A Spring Hockey Update

Well, HC Kometa, as a number-8 seed that had to "play-in" to the playoffs here in the Czech Extraliga, finished the season Thursday night after a rough 5-1 loss in Game 6 here in Brno to Pardubice. The first five games were all decided by one goal or less, and indeed, Kometa's first two losses came as a result of penalty shots and superior goalkeeping at the end by Pardubice. 11,000 people crowded Náměstí Svobody, the main square in Brno, to watch the games, in addition to sellout crowds at what used to be called Hala Rondo but has now been renamed after a tacky casino company. But the team played some excellent hockey against Sparta and Plzeň, and it was a hell of a ride. As soon as it became clear in the first round that Kometa could, just maybe, knock off top-seeded Sparta from eeeeeevil Prague, your correspondent overheard one of his friends murmur, "asi jó, Brno bude peklo..." "Brno's gonna be hell this evening..."

It was a great run. Ah well, there's always next year. 

And this year too. The Euro Hockey Challenge has started up; this year the Czechs play the Germans and the Slovaks down the road in Bratislava. In Wednesday night's game, which saw the Czechs beat the Slovaks 3-1, the teams went retro and wore soopahfly Czechoslovak jerseys from 1972. the EHCh is sort of a warm-up for the World Championships, so it's pretty low-key.

Finally, Czechs are all Flyers fans now, now that the never-aging Jagr has set up shop in Philly. As another friend of mine said after selfsame correspondent shaved off his (Kometa) playoff beard yesterday, "Why did you do that? The REAL playoffs are just starting!"

Well, we had some good times, we had some bad times, and we drank a lot of beer.