2024-04-10 02:50:42
After the events at the end of the fourth semi-final of the hockey extraleague play-off between Sparta and Třinec, today’s continuation of the series in the O2 arena can be very explosive. Prague captain Michal Řepík cut an opponent in the ribs and will miss two matches. Jealousy between the teams has now heated up even more. “An obvious short-circuit,” Spartan legend Pavel Richter assesses Řepík’s foul.
With Sunday’s semi-final in Třinec tied, Řepík took the hockey stick in both hands and punched Patrik Hrehorčák in the ribs. Subsequently, fierce battles broke out on the ice, the pairs formed by Tomáš Kundrátek and Michal Kempný and Marko Daňo and Filip Chlapík.
“I’m sorry that Řepík slashes our player so insidiously and goes to hide on the substitutes’ bench. It’s a scam,” said Daniel Voženílek from Třinec to his opponent.
The Spartan apologized via a video on the club’s channels and received a two-match suspension from the head of the disciplinary committee, Viktor Ujčík.
And while Radek Duda or Vladimír Vůjtek Sr., who led Řepík to his first World Cup, demanded an even higher stop for the Sparta captain in interviews with the newspaper Sport, Řepík’s long-time teammate Michal Birner came up with a completely opposite opinion.
“Two games for Repa is a complete joke. If in the playoffs all the players were to roll like this after every ax they get, then that’s football. The playoffs are a war, and that’s why we all love him,” wrote Birner on the X social network .
Richter considers the punishment adequate, Řepík disappointed him with his intervention. “I would have expected it from anyone else, but not from him. It was a short circuit, he went there like a machete, that’s really not done,” he evaluates for Aktuálně.cz.
“He plays power plays and all important situations. Sparta will miss him, it’s a complication, it shouldn’t have been like this. But let’s face it, the team has to get over it,” continues the man who played a total of 11 seasons in the red jersey.
Sparta still leads the series 3:1 and today from 18:30 they will have a second chance to complete their progress to the finals. This time in front of the home fans. Richter will not be missing from the stands.
“I expect 15 or 16,000 fans to come, I’m really looking forward to it. Třinec did break Sparta, but the advantage is still on their side. It will be their ninth game in the playoffs, Třinec already their twelfth. But they laugh the most in Pardubice, they wish, let the opponent give them a good beating in the final,” says Richter.
While Kempného was booed in Třinec on Sunday (because of Saturday’s foul on Hrehorčák), in Prague we can expect a similar reaction to Voženílek or perhaps Daň, who earned the label of a simulant from some fans in the playoffs.
“It’s a terribly tense series. It got worse after Voženielka’s stupid foul in the second match. Since then, the players sometimes go after each other unnecessarily, higher penalties are dealt with,” Richter regrets.
“The referee goes to watch the video for every stupid thing, after Voženílka’s foul they didn’t even go to Chlapík,” he goes back to the situation from match number two. The Třineck attacker was punished additionally, but he appealed and only cost one match.
“And you could see how much the team missed him. The spectators in Třinec saw him in the stands, some stood up and applauded. He is important for Třinec and very unpleasant for Sparta. He provoked them to some nonsense,” describes Richter.
He considers the fifth duel to be crucial. If the series were to return to Třinec again, it would get even more tangled and the Steelers would come closer to a turnaround.
“But I think that Sparta will beat it. Of the potential three matches that remain, they have two at home. Because of this advantage, the whole 52 rounds are actually played. In addition, it seems to me that compared to Třinec, they have more balanced and better four attacking formations,” he judges 1985 World Champion.
The people of Prague lost to Třinec in the previous year’s final and last year’s quarter-final (in both cases 2:4), but this year they are managing the key moments of the semi-final so far.
“In the second match, they equalized eight seconds before the end, then turned it around in extra time. The third match also went to extra time. It determines the character of the whole series, which is otherwise incredibly balanced. The score could easily have been 3:1 for Třinec,” admits Richter.