The tipsport League on Sunday will spin its wheels again. After a two-week Olympic break, the Steelers will introduce themselves on the ice-rinks of their opponents. On Sunday they will fight for precious points in Žilina and on Wednesday they will travel to play a derby in Poprad. The fight for the winner of the basic part then starts again!

During the Olympic season the hockey-players of HC Košice spent some time on the fourth place of the Extra League Chart. Last time they managed to win on the ice-rink of the newcomers from Detva 2:1 and increased their point account to 94 points. Also Dukla Trenčín has the same amount of points and against the leading duo of Banská Bystrica-Nitra the Steelers are short jut of 3 points in 7 matches before the end of the basic part!

The leaders of productivity of the Steelers are two Olympic players. In 42 matches the forward Marek Hovorka entered 14 goals and 25 assistances. The captain Ladislav Nagy played in just 36 matches, but he managed to ruffle the opponent's net 21 times and assist with 17 goals. Right behind them is the Canadian center David Pacan. In 47 matches of the Slovak top competition he shot 10 goals and added 24 assistances. In the Extra League the native from Ottawa also belongs among bully experts. His success rate is 62.48% and the total number of 493 won bullies shifted him to the front of this statistics. Among the defenders excels the participant of the last All-star match Eduard Šedivý, who entered 3 goals and 22 assistances to his account. The goalman Vladislav Habal played in 33 matches of the Tipsport League, and lead 23 of them to the winning end. During these matches his success rate climbed up to 93.28%, which places him in the Extra League on the second place behind Michala Valenta from Trenčín. However, the Steelers have another pair of goal tenders.

Our first opponent after the Olympics in Pyongyang will be Žilina. In the last round they “tormented” the players from Poprad, but eventually they lost it 2:3. The Wolves from Žilina are currently on the 7th position of the chart with 60 points. Before Nové Zámky they are ahead by 9 points.

Žilina found their leader during this season and it is Lukáš Handlovský. Due to penalty he did not play in the last matches, but in the current course of the season he played in 38 matches, where he shot 15 goals and added 13 assistances. The second in the row is the Czech legionary Tomáš Klimenta, with the balance of 10 goals and 10 assistances. The defender Peter Mikuš belongs with his 12 points (2 + 10) to the front of Canadian classification of defenders of Žilina's team. As far as the net the obvious leader is Tomáš Tomek, also participant of the All-star competition 2018. In the Tipsport League in this season he played 47 matches, where he maintained 92.69% success rate.

With this opponent we played during this season 5 matches. We enjoyed the victory even 4 times - at home we beat them twice with the result 6:3, and we added the victory 5:2 and in Žilina we enjoyed the match in the 14th round after our victory 3:2. We lost it only once with our Sunday's opponent at the turn of the calendar year, when they beat us 2:3.

On Wednesday our boys will travel towards High Tatras and play with the opponents from Poprad. It was them who last time beat Žilina 3:2 and by this victory they confirmed the 6th position in the chart, where they have 79 points. Against fifth Dukla Trenčín they are losing 15 points already.

The Canadian classification of the team of Poprad is led by two former players of Košice. The forward Patrik Svitana collected in 48 matches 46 points for 19 goals and 27 assistances. Also based on this performance he earned the nomination to the All-star match, where he successfully represented our Tipsport League. The next one in a row is the forward Samuel Mlynarovič. In 49 matches he scored 15 times and passed for additional 19 goals. The leader among the defenders is the duo Peter König and Daniel Brejčák. The second of them also used to play in our team's jersey. Both players gained 20 points in this season – König for 6 goals and 14 assistances, Brejčák rippled the net of the opponent 5 times and added 15 assistances. The Canadian goal tender Mathieu Corbeil did the best in the net of Poprad. In 33 matches he maintained 92.42% success rate and twice he maintained no-goal matches. The current number two is Vladimír Kováč, who signed a contract with Poprad before the end of the transfer period. This experienced goal tender used to play in Nové Zámky and his success rate in this season is on the level of 91.51%.

In the current season we played 5 matches with Poprad and the next one will be the last mutual match in the basic part. We enjoyed the victory 4 times, when we beat our opponent at home 5:2, 3:1, and 6:2 and in Poprad we were successful after 1:0. Poprad was successful in the match in the 30th round, when they beat the Steelers 4:2.

The opening bully of the match MsHK Žilina – HC Košice is scheduled for Sunday, February 25, at 5:00 PM. The East-Slovak derby then start on Wednesday, March 1, at 5:00 PM. Let's cross our fingers for our hockey-players in the important fight for precious points!