Jiri Slegr can win Czech Extraleague title!!

[Tomas]

Slegr does not play in the playoffs anymore due to his huge back pains (frankly, he should not have played this year, period - it was a huge hazard with his surgically-repaired spine). However, played a good chunk of the regular season - 17 games out of 52, and quite successfully:4 G, 1A, +2, 26 PIM.

Interestingly, at the age 43, he is the SECOND oldest player on the team - behind 44-year old Martin Rucinsky who has had a total outlier year. Even though he was understandably on a downward trajectory last several years (even pondering whether he should play this year) - he had a MONSTER regular season: 54 points (19+35) in 51 games, good enough for the second place in the league scoring race (he also has 9 points (2+7) in 11 play-off games, good enough for the 7th place).

Anyway, the team of Slegr, HC Litvinov (2nd seed) faces HC Steelers Trinec (1st seed) in the best-of-7 league finals. And they already won Game 1 @Trinec 3:1.

Why you should care (and likely root for Litvinov):

- Litvinov is your black-and-gold team with the highest chance to win any league finals this year
- Litvinov is considered a small-market team that has NEVER won the league title, even though they have a super successful youth development program that graduated seven future Penguins (Hlinka, Slegr, Robert Lang, Petr Nedved, Petr Klima, Joe Beranek, Martin Skoula) as well as players like Petr Svoboda, Robert Reichel, Rosie Ruzicka, ... (full list here: http://www.kozlovostatistiky.estranky.c ... v-nhl.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )
- in contrast, Trinec is a rich team that usually spends a lot of money to buy all good free agents
- Slegr is now their assistant coach, so you can see him on the bench during games

You can watch all games streamed live for free here:

http://www.tvtipsport.cz/elh/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (you cannot get it full-screen, but with 480-speed and using the zoom-out function on your browser it's actually quite watchable.

Game 2: Sunday 4/12, 11:20 AM ET
Game 3: Wednesday 4/15, 11:20 AM ET
Game 4: Thursday 4/16, 11:20 AM ET
Game 5: Sunday 4/19, 12:20 PM ET
Game 6: Tuesday 4/21, 12:20 PM ET
Game 7: Thursday 4/23, 11:20 PM ET

[dagny]

Ahhh.... so many years ago. . .


Thanks for keeping us posted, Tomas!

[Tomas]

Ahhh.... so many years ago. . .


Thanks for keeping us posted, Tomas!

Well, he is divorced now (though some really strange/creepy stuff got revealed during the divorce lawsuit)

http://www.letsgopens.com/scripts/phpBB ... r#p2960888" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dagny]

[Tomas]

The finals have the potential to be the most epic series in the history of the Czech Extraleague, ever.

Litvinov was ready to close the series a few days ago, being ahead 3:1. In Game 5, Litvinov lead 1:0 until Trinec equalized 30 seconds before the final siren, when Trinec played without the goalie. Then, in OT, Litvinov hit 2(?) goalposts, and then Rucinsky could have had his Straka-eaque moment, because he scored a legit goal - except the puck got stuck in (what was determined after the game) improperly installed goal padding. The goal is here:

http://tv.isport.blesk.cz/video/2307352 ... videl.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Trinec ended up winning Game 5 in the shootouts (only Game 7 is played sudden-death style in the Czech Extraleague), and they won Game 6 6:3 today. With the series tied 3:3, Trinec has a massive momentum going into Game 7 (Thursday 4/23, 11:20 PM ET, http://www.tvtipsport.cz/elh/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

If Litvinov does not win, it will be huge. The team is not rich (it actually serves quite a small market). They have been in the Czech (and Czechoslovak) top league since 1960s. They had never been relegated - but they also never won a title. Slegr always claimed that he would mobilize his NHL buddies from Litvinov to come to play for the home team at the end of the career to finally win the title. It seemed the time has passed - and suddenly this year, thanks to the very unexpected Rucinsky resurection at the ripe age of 44, the team actually made it to the finals (before the season, they were not expected to make the play-offs). And if they lose the series because of the "padding-gate"....

[Tomas]

There is some chance Slegr could actually play tomorrow in Game 7, because two Litvinov regular D-men got injured in the last game. (Though his team is completely imploding - their coach went on a tirade after Game 6 how "the title was stolen from us by the refs during Game 5," etc...)

[Tomas]

56-year old title-less history of the smallest Czech Extraleague city is over. Litvinov won Game 7 2:0. Slegr did not play (though he put on skates and a jersey for post-game celebration). Hopefully he will retire now.

44-year old Rucinsky won his first career title in any adult hockey league he ever played.

[Admin]

Man, those uniforms.

[Tomas]

IDnes does not allow embedding, but Slegr is on some of those pictures. I believe 3,7,8,17,18:

http://hokej.idnes.cz/foto.aspx?r=hokej ... 378023.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Admin]

[Admin]

IDnes does not allow embedding, but Slegr is on some of those pictures. I believe 3,7,8,17,18:

http://hokej.idnes.cz/foto.aspx?r=hokej ... 378023.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And I need to find my son the mouth guard in picture 2.