After the victory in Trenčín, Košice players played on home ice against the current standings leader, Banská Bystrica. If three points were scored by the Steelers, they could move up in rank. But Banská Bystrica came to Košice with the aim to win the match as well as to make amends for their previous loss and to stay at the top position. There was a lot at stakes!

Our players had a great start to the match when they spent most of the first period in the offensive zone and hardly gave their opponent any chance. This is confirmed by the fact that after the first twenty minutes, the shots ratio was 23:9. Winger Martin Belluš was the first Steelers player to score a goal when he finished the beautiful action of the whole power-play formation and made Košice the leader of the match. In the second period, Banská Bystrica was more active and they were slowly increasing their shots ratio. In addition, during their own defense play, Lunter scored and tied the game. In a similar style, Banská Bystrica entered the last period. Within three minutes, they managed to score two more goals. Nevertheless, the Steelers didn't give up. A glimmer of hope was given by another shooter, Dávid Růžička. However, following minutes of the match without goalie didn't bring any goals for our players, Banská Bystrica then increased the score to 2:4.

Dávid Růžička: “We're responsible for the loss. It's inadmissible that Banská Bystrica scored 2 goals during our power plays and that we didn't use any of these plays. It's our responsibility and maybe we lacked the strength. On the positive side, we didn't give up and we tried to the score at the end of the match. We showed our character. When I scored, I threw the puck from the forehand to the backhand, I just wanted to score a goal, their forward tipped the puck so it hit the net. It was a lucky goal, but these goals count as well. Unfortunately, that's not enough... Bystrica had amazing power plays, they kept us under the pressure and overall, they were more tactical and effective. During the next match with Zvolen, we must be humbler, have a clear head and play our game. I believe that we will be even better, but we must be steady. It shouldn't be a constant roller coaster.”

Andrej Košarišťan: “We fought during the whole match. Unfortunately, our opponent managed to score goals while we didn't. I'm sorry that we didn't score more goals, but we must learn from what happened, move on and improve the game. I believe that it will be better next time. In the 1st period, we played well, that's positive. However, we conceded 2 goals during our power plays, that's unfortunate and it shouldn't happen. After the 1st period, we eased up on the play and that goal might have hurt us a little, and that slowed us down.”

Jurij Repe: “As they have already mentioned, the beginning of the match was great, but I don't know if we eased up on the play or what happened, it just can't happen again. We need to play for 60 minutes as well as we played in the first period. We must learn from this and move on! The concentration was the main problem. We must play well during all periods, we mustn’t concede 2 goals in our power play, all these are fatal mistakes. If all three periods were played like the first one, we would gain 3 points. Wednesday is a new day, new match. We must prepare for it, get some rest and try to win the match. It won't be easy, we must play our own game and then it will be alright.”

Juraj Milý: “The beginning was great, the 1st period was amazing. Then we eased up a little bit but at the end we fought. It's such a pity that we didn't tie the score. The 1st period was definitely one of the best ones, in next periods, there were also some bright moments but not so many. We must play well during the whole match. Bystrica always plays the same, their typical powerful hockey. We knew what lied ahead, we were prepared so I don't think that they surprised us, the match was about details and Bystrica was better. The concentration is the key. We are really sorry that we are not so successful in front of our fans. There were those kids last game, there were many people today, we want to win because of them, we want to attract them to the stadium and that's the most annoying! We have to win on home ice, Steel arena is our stadium, we cannot lose again.”

Martin Belluš: “We started well. We were leading in the first period, we played how we wanted to play, and it all went wrong in the second period. It was like we stopped doing some things, we conceded a goal in our power play and similar one in the third period. This might have been these moments which broke us. I heaved a sigh of relief when I scored a goal. But I am sorry that it wasn't enough. We tried to change it at the end, we scored the contact goal but unfortunately, we couldn’t tie the score. I don't think that we eased up. We just didn't do certain things the way we should. Banská Bystrica is always strong opponent, they play great hockey during the whole match. We are sorry, we shouldn't lose on home ice. We must work on it because we want our fans to support us, we want to have as many fans as possible, so we must start winning and do something.”

Tomáš Slovák: “The first period was good, we played the way we wanted to. It was collective, people were driving us forward. However, in the second period we gave them a chance to score in our power play. They were better, playing on the puck, we had no momentum. When compared to previous matches, we were more eager, it was obvious that we wanted to prove that we can win against team like Banská Bystrica. Power plays are still problematic, we must improve them to be our advantage, not disadvantage. According to the results, it looks like we play better against stronger opponents so far. Therefore, I believe that we will be well prepared for Zvolen.”

Team coaches evaluate the match:

Dan Ceman, main coach of HC '05 iClinic Banská Bystrica: “Košice started the first period better, they skated more than we did. In the second period, there were more attacks from our side, we skated more and played the system we wanted to play. At the end of the match, we took the chance and the goalie was our best player. We are glad for points we earned.”

Peter Draisaitl, main coach of HC Košice: “From my point of view, today's match was all about effectiveness. We shot forty shots and had many chances which should resulted in more goals. Even today, however, we struggled, and we can no longer find anyone who can change something under such pressure. We must find a way so we will not struggle and make use of it at the same time. In addition to that, Majdan couldn’t finish the match so we had to mix it a bit, but I don't want to make excuses. I think we played very well today, so I don't understand why we didn't win. We were probably playing against the strongest opponent in the league and we had a chance to win.”