HC Košice - HKM Zvolen 0:3 (0:0, 0:2, 0:1)

Goals and assists: 36. Špirko (Matis), 40. Špirko (Chovan, Coffman), 49. Kytnár (Šišovský, Ťavoda)

Penalized players: 5:1 for two minutes, power plays: 0:1, short-handed plays: 0:0, referees: Novák, Štefik – R. Gajan, Smrek, 4287 visitors

HC Košice: Habal (Lundström) – Šedivý, Čížek, Dudáš (A), Kessel, Pulli, Koch, Michalčin – Nagy (C), Pacan, Miklík – Jenčík, Hovorka (A), Kafka – Šoltés, Suja, Hričina – Vrábeľ, Hudák

HKM Zvolen: MacIntre (Šimko) – Kováčik, Ťavoda, Ross, Ulrych, Hraško (A), Bokroš, Síkela, Zeleňák – Chovan (A), Kytnár (C), Šišovský – Obdržálek, Steen, Coffman – Ďaloga, Špirko, Matis – Kelemen, Fekiač, Török

Before the match was opened, HC Košice management together with the fan club and players of the former VSŽ celebrated the 30th anniversary of its second federal title won - the champion of Czechoslovakia. Golden guys from 1987/1988's season were rewarded with memorial plaques by the President of HC Košice Július Lang and the executive manager of HC Košice Rastislav Rusič.

After that, both teams entered the match with a great amount of respect towards the opponent, and therefore the beginning of the match was mainly about staying back on own heels. The first goal chance came in the 3rd minute and belonged to Vrábeľ. The young forward gained the puck, but he did not manage to send him behind the back of HKM's goalie. Neither Suja was successful in the 5th minute when he unluckily tipped the puck right by the net of Zvolen. The score could have changed on the other side of the ice as well. Habal almost conceded a goal after the 1st shot already, but finally the net construction saved him. Later, our Czech goalie was successful in a one-to-one game, so the spectators had to content themselves with goal chances only. The players left the ice with score 0:0.

The second period brought easy difference as well, but finally 2 goals were shot. Before that, Matis burnt his chance by letting Habala save his shot. Afterwards, Zvolen outnumbered Košice 3 on 1, but Síkela missed the puck. Neither Ďaloga damaged to score - he received the puck from behind the net, but he missed the net. Therefore, the spectators had to wait for a goal until the 36th minute, when Špirko gained a free puck and placed it to Habala's net. Even before the end of the 2nd period, Špirko showed off with another goal - a power-play goal. Zvolen was leading 2:0 after 40 minutes.

The Steelers entered the 3rd period with a clear intention - overcome Maclntre and fight over the points. Actually it was not easy at all as the defense men of Zvolen did not let them into scoring chances. Despite that, the home players performed few shots on goal. MacIntre's attention was tested subsequently by Pacan and Šoltés, but none of them scored. On the contrary, Kytnár altered the score to 0:3 in the 49th minute. This was the final score, and that means that we were overcome by Zvolen 0:3.

Roman Šimíček, the coach of Košice: "Unfortunately, we can't be satisfied with our performance. We can lose, but not like this. The opponent was definitely better; we were not even able to get into scoring chances. We have played the last 3 matches with three formations and threfore we lacked the strength already after the 1st period."

Peter Mikula, the coach of Zvolen: "The opening minutes of the match were mostly about tactical and patient hockey, both teams tried to familiarize with the other team's strategy. Later we got into it at full blast, we were fast and we made good combinations. We had approximately the same number of chances as Košice, but our shots were more effective and that was decisive."