Down 0-3 in semis, Třinec wins 4 straight vs Sparta, wins Game 7 in 4OT

Oceláři Třinec, the four-time reigning champion of the Czech Extraliga, has kept alive its “drive for five” in the most improbable of ways.

Trailing Sparta Prague three games to none in the semifinals, Třinec won four games in a row to claim the series, but that’s not all. In each of the last two games, they tied the score in the last minute of regulation time and won in overtime, but that’s not all either. In game seven, played on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon before 16,780 fans at O2 Arena in Prague, Miloš Roman scored the series winner 1:46 into the fourth overtime period, ending the second-longest game in Extraliga history.

“I don't even know what happened. I was trying to go to the net, I saw that (Marian Adámek) had the puck and I was hoping that he would move it to me. I was free and it got there,” Roman described, according to Daniel Ježek on the club’s website.

Roman, a 24-year-old Slovak center who is a bronze medalist from the 2022 Winter Olympics, also said: “The four games in a row we really fought back. The team showed incredible character. Huge thanks to all the guys for what we did and how we fought it out.”

Coincidentally, the second-longest game in Extraliga history came one year to the day after the league’s longest game, when Dominik Lakatoš scored late in the fourth overtime for Vítkovice.

Třinec’s semifinal comeback was almost a reversal of their quarterfinal experience, where they took a 3-0 series lead over Motor České Budějovice, then lost three straight, before winning game seven at home 2-0.

As mentioned, Třinec has won the last four Extraliga titles. That run started in 2019 but was interrupted in 2020, when the playoffs were cancelled after Třinec had finished second in the regular season. Last season, the team’s reign looked in danger after a sixth-place finish before pulling off a couple of playoff upsets – including a six-game quarterfinal win over Sparta after trailing the series 2-1.

In the finals, Třinec will face Dynamo Pardubice, the league’s regular-season winner that swept Litvínov in the other semi. That series starts Tuesday in Pardubice.