The captain of the reigning champions from Nitra, Branislav Mezei, celebrated his 44th birthday in Tuesday’s match on the Košice ice. After the first period, it seemed that his teammates would give him a gift in the form of a valuable victory, when they already led 2-0 in the Steel arena.
Photo: TASR, Henrich Mišovič
Nitra captain Branislav Mezei poses with a gold medal after winning the title.
However, in the second half, the home team switched to higher gears and turned the game around with four goals, in which they finally claimed a 5:3 triumph.
“The second period got away from us. Košice scored easy goals on the power play. We knew how they were going to play, but we couldn’t cover them.
It’s a big shame to lose the match like this when we started it great. We still fought in the third period, but it wasn’t enough,” Mezei assesses.
I still like hockey
He was primarily disappointed by the team’s approach in weakening. The people of Nitra did not help the goalkeeper Libor Kašík, who after conceding the fourth goal went to the substitutes and Finn Sami Aittokallio finished the match.
“There will be suspensions in every game, but we just have to defend them better. It was one of the things that disappointed us the most. We need to improve in defending weaknesses,” Mezei believes.
His teammates did not prepare a special gift for him, it could have come in the form of three points from the Košice ice.
“The guys found out about the birthday on the way to the match. I would be most pleased with a win, but nothing is happening, we are moving on.
The league is very balanced and a point would definitely please us. I believe that we will get as many of them as possible in the next duels,” states the Nitra captain.
He does not perceive the title of the oldest player of the extra league too much. He will only focus on his performance on the ice.
“I still like hockey. Age is just a number, although in my case already quite high. So far, I’m still enjoying it,” states Mezei, and when asked if he plans to play as long as Jaromír Jágr (52), he just smiled. “I think not. He has no children.’
Šimun caught Kašík
The team from Košice went on a winning streak thanks to Eduard Šimun’s goal. He beat the Nitra goalkeeper in an effective way.
“It was an intention on my part. I caught him a bit, as he was not in an ideal position. There is no need to make a science out of it. I tried it a few times in training as well.
Jaro Janus is unhappy because I often hit him in the head,” Šimun described the moment of the goal.
He admitted that He admitted that the first and last thirds did not go well for the home team. On the contrary, in the second one, what they reached for, it ended with a goal.
“The second third was like a dream for us. During the break, we talked about what to play and the first goal helped us. We kicked after him, and then it was on,” says Šimun.
The Steelers moved up to third place in the table after the win. Together with the leader from Spišská Nová Ves, they are the only two teams that have scored points in every game so far.
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Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
