In dramatic fashion, Dynamo Pardubice qualified for today’s Spengler Cup final in Davos against HCD. The Czechs trailed Team Canada 3-1 until 57 th minute of play. They then made an incredible comeback with 3 goals within 197 seconds.

Pardubice and Team Canada showed the 6,267 in attendance a spectacular back-and-forth battle with plenty of animated offensive action. In the opening period, the Canadians had slightly more control of the game. But Robert Kousal came closest to opening the score when he hit the goalpost. However, that then came only 24 seconds into the second frame. Jonathan Hazen buried a one-timer on a cross-ice feed from Chris DiDomenico. It was already the fourth goal for the 33-year-old winger, who therefore sits atop the scoring leaderboard. The Czechs did not hesitate to react. Lukas Radil netted a 147.5 km/h hammer to tie it up. Pardubice then fired from every possible angle. Team Canada remained dangerous on the counterattack. In the 38 th minute of play, Martin Buko celebrated what seemed to be the 2-1 goal for the Czechs. But after a coach’s challenge and video review, the head referees disallowed the goal due to goaltender interference. Instead, it was the Canadians who celebrated the renewed lead 1.5 seconds before the second intermission, when Derek Grant forced the puck over the goal line on the powerplay.

It was the same Grant, who, after two minutes of Czech powerplay in the third period, escaped his opponents and masterfully scored on the breakaway. With that 3-1 marker, the game appeared decided. Nobody was expecting the bold tactics of Pardubice head coach Vaclav Varada. While on the powerplay, he replaced his goaltender Milan Kloucek with a sixth skater already five minutes before the end of regulation. Promptly Lukas Radil cut the deficit in half after 56.04 minutes of play. Varada pulled his goalie once again two minutes before the final buzzer. Martin Kaut tied it with one extra skater on the ice. But they did not stop there. As (almost) everyone was preparing for overtime, Matej Paulovic shot his team into the final making it 4-3 with 38.4 seconds to go. There Pardubice will take on HC Davos at 12.10pm on Sunday afternoon. The hosts had won their semi-final against Frolunda Gothenburg on Saturday afternoon 4-3 as well – however even later, thanks to a goal from Henrik Haapala 51 seconds into overtime.

Quelle: Spengler Cup-Online Redaktion   Foto: Keystone