Tomk’s detox: What did you use to clear your head? Advice from the enemy helped, he will lose small | Hokej.cz

He deservedly placed himself among the three Litvinov stars of the quarter-final set. Liam Kirk and Petr Koblasa led the offensive attacks against Kometa, while the Slovak Kliďas Matej Tomek forced the Brno shooters to roll their eyes. The series with a spicy streak was not intimidated, in a familiar environment near Špilberk, he robbed key matches for chemists.

“It was extremely challenging, of course a little more special for me. I’ll lose some change in the team’s coffers,” the twenty-six-year-old goalkeeper, who played with Brno in May 2021, grimaces.

The club from the heart of Moravia then looked at him as a potential replacement for Karel Vejmelka. In the blue and white colors, he tried to establish himself as goalkeeper numero uno, but… After the arrival of Dominik Furch, he lost his footing.

He spent the first month of the next season parked in the garage, his compatriot Marek Čiliak pushed him to the stands. Only Litvínov got him out of a bitter situation, he extended a helping hand to him in the fall and laid the foundation for future cooperation.

Jaroslav Janus, Denis Godla… For about a year and a half, the local cauldron has regularly called up the name of another Slovak. The one who was leaving Comet as unwanted. And now the former breadwinner faced a roadblock in the quarterfinals.

“I tried not to think about it,” explains Tomek. That’s why he temporarily deactivated social networks. Wading through comments of all kinds? Nowhere. The Slovak chauvinist completely cut himself off from everything and shut himself up in his bubble.

“I detoxed from it. I already deleted Instagram and Facebook before the series. I think it helped me clear my head,” he muses. “I know the Brno fans first hand, so I know that something was definitely written. Every person can write their opinion on social networks, it’s part of sport…”

After the initial duel in Brno, he would probably read only superlatives anyway. Tomek improved his form to the max, former buddies hid their heads in their hands more and more. In addition, he could rely on the support of his teammates in front of him.

“We kicked off the first two matches in Brno excellently, that was a big difference compared to the regular season. I was also catching much better,” he admits. However, after moving under the Ore Mountains, the blue-white colossus reciprocated with the same coin.

“Third match, four goals. It wasn’t ideal. I guess we already thought that we would make it to the winning end. Brno pressed and scored two goals,” Tomek looks back at the first home stumble.

“Even the fourth match was not the best from my side. But I’m glad that I was able to recover, reset my head and help the team to win again in the fifth match,” says the key man of the Litvín party.

In the black and yellow booth, he himself had not avoided minor ailments before. Maybe? Rhett Holland’s shot from the third matchup, when a harmless throw from the blue sailed into the net out of nowhere.

“During the match, it’s not in your head anymore. I immediately try to let it go, I know I won’t get it back. I can only catch another puck,” Tomek explains the process, how he compares it to similar moments.

The coaches subsequently held him, they did not resort to the hooters at the goalkeeper’s post. They didn’t even have a reason. “I put it behind me. I told myself that nothing was lost. I am extremely happy that they kept me and I could repay them with my performances…”

In the enemy’s territory, Litvínov pushed towards the gates of the semi-finals in the third. Sword No. 5 was carried in the same spirit as number one and two – reliable Tomek vs. Comet firepower. After a tough fight, the North Bohemian expedition took home the third point as well.

Nothing broke him out of his stuck mode. “In the first two matches, I had the feeling that they tried more to go to the goal and finish the fights, not to let me breathe after some interruption,” reflects Tomek.

“But the advice of the goalkeeper coach from Brno actually helped me the most. What he told me before I left, I will of course keep to myself,” he smiles when mentioning the local coach, Jan Švaříček.

Cheza completed her quarterfinal mission in front of her fans and ignited a stormy euphoria. After all, the Litvinov manchaft hadn’t tried this far in nine years. “We have to be counted on,” emphasizes Tomek before the next stage of the playoffs.

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