“And we have the final again with Pilsen, they have a strong team. We want the title back in Karviná, we will do everything for it,” exclaimed the pivot of the winners Václav Franc.
The miner had a party on Saturday. Although he led almost the entire match, he was even warmed by a five-goal lead, but the weakened home Hunters heroically erased the deficit. And when, ten seconds before the end, Pavel Horák made it 27:26, it looked like the series would go into a match for everything. But the visitors took a timeout and used the last six seconds perfectly. Petr Široký jumped on the puck and made Karvina smile wide with his goal.
“An incredible roller coaster! I am doubly annoyed that I was at Horák’s last goal, I will have some regrets in my head. However, I am extremely happy that the last event worked out for us. It was either an arranged signal – or, we had nothing to lose. And Péťa equalized maybe less than a second before the end. Bravo!” Franc squealed in front of his partner.
In the shootout, the shooters were infallible, until the fifth series failed. And that is the home hero Horák, the biggest star, winner of the Champions League. Karvinský’s Ondřej Skalický then held his nerve, transformed and set off fireworks of emotions, including a momentary sparring with the Lovosic spectators.
“That’s the way sevens are, someone has to mess them up. Today I chose it,” said former representative Horák. “We fought, we gave it everything and we were very close to victory. It was within our power to decide in normal playing time.”
Karvin fans during the match in Lovosice
Even last year, Karviná eliminated Lovosice 3:1 in the semi-finals. “But we performed much better than last year. It can be seen that we are again a bit closer to the first two teams, and we were missing two super important players Trkovský and Hniďák. As if Karviná played without Solák and Patzel, we have to take that into account. To be complete, I am convinced that the series would have turned out differently,” said Horák.
The match in the roaring Chemik hall was both nerve-wracking and entertaining. “It was an advertisement for handball. And now we want a pancake for Lovosice,” declared Lovosice veteran Jiří Motl.
Hunter and Kopřivnica are waiting for the bronze medal, which they are defending. Karviná will face Pilsen in the final for the sixth time in a row, having won twice. The gold rush starts on May 15.
Tags: roller coaster final Karvina handball players eliminated Lovosice shootout
