For 15 players and 2 goalies of European Hockey Academy’05 team the Christmas Cup 2017 started early morning on December 21st and at that time nobody knew, that this will be an excited journey towards tournaments semifinals and beautiful final 5th place.
Major part of the team was through 3 days long preparation camp before they jumped on the ice – and you can read more about that in article: How did we get ready for Christmas Cup 2017. In this article we bring short comments about each game from EHA’s head coach Lukáš Hökl.
GAME 1: HC Most vs. European Hockey Academy’05 (1:5)
“First day – and already the game against the team with great ambitions, at least to make it from the group and play-offs. We were very well aware of what the game is about and how important it is to win the first one. The result may seem as a clear case, but the truth is, that the game was played on both sides and nothing was sure before third period. Opponent was very active but thanks to great support in our net, we could play more free in attack zone.”
GAME 2: European Hockey Academy’05 vs. Jelgava JLSS (3:1)
“Game against Latvian team Jelgava was probably the hardest in our group and Jelgava’s advance to play-offs as 2nd from this group was, thanks to their performance, very well deserved. We were very active during whole 1st period and created many good chances – unfortunately with no luck in the finish. Opponent began to equalize the game as well as chances to score. However, thanks to our play, we could keep the 3:1 win. Each opponent could see, that this EHA team can defend its advance and evt. turnaround would be a very difficult task.”
GAME 3: Fass Berlin vs. European Hockey Academy’05 (0:14)
“First team we met next day was probably weakest team in the group, which attended this tournament not to gain points, but experience, and that is very important as well. The game from our side was very relaxed and players had room to try their creativity. The result of the game was clear.”
GAME 4: European Hockey Academy’05 vs. Ruszicci Moscow (6:0)
“Our last game in group – where the only objective was placement within the group. Loss would mean our 2nd place in the group, tight would mean our 1st and Ruszicci’s 2nd place in the group, while win would send opponent out of play-offs. Both teams were fighting for their placement, but motivation was clearly greater on opponents side. We controlled the game from start to the end and took no chances. We have explained to players, that as this game ends as the new one begins the next day. Everything looked like, that in semifinals we are going to meet strong HC Slovan Bratislava, which came to Most with exclusively some of the best Slovakian players born in 2004.”
GAME 5: European Hockey Academy’05 vs. HC Slovan Bratislava (0:6)
“We started this game determined and ready to fight and in game’s first 10 minutes we were clearly better team on ice. We did not allow opponent any opportunities while we created couple of our own. Our opponent seemed to be surprised, that 2005/2006 boys drive them around and with no problems match their skating skills. Unfortunately, as during whole tournament, we suffered by inability to score on our chances, which at last cost us the final games advance. The mental aspect of this game was decisive, where our opponent scored twice out of two lucky shots and score after first period was 2:0 in their favor – and against opponent of this quality it is very hard to regain the momentum again. Slovan controlled their advantage even we kept trying hard to turn the game’s score. As the game advanced, our opponent proved their quality and mental balance, and allowed us less and less opportunities. Slovan has deserved to win and advance to finals where they took bronze at last.”
A few numbers about the team
Regarding the age of players and goalies in the team, European Hockey Academy’05 team was one of the youngest at this tournament, if not the youngest one. 2 players was born in 2006, 14 players in 2005 and only 1 in 2004.
Geographically – home countries of players was represented like this: 6 players came from Slovenia, 4 from Denmark, 3 from Czech republic, 1 from Germany and 1 from U.S.A. The net was guarded by goalies – 1 from Denmark and 1 from Germany.
Read more about this event on event’s page.
WATCH SELECTED GAMES
Live streaming and recordings of the games was provided by video2go.live
See event’s Photo Galleries
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“Canadian” line of EHA’s development program
European Hockey Academy attends this great tournament within Trip A+ event, which is a part of so called “Canadian” line of our development program.
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