HC Košice - HKM Zvolen 2:7 (1:3, 1:3, 0:1)

Goals and assists: 6. Spilar (Pulli), 25. Brophey (Haščák, Nagy) – 7. Vandas (Handlovský, Špirko), 14. Špirko (Obdržálek), 19. Šišovský (Lušňák, Obdržálek), 26. Zuzin (Chovan), 37. Kytnár (Drgoň, Zuzin), 37. Špirko (Vandane, Handlovský), 53. Pufahl (Vandas)

Penalized players: 2:4 for two minutes, power plays: 0:2, short-handed plays: 0:1, referees: Snášel (SVK), Juhász (HUN) - Smrek (SVK), Kis-Király (HUN), 5883 spectators

HC Košice: Habal (37. Škorvánek) – McDowell, Dudáš (A), Čížek, Šedivý, Koch, Pulli, Lenďák – Haščák, Brophey, Nagy (C) – Netík, Suja, Kafka – Spilar (A), Ignatuškin, Šoltés – Žitný, Galamboš, Klíma – Krajňák

HKM Zvolen: Tomek (Skapski) – Vandane, Pufahl, Růžička, Zeleňák, Drgoň, Ulrych, Pöyhönen – Vandas, Špirko (A), Handlovský – Šišovský, Lušňák, Obdržálek – Zuzin, Kytnár (A), Chovan (C) – Marcinek, Holovič, Petráš

Match opening brought defensive play of both teams, however, there was no lack of goal chances. First of them belonged to home-players from Košice, when Nagy at the beginning of the 3rd minute tried to tip the flying puck from the blue line. Finally, the shot only tested the quality of boards. A minute later, Spilar found himself in a striking position and aimed the shot to the closer pole, but Tomek moved exactly to the right place, and saved the puck. But in the 6th minute, he played a losing game against the same man. This time three home players got into offensive zone, Spilar took over the puck and striking from the left side, he sent the puck in the back of the net. But since that moment, the game didn't go well for Košice until the end of 1st period- At the end of the 7th minute, Handlovský did a great job, enabling Vandas score and enjoy his moment. In the 14th minute, guests attacked during their own penalty kill, outnumbering Košice 2-on-1. Špirko picked a good pass and scored a shorthanded goal without difficulties. At the end of 19th minute, Šišovský overcame Habala, to give Zvolen a 3:1 lead. Still before the break, Šoltés was successful against Tomek, but he managed to save a goal in the long run. So after first 20 minutes, our rival was in a better position.

Neither the second period dissapointed the spectators' expectations about the smash, and brought several interesting moments. Even if Chovan's unobtrusive attempt to score from the blue line at the beginning of the 23th minute wasn't successful, the score didn't remain the same for a very long time. After the face-off in the 25th minute, there was a rather chaotic situation before Tomek. Brophey found his way out of it, which meant a glimmer of hope for his team. Anyway, Zvolen reacted by a quick goal. At the beginning of the 26th minute, Zuzin used his break to increase the lead of Knights to 4:2. And moreover, 2 more goals scored during the game didn't head anywhere but to Habala's net. Kytnár joined the list of scorers, and finally at the end of the same minute Špirko increased to 6:2 for the guests. The scoring rate from the second period was also 1:3, so Zvolen was leading 6:2 after 40 minutes.

The Knights entered the 3rd period with a clear aim - sustain comfortable score and gain three points. Defense of our opponents prevented us from changing the score. In spite of it, the Steelers tried to press before Tomek, where they had several good scoring chances. But they obviously lacked luck, as Brophey had 2 shots on goal just in the 47th minute. However, neither of those ended in the back of the net. In the 50th minute, Haščák tried it from a promising position, but as previously, right winger of our elite line-up wasn't lucky enough to score against Zvolen. In addition, the 53rd minute brought Zvolen's goal #7, when Pufahl joined the list of scorers. So, we gained no points after a 2:7 game.

Roman Šimíček, Košice's coach: "After the opening goal giving us a 1:0 lead, our performance was not as we hoped it would be. Moreover, we conceded 2 more goals during the guests' power-play awarded under 2:4. Up to that moment we believed, that a turnover may come. But today, we weren't good enough to fight Zvolen. Thanks to all the fans supporting us in today's match."

Andrej Podkonický, Zvolen's coach: "We watched a good hockey. The performances of both teams were qualitatively rather equal during the first period, but we managed to save Košice's shots. The 2 power-play goals were probably the game-winning ones. In addition, goalie stood behind us in the most decisive seconds."