During the weekend, the first junior double-match of 2020 between HC Košice and HK Dukla Trenčín was held in the training hall of Steel Arena. For juniors of HC Košice, the Saturday duel started with a conceding goal. Right after that, however, Samuel Hrabčák and Juraj Eliaš assisted Gabriel Vereš to tie the score. Enthusiasm didn't last long because not even a minute after the goal, players of Dukla sent the puck right behind the goalie Jakub Balogáč. Our players demonstrated a disciplined game even at the expense of a two-minute penalty for Samuel Hrabčák for fight and rudeness that he got in the second half of the second period. The opponent got also the same penalty. During defense play of both teams, only Adam Markuš managed to score a goal. The opponents raised the score when they managed to score at the beginning of the third period.  Players from Košice tied the score at the end of the period, so the duel continued in the overtime followed by individual shootouts where Juraj Eliaš was the successful one.  He got two points for HC Košice.

"In the first game we managed to tie the score three times. Boys demonstrated their fighting spirit and proved that they can deal also with the unpleasant development of the match. Reward for their discipline and fighting spirit was the victory in the individual shootouts where our goalie Balogáč really supported the team." complimented the players the head coach Peter Holaza.

The duel on Sunday wasn't progressing so well for Košice right from the beginning. Our juniors couldn’t overcome the goalie of Trenčín until the 3rd period when the team had already been losing 0:5. Gabriel Vereš succeeded with the assistance from Jakub Demek and Samuel Pavlík. Another two goals were scored during power-plays by Samuel Hrabčák and Adam Matej.  Meanwhile, Dukla scored twice and the final score of the match was 3:7.

"We didn't enter this match very well as we had already been losing 2:0 in the fourth minute.  Players from Trenčín used our hesitation and were in the lead right from the beginning.  In the second period, the opponent increased the lead by 5 goals. The team paid for the lack of personal as well as game discipline. In the last period, boys managed to react and improve those bad aspects where they had been falling short during the already mentioned second period. We improved the pace and we started to be more aggressive. We improved the game with a puck and achieved two quick goals which encouraged the team to fight. Finally, we won the third period 3:2, which overall was the only positive thing of the second duel. We can praise the boys that they didn't give up in the last period and fought until the very end of the match to achieve the best possible result" stated the coach of our juniors Peter Holaza.

Probably the three-week break and interruption of the match rhythm didn't do good to our young players. "Better moments and worse moments took turns. We need to keep working hard during the training process so that we are able to get back in shape and achieve the results from the period before Christmas," stated the head coach. 

According to the coach, improvement must come in all aspects of the game, whether it is a game with puck or without it. "As I have already mentioned, we had some failures when it came to personal and game discipline, which hadn't been happening before Christmas, and the team had profited from the good discipline not only game-wise but also in terms of results. That was the biggest reason we fell short in the second match. It is important that every player understands his role in the team and conforms his performance." concluded the coach.

After the weekend, our junior team adds only two points to the table. We believe that the boys will get back on track and win the upcoming two duels against Poprad on Thursday and Friday. 

Formation of HC Košice (Round 13): Balogáč – Markuš, Jobbágy, Sirotňák, Palacko, Veteška, Kapičák, Jacko, Bučko – Matej, Frič, Pavlík – Hrabčák, Vereš, Eliaš – Demek, Barger, Vaculik – Soľár, Olbert, Zahuranec

Formation of HC Košice (Round 14): Balogáč – Markuš, Jobbágy, Sirotňák, Palacko, Veteška, Kapičák, Jacko, Bučko – Matej, Frič, Pavlík – Hrabčák, Vereš, Eliaš – Demek, Barger, Vaculik – Soľár, Olbert, Zahuranec