Recap
Trinec players already flew to Tampere on Thursday at noon to fight for a chance to advance from the group stage of the Champions Hockey League. They lost the opening two rounds against Munchen and Rapperswil at home and will have a super hard task to make a positive result.
Tampere is the largest inland city in Northern Europe. It can be said that in recent years it has also been the capital of European hockey. At its heart is the Nokia Arena, the most modern hockey arena in Europe with a capacity of more than 13 thousand spectators, which has hosted the World Cup final twice in a row and is home to two strong Finnish clubs – Tappara and its rival Ilves. The home took second place behind Tappara in the regular season of the Finnish league. They are a sixteen-time Finnish champion and the roster is full of Czech players: goalkeeper duo Jakub Málek, Patrik Hamrla, defender Dominik Mašín, and forwards Petr Kodytek and Jakub Kos Šimon Stránský. In the current season of the CHL, Ilves is 100% so far, last weekend they played two away matches in a masterful way. First, they won 1:3 in Pardubice, then crushed Bolzano 1:7.
Ilves have so much quality in their ranks and should continue the superb start of the season.