Pardubice beat Vítkovice in Czech hockey but lose key players

Pardubice beat Vítkovice in Ostrava in round nine and notched a sixth straight win. But the victory came at a high price: the club lost two players to injury, and defenseman Jan Kostálek faces punishment for shoving a linesman.

Defenseman Ludvig's fight

Defenseman Ludvig had previously watched games from the stands because of an injury, but he made his first appearance on the ice this season and immediately showed a wide repertoire. “Never say no to a fight,” he joked after the game. In the second period Kalus of Vítkovice crashed hard into Daniel Gazda, Ludvig rushed to the boards, and soon the gloves were on the ice. The fight was fierce and, by hockey “rules,” a fair one, and the Pardubice player came out on top. “Fights are fun, and today it all worked out. Kalus hit our player, I asked if he wanted to fight, and he did,” Ludvig said in a video interview for the club's website.

Injuries ahead of the Třinec game

For Pardubice something else matters more: the sixth straight win lets them close in on the so far flawless Třinec. The teams meet on Sunday evening in the main game of the first quarter of the regular season. But Dynamo may take to the ice with a depleted lineup. The club had already arrived in Ostrava with 12 forwards, and in the sixth minute, after a hard hit from Holland, Sobotka went down and did not finish the game. According to the Oneplay Sport commentators, an ambulance took him away for further examination.

In the third period Pardubice also lost captain Sedlák. Home defenseman Zbořil tried to stop him on a solo run, the forward lost his balance and crashed into the net and the boards. He hobbled painfully to the bench and then went to the dressing room. “I have no information on the injuries yet; in the dressing room we only exchanged a couple of words about the game,” said Pardubice assistant coach Václav Koči. Holland and Zbořil were not penalized: the referees ruled that their collisions were clean.

Kostálek and the shove on the referee

The referees, however, did not miss defenseman Jan Kostálek. He scored Pardubice's winning goal but did not finish the game: he received a personal penalty for assaulting an official. Ten minutes before the end he needlessly pushed away a linesman who wanted to stop him from continuing a spat with Macias of Vítkovice.

“We are angry with Kostálek, of course. He knows he shouldn't have done it. Maybe he just wanted to grab a stick that was lying under the referee. The referee probably didn't know that, and Jan simply went too far,” said coach Koči. Since disciplinary committee chief Radim Bíčanek is quite strict about attacks on officials, he can be expected to examine the situation carefully, and Pardubice may well play Sunday's game against Třinec without Kostálek.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz