tying goal, as Dolejs stopped the original shot from Petr Jelinek, but Bulir was there to put in the rebound with 1:33 to play, forcing overtime.

Once in overtime, it didn't take long to settle it. With the teams skating 3-on-3, Tybor intecepted a pass and skated right in on Will, beating him with a quick wrister and leading to an on-ice celebration as the Vitkovice players poured off the bench.

“I think that it was very interesting for the fans – we’ve never played 3-on-3 overtime,” Tybor said. “As I said before, we are very happy with our win.”

“Every players wants to win every game,” Svacina said. “Today we played for a spot in the Quarter-Finals and our motivation was very high. I hope that Vitkovice will be able to move even further. They are the very first Czech team in Quarter-Finals. I’m going to cheer for them.”