Litvínov is the new Czech champion

The club season 2014-15 in the Czech Republic is over. The season which was started on September 12, 2014, ended up in the latest possible term: after 224 days in the seventh match of the Tipsport Extraliga Playoffs` final series on April 23, 2015.

And the drama was decided no earlier, than sixteen seconds before the third period`s ending. Exactly at that time, František Lukeš of Verva scored an empty net goal to make the game 0-2 and Litvínov`s celebrations has started.

However they were very long 59 minutes and 44 seconds to get there.

As well as during the most of all seventy Extraliga games in which they appeared this season, Oceláři presented themselves with crushing offensive pressure in a manner to devastate oponent`s goaltender.

During the Masaryk Cup Final Game 7, Třinec altogether produced fifty shots, including 36 on the net. However, this time the Metallurgists scored the only goal and what is more, it was an irregular one.

In the 46th minute, Erik Hrňa got the puck behind Litvínov goalie Pavel Francouz`s back, but he did so by rebounding it from his left skate which was considered by referees to be not an accidental kick.

And because early in the third period Jiří Polanský of Třinec missed the empty net after him  confused Francouz by circumscribing his net, Litvínov took destiny of the season to its hands.

Lukeš scored his first of two goals in the game during 53rd minute by quickly sending the puck on Šimon Hrubec net and perfectly using the moment of surprisse as the puck showed up on hist stick unexpectedly.

And later, as already mentioned, sixteen seconds before the third period`s ending, Lukeš hit the empty net and killed Třinec`s offensive effords for good. He scored the goal after a gentle pass by his team-mate Viktor Hübl, who modestly rejected to score the season`s final goal himself and better offered the change to Lukeš.

After sixty-nine years since the club`s establishment and exactly in its fifty-sixth season in the Czech (and formerly Czechoslovakian) top club competition, the Verva Litvínov grabs its very first champions title.

Interestingly, the Masaryk Cup is now also in hands of two famous persons of both NHL and international hockey history:

Among the rosters of Litvínov we can find a defenseman Jiří Šlégr, 44, a Triple Gold Club member, who holds both a gold medal from the Winter Olympic Games (1998) and the IIHF World Championship (2005), plus a ring for Stanley Cup Champion (2002, Red Wings). However, before 2015 he never earned the title in his mother-country.

Let`s highlight also a left-winger Martin Ručinský, 44. Ručinský has never touched the Stanley Cup regardless his appearance in 961 NHL games in uniforms of six different NHL organizations. On the other hand he also keeps a Winter Olympic Games gold medal (1998) and not one, but three golds from the IIHF Worlds (1999, 2001 and 2005). As for Šlégr, this is the first Czech Extraliga title for Ručinský as well.

The final score of the series: Třinec vs. Litvínov 3 - 4
Litvínov wins the Masaryk Cup for the 2014-15 Czech club champion.

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