Litvínov is one step from the Masaryk Cup

Both teams played carefully the whole first period. Altogether, there were just twelve shots to be seen during the first twenty minutes, six by each side. Resolution to the story came in the second period. The Oceláři Třinec raised up a big pressure in a manner of scoring a quick goal, but all their shots were either missing the net or covered by a goalie of Litvínov, Pavel Francouz.

So it was the home team who opened the scoring. 40 seconds after the half while playing 4-on-4, Tomáš Pavelka of Verva stole the puck from Třinec Vladimír Roth and went to a breakaway. This was covered by the away team`s defensemen, however further going of the play resulted in Jiří Gula`s shot from the blue line which snaps Peter Hamerlík in Třinec net to make it 1-0.

Seven minutes later, Litvínov increased the lead to two goals. After a pass from Martin Ručinský, Robin Hanzl surprised Hamerlík with a shot from a dead-angle. And it could have been even worse for Třinec just a short while later, but František Lukeš missed a big chance in which he appeared after a zig-zag combination with a former Třinec forward Rostislav Martynek.

The remaining minutes of the play naturally brought a constantly increasing pressure of the away team, however the only result of Třinec efforts was making Francouz even a bigger hero with his every single spectacular save.

Oceláři then took the risk and played with an empty net as early as at the 54th minute. The culminating pressure of Oceláři was cut for good in the time 55:40 when Viktor Hübl of Verva striked the empty net.

After this 3-0 victory, Litvínov, which has never won the Czech title so far, holds a great chance to change the club history. Verva is only one victory away from the Masaryk Cup, and has up to three chances to use one of its "match-balls" in this best-of-seven series.

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