Sports News
Extraliga ice hockey finals
Slavia Prague - Sparta Prague, photo: CTK
Monday was do-or-die for Slavia Prague as the team faced arch rivals
Sparta. Playing in their home stadium Slavia twice took single goal leads,
but both times Sparta came back in a tight, edge-of-the seat game played
before a record number of fans: more than 16,000. The game - capturing the
best of a classic rivalry - was also attended by the country's president.
Slavia managed to hold onto a final lead of 3-2, going up in the 3rd on a
nice backhander by Tomas Divisek. Slavia's win narrows Sparta's lead in
the best-of-seven series to 3-2.
Hasek uncertain to start for Ottawa in Stanley Cup playoffs
Dominik Hasek
Overseas in the NHL, Czech stars like Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias are
gearing up for the Stanley Cup playoffs but one player still uncertain to
start is Ottawa's star goaltender Dominik Hasek. Hasek, 41, suffered
injury earlier at this year's Winter Olympics and has not played for
Ottawa since. Hasek has been practicing, but recently complained he was
still suffering pain and that his game wasn't there yet. Earlier, Ottawa
representatives staved off rumours Hasek would not play the rest of the
season - including the playoffs. The team's management has asserted Hasek
will return at some point soon.
Jagr has final chance to edge Thornton in NHL points table
Jaromir Jagr, photo: CTK
Jaromir Jagr has one regular season game left to try and finish atop the
NHL points table and it will have to be a productive one. Jagr is
currently 3 points behind leader Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks who
lost their final game on Monday. Jagr's Rangers play Ottawa in their final
game of the season.
Football domestic league
Slovan Liberec - Pilsen, photo: CTK
Slovan Liberec edged a point closer at the weekend to taking the league
title, after tying 1:1 with Pilsen. The team's coach Vitzeslav Lavicka
wasn't entirely happy with his team - but said in the second half his
players did well to earn the point.
"The way we played in the first half especially we didn't really deserve to win and not surprisingly they went ahead. But, we tightened up our organisation in the 2nd and got the all-important equalizer. We even came close to going ahead after that - the ball was on the goal line - but given the flow of the game we're happy with the point. How important it will be overall, we'll see at the end of the season."
Cech injured - start in Germany not threatened
Petr Cech, photo: www.petr-cech.cz
In other football action, Czechs were on form in the English Premiership
at the weekend including Petr Cech. His side Chelsea are now a point away
of winning their second straight championship title. Most recently,
Chelsea downed Everton 3:0. But, the world's number 1 keeper Cech was
injured at the end of the first half when he accidentally collided with
team-mate William Gallas. He was replaced in goal by Cudicini. The injury
is a minor one, although Cech does report on his webpage that he was given
ten stitches to his foot. His start for the Czech national side at the
upcoming World Cup in Germany is not threatened.
Baros strikes twice
Also in the Premiership, Aston Villa's Milan Baros struck twice in a derby against local rivals Birmingham City, contributing to a 3:1 victory. This season Baros has now scored eight goals for Villa.
Basketball: Prostejov bounce Usti in high-scoring match
The Easter weekend saw the basketball league playoff quarter finals heat up with a number of high-scoring matches: Prostejov trounced Usti nad Labem 128:70, while Nymburk sent Sparta packing 123:70, to make the semi-finals. Other winners included Brno over Decin and Kunin over Pardubice.
