Pardubice wins big in last game before hosting Brno outdoors

With all the excitement of the World Junior Championships and the Spengler Cup, the Tipsport Extraliga has continued along in the week between Christmas and New Year's, with most teams playing three times in that span.

Martin Bartek and the rest of Eaton Pardubice had a relatively easy
time against Slavia Praha on Thursday. Photo: Martin Prokop,
hc-slavia.cz.

The last day of play before the new year was Thursday, with a slate of five games. Highlighting it was a visit by Eaton Pardubice to O2 Arena in Prague, where they took on Slavia Praha. For Pardubice, it was the last game before the highly anticipated outdoor game, which will take place on Sunday against Kometa Brno at Pardubice-Svítkov Speedway.

If Slavia thought they would be able to catch their visitors distracted about the upcoming spectacle, they were dead wrong. Pardubice jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 11 minutes and cruised to a 5-1 victory. They were led by two goals and an assist from Martin Bartek and three assists from Radovan Somík.

The other participants in Sunday's outdoor contest, Kometa Brno, were also winners on Thursday, though they took home only two points, beating Vítkovice Steel 3-2 in a shootout.

Despite the loss, Vítkovice picked up a single point and still sits atop the Extraliga standings with 66 points and a four-point lead over Oceláři Třinec, who were idle, and Bílí Tigři Liberec, who beat BK Mladá Boleslav 3-2 in overtime. In fourth place is Pardubice with 59 points, followed by PSG Zlín with 57 and Kometa with 56. Zlín lost 4-0 in České Budějovice. Kometa can tie Pardubice in points if they win in regulation on Sunday.

Sunday's game begins at 12:30 Central European Time, 6:30 AM Eastern Time. It can be seen in the Czech Republic on ČT4 Sport, and elsewhere online at http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/211471290130058-hokej/?streamtype=WM3