On Sunday, December 22, the juniors (u-19) continued their matches in the national championship. Players from Zagreb arrived in Tivoli. Given the state of the standings and the games our players have shown recently, we could expect to win three new points. This eventually happened, but it just wasn’t that easy.

The Dragons took the initiative right at the start of the match. A few introductory minutes of pressure followed, and then the pressure stopped a bit. We saw a game where the tempo was dictated by our players, but also a game where there were no clear opportunities for the opening goal. Our team pressed the opponent's goal a little more again only towards the end of the third. And it also paid off for ours. Otherwise, they passed quickly at the end of the second and it already seemed that there would be no goals in the first part of the game. But then our team slipped into a new counterattack in the last seconds. Goalkeeper Nal Kavčič passed to Stamps of Mehlet. He slipped in front of the opponent's goal on the right side and fired a shot in the last second, which ended up in the net. A second before the end of the third, Olimpija took the lead with 1: 0.

Except for the conclusion, the first third offered no particular excitement. More action followed in the second third. With 23 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. An accurate shot from afar followed and the result was tied. After the equalizing goal, the guests had some new opportunities, but the next goal again belonged to ours. In the 27th minute, he increased the lead to 2: 1 Gregor Žeželj. After a new leading goal, our team kept pushing forward. The first was the exclusion on the part of the guests, which ours (yet) did not take advantage of. In the 36th minute, a nice combination between the passer followed Stamp Mehlet and shooters Gregor Žeželj. Olimpija was already leading with 3: 1. Here, for a moment, our attacks stopped a bit, as the Dragons had to serve a new penalty with the player less on the ice. But when our team was perfect again, a new goal followed. He passed Karlo Marinkovic, increased it to 4: 1 Blaž Stipanič. This was also the final result of the 2nd period.

The match in the transition to the last third has not yet been completely decided. However, the victory of the Dragons was already looming. They finally confirmed the victory in the 45th minute, when two quick goals followed. Both were scored in a game with a player less. In the first, they passed Matija Lan Jan ter Gašper Šubic, but he hit Blaž Stipanič. In the second, however, he passed Blaž Stipanič, but he hit Žiga mehla. With 52 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. In the 53rd minute, the lead of our team was increased back to 7: 2 (pitcher Blaž Stipanič in Žiga mehlaand the shooter was Port of Ogrinc). In the 58th minute, our team scored another 8th goal. He passed Gašper Šubic, and hit the empty net Karlo Marinkovic. The match ended with a score of 8: 3.

In the remaining matches, Triglav defeated Maribor with 6: 3, Bled won in Zalog with 3: 1, and Jeseničani defeated Crvena zvezda with 5: 2. Our players thus remain in 4th place in the championship standings. The next match will be very interesting for our dragons. The city rival Slavija is coming to Tivoli.

 

Written by: Vladimir Ban

 

You can watch a video of the match at this link.

Photos from the match can be viewed at this link.

You can see the statistics from the match at this link.

Otherwise, you can follow the entire events in the junior category at this link.