HC DYNAMO PARDUBICE – Match report: Dynamo Pardubice

The juniors from Pardubice won both semi-final duels in Třinec and on Easter Monday had the opportunity to advance to the final of the extra league competition. They succeeded! After Štěpán Lempach’s opening goal and Vít Mack’s hat trick, they won 4:1 at home.

Youth Extraliga, SF3, Monday 1 April 2024, Pardubice, enteria arena

Dynamo Pardubice

Steel workers Třinec

4:1

2:0, 0:0, 2:1

Goals and saves: 12:10 Lempach (Sekanina; 5/5), 13:33 Macek (Rolinek, Krčál; 5/5), 50:38 Macek (Křečan; 5/5), 57:53 Macek (Krčál, Ruml; 5/5 ) – 45:45 Karas (Rípa, Byrtus; 5/4). Referee: Wagner, Zavřel – Maštalíř, Brož. Spectators: 210. Exclusion: 5:5. Use: 0:1. Shots on goal: 37:28. Course of the match: 2:0, 2:1, 4:1.

Dynamo Pardubice: Tuláček – Ruml, Vápeník, Novosad, Křečan, Řehořek – Korec, Tvrdik, Mikeska, Úlehla, Joska, Drábek, Sekanina, Krčál, Lempach, Rolinek, Macek, Novák.

Třinec steelworkers: Skácel – Marek, Karas, Kaleta, Niemczyk, Holub, Byrtus – Rybnikár, Řípa, Řehák, Hladoník, Morcinek, Hrček, Hebar, Polášek, Richter, Spaskin, Weiss.

At the beginning of the match, the Steelers were slightly more active in the offensive direction. Dynamo seemed to be more focused on careful defending followed by quick offensive bursts. In the 13th minute, the East Bohemians opened the scoring, namely a free Štěpán Lempach beat goalkeeper David Skácel with a clever loop after Sekanin’s pass. A minute later, Pardubice was leading 2:0. Vít Macek found the rebounded puck in front of the goal area and sent it under the crossbar out of the goalkeeper’s reach. The guests could not react in the rest of the first period, so the home team went into the next period with a comfortable lead.

The team of head coach Vojtěch Faltys could increase the two-goal difference in the power play after Karas was sent off in the 25th minute. However, they did not use the numerical advantage. The second period overall offered relatively balanced hockey with some chances on both sides. However, the teams entered the third period with the same score.

While Pardubice did not take advantage of another power play, Třinec reduced it to 2:1 at the end of theirs in the 46th minute thanks to Antonín Karas. However, the Pardubice hockey players did not allow the opponent to equalize in front of the packed auditorium of the small hall, and Macek made it 3:1 in the 51st minute. The prolific striker then completed the hat-trick two minutes before the final siren when he hit an empty net in a weakened position. At the end of the match, the referees handed out a few more penalties, but Matěj Tuláček did not collect any more. He was able to celebrate with his teammates the promotion to the finals of the youth Extraliga.

Vojtěch Faltys (HC Dynamo Pardubice): “We knew that the match would be difficult, just like both in Třinec. We were preparing for the fact that, of course, we won’t get anything for free. We are very happy that we were productive in the first period and led 2-0. We still had two or three other big scoring opportunities that we didn’t convert. Otherwise, the third was good from the half, even in terms of games. The second part did not go well for us at all. Although we created some opportunities in the offensive zone, we held the puck too much and we voluntarily let Třinec into chances because we were passing the puck to him. During the break, we reminded the boys what and how, although of course he knows it. In the third period, we improved significantly, but at the end of our weakening, the opponent reduced the score to 2:1. I’m glad that we didn’t get completely nervous and kept playing the same way. Then we scored a very important goal to make it 3:1, which calmed us down. And despite some other exclusions at the end of the match, we took care of it and scored an empty net. So kudos to the team for the whole series. The matches in Třinec were very balanced. We had more opportunities during the matches, but they were better mainly in the final minutes of the duels. Both goalkeepers were an important factor, with Matěj Tuláček supporting us a lot in every game. That’s a necessary part of performance in the playoffs. I also want to highlight a lot of important goals by Vito Mack, whose hard work after injury paid off. Key moments were also the decisive goals of captain Tomáš Rolinka in extra time. Overall, the hockey in the series was very competitive. And we are already looking forward to the final.”