BELGRADE – Offensive prowess was key in CSKA Sofia’s win of Group A of the Continental Cup to seal a place in the next round for the second year running.
Turning up the heat with an emphatic 5-0 final frame goal explosion in their decider against Turkey's Zeytinburnu Istanbul, the reigning Bulgarian champions deservedly ousted their neighbours 9-5 in the end. The final day victory means CSKA Sofia goes undefeated through the first round having earlier recorded wins against Serbian host Partizan Belgrade (12-4) and Israeli champion Rishon Devils (7-1).
National team players Stanislav Muhachev (4+8) and Alexei Yotov (5+4) led the way for CSKA who now take a step up to the Continental Cup. They will soon play in the second round in Tychy, Poland, 23-25 October.
"Our ambition was to try and finish in first place, but also to try and develop our young players which we have tried to help by surrounding them with more experienced players and to help their future development," said a pleased CSKA head coach Kiril Hodulov in the aftermath of having toppled Zeytinburnu.
When Zeytinburnu's influential Oleg Zadoyenko netted his first of the afternoon with a low shot clear through on goal with CSKA's 17-year-old netminder Dimitar Dimitrov there was a sense of sensation in the air inside Belgrade's Ice Rink Pionir. Following two straight wins in the tournament, Zeytinburnu were now in a 5-3 lead in their deciding game for top spot in Group A with only 58 seconds left of the middle period.
In the end the Turkish champions were left to wonder what could have been. Instead of holding on to their two-goal cushion for the remainder of that period, the Turks suffered a blow as CSKA's Alexei Konyukhov’s slapshot from the blueline found Yotov's stick with the latter steering the puck past the gargantuan Tyler Holske in the Zeytinburnu net with 3.2 seconds to go in the second frame.
Despite having trailed most of the game following Anton Peronmaa's opener for Zeytinburnu at 8:35, CSKA's head coach Hodulov expressed unrelenting belief in his men during the second intermission as he saw signs of wear and tear on his opponents who had pushed their top two lines relentlessly.
"I watched Zeitunburnu very carefully in their game versus Partizan. They brought three lines to the tournament and with their third line being a little bit weaker than their first two, I told the guys to be more aggressive in their zone, be patient and to stay away from the penalty box. I knew Zeytinburnu's goalie was very good, and that they have many skilful guys, but I trusted our guys and knew that in the end we were going to win," said Hodulov.
Entering the final period, the game began to tilt in CSKA's favour also on the scoreboard as their diligence was rewarded. Swedish forward Anders Johnsson, playing his third consecutive Continental Cup with CSKA, tied the game at five with a power-play goal at 8:10. At 10:30 of the third period fine combination instigated by Konyukhov from the blueline found the lethal Yotov, who picked out Muhachev, who with ease hit home the Bulgarians’ 5-4 goal to turn the game.
A combination of fatigue and desperation made Zeytinburnu vulnerable on defence as they tried their utmost to find their way back into the game. It was exploited by CSKA captain Juraj Dusicka, who led by example as he sailed through with an unassisted effort to put the puck behind Holske with 3:21 to go. Eduard Orlov hit the definite nail in the coffin at 17:18 with CSKA Sofia's eight goal of the afternoon and teenage prospect Yanaki Gatchev finished off the scoring with his 9-5 strike.
"The game started well for us and for the first two periods my team fought well and played hard," said Zeytinburnu head coach Deniz Ince. "In the end of the second period we conceded a bad goal due to an individual mistake which brought the team down."
Despite the defeat against their neighbours from the north, Ince can look back at a tournament which saw his men record two wins against the Rishon Devils (14-4) and Partizan Belgrade (4-1) and in the wider context brought many positives to take home for the municipality team from the Zeytinburnu district on European side of Istanbul.
"Although our last game was a disappointment for us in the third period, I am overall proud of our players," said Ince. "This is the best result for a Turkish club in the Continental Cup and it is the first time in Turkish hockey history that we won against a Serbian team, so it was a great accomplishment," continued Ince, who at his side had brought in the vastly experienced globetrotting coach Alex Andjelic on a team which apart from netminder Holske relied heavily on import player Zadoyenko, Peronmaa and Olexi Voitsekhivsky as their attacking threat, but where Turkey's national team stalwarts such as Emrah Ozmen and Gokhun Ozturk also clocked up many minutes out on the ice.
For host Partizan Belgrade, who entered the tournament with only a handful of ice practices, it got better as the tournament went on. They bounced back from their rusty opening day setback against CSKA Sofia to push Zeitunburnu for a long part of the game. Partizan's Dragan Komazec had offered a glimmer of hope for a fightback with his 3-1 goal at 1:52 before a combination of fatigue and ill-discipline took its toll against the Turks. The hosts bounced back in their final game by beating Israel's Rishon Devils in the final game of the tournament 9-1.
With CSKA Sofia having already got a taste last year of what progress in the Continental Cup means in terms of step-up in quality, Hodulov will be well aware of what lies in store when the reigning Bulgarian champions will step out on the ice for the second round in Group C to take on Polish host GKS Tychy, the Coventry Blaze (Great Britain) and Dunarea Galati (Romania).
"It is going to be very tough there. All the teams we will be facing are really professional," said Hodulov. "But for us we first of all have to go there to try and play good games, with the outcome of the matches not really mattering too much. For us it is about the development, to see at what stage we are now and also about giving the young guys a chance to play and give them more experience," said Hodulov.
HENRIK MANNINEN |
