Hockey league playoffs kick off

The playoffs of the Czech hockey extraliga began on Thursday with two quarterfinal series – and victories for the visiting sides. Vítkovice, which ranked third in the regular season, beat České Budějovice 3:1, while defending champions Pardubice took the game against Zlín to overtime and eventually won 3:4. The two quarterfinal best-of-seven series continue on Friday while on Saturday, Litvínov will face the winner of the regular season, Třinec, and Liberec will play Slavia Prague.