Last weekend, the second edition of the Indian Cup international tournament for players of the year 2014 took place at the Pilsen ice stadium. This time, 14 teams from Denmark, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic took part in the big competition. Pilsen HC Škoda under the leadership of coach František Roubal sent two teams to the tournament – blue and white.
The teams were drawn into two groups, in which matches were first played head-to-head. In the next phase of the battles, the first four teams from each group started the classic play-off battles, the remaining three teams from each group continued to face each other for the 9th-14th place.
After playing the basic groups, both teams from Pilsen faced each other in the quarterfinals. It must be said that it was an exciting battle in which the white team resisted the favorites for a long time, who have not lost a point so far. The blues were unable to make several substitutions, mainly thanks to the excellent performance of goalkeeper Jakub Novák in the whites’ goal. In the end, however, the blues took advantage of their game superiority and left the game victorious after twenty-four minutes.
The whites then continued to fight for 5th – 8th place and finally won a great seventh place. In the following semi-final, the Blues defeated the German ESVK Kaufbeuren 15:3, who on their way to the semi-final surprisingly knocked out one of the candidates for the overall victory – also the German AEV Augsburg 5:4 after separate raids. In the final, the Blues met the players of České Budějovice Motor, who lost only two points in the course of the tournament so far.
The exciting final in front of the stormy atmosphere created by the parents and players of all the other teams had an exciting course, Pilsen had to turn the unfavorable score 0:2. In the next course, exemplarily in the spirit of fair play, coach František Roubal called off a questionable goal into the Budejovice goal. Nevertheless, thanks to the deployment of all three offensive lines supported by the reliable performance of the goalkeeper Allan Dietl, after thirty minutes they were happy not only with a 9:5 win, but mainly with the overall victory in the tournament, where they did not taste the bitterness of defeat!
At the closing ceremony, they received their gold medals from the hands of A team players Miroslav Indrák, Jakub Pour and Tomáš Mertl. And to the youth manager, Mr. Jaroslav Špaček, they figuratively sent the best gift for his round birthday from afar as a thank you for supporting this great tournament.
The fourth team not only managed to defend their victory last year, but also successfully followed up on their triumph in the form of victory at the recent Christmas tournament played in front of the home fans on the big field – details HERE!
Lineup HC Škoda Plzeň white team: Novák – Lambot, Budín, Liška – Krofta, Vajskébr, Vašta – Novotný L., Halama, Pelikán, Zrna
Lineup of HC Škoda Plzeň blue team: Dietl – Palek, Kejř, Paštěka – Vítovec, Uxa, Pohanka – Čížek, Větrovský, Macháček
Coach František Roubal
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the fact that we were able to organize this extraordinary tournament in Pilsen. I smile in front of the people who took it up and saw it through to a successful conclusion. They were rewarded with recognition and thanks for a great tournament from representatives of all teams.
We had two teams registered for the tournament. And I must say without exaggeration that the seventh place of the “whites” has the same weight for me as the gold medal of the “blues”.
They significantly outplayed their opponents throughout the weekend, and it was about not letting up and being just as dominant even against tougher opponents. This was finally achieved in the match against Augsburg and in the medal matches. In the semi-final against a more physically advanced opponent from Kaufbeuren, the boys left at a great pace and almost did not let the guests play on the disc. In the final, we met Motor České Budějovice, the most hockey-minded team in the second group. After hesitations in the beginning, we took a two-goal deficit, which was unpleasant. But the commitment and desire of the boys to win the whole tournament was huge. We turned the match in our favor and already controlled the end.
Ambitions were not so high for the “whites”. The point was that the other guys from the team would also have the opportunity to play matches and not just watch from the stands at those who are currently a bit ahead of them in terms of hockey. They had a harder time, but I have to give everyone a thumbs up. After Saturday’s unsuccessful match against the German Ottobrunn, when we did nothing at all, it looked like we were at the bottom. But on Sunday, the boys really pulled together and managed to win a place in the playoffs. There we met against each other with the blue team, but the fight and commitment was great from everyone. We played the following game against the favored Augsburg very well, but unfortunately we did not maintain a three-goal lead. The boys, and perhaps the parents, got their taste in the final match against Karlovy Vary Energia, which they managed to defeat 3:2 and secure a place in the top half of the table. A great result for me.
The final standings of the 2nd edition of the Indian Cup tournament
1. HC Škoda Plzeň “Blues”
2. HC Banes Motor Ceske Budejovice
3. HC Letci Letňany
4. ESVK Kaufbeuren
5. HC Pirates Chomutov
6. AEV Augsburg
7. HC Škoda Plzeň “Whites”
8. Karlovy Vary Energy
9. HC Meteor Třemosná
10. HK Carpathian Sokol
11. Musketeers Skillmaster
12. EHC 80 Icetigers Norimberk
13 .ERSC Ottobrunn
14. HC Copenhagen Falcons