After 60 minutes in Kosice, each team scored one goal, which means the team to advance will be determined in next week's game in Fribourg. Read more in Gamecentre. 

In a game where both teams had periods of dominance but was ultimately an even game, 1-1 was a fair result between HC Kosice and Fribourg-Gotteron.

In a back and forth first period with great chances both ways, both goaltenders Miroslav Kopriva and Benjamin Conz established that they would not be easy to beat this game, and they weren't. Kosice did get on the board late in the first period, though, on the power play, and it took a great wrist shot by captain Ladislav Nagy, who went high glove side on Conz just under the crossbar.

Knowing that a one-goal lead would probably not last them five more periods – the last three of which will be in Fribourg – Kosice looked to add to their lead in the second period, but Conz made sure that didn't happen. Probably their best chance was on a 3-on-1 rush midway through the period, but they failed to get a shot on goal.

“For two periods we played great and did not let them do anything,” Nagy said afterwards. “We were excellent on defence and had several chances but they were also perfect on defence one-on-one and did not let us have the big chances.”

In the third period it was Fribourg who came with a mighty push, led by top scorer Roman Cervenka. His shot in the first minute led to a scramble in front but nobody could put it in. Three minutes later, the Czech star had a breakaway but Kopriva, a former teammate, made his biggest save of the game, coming up with a fantastic glove save. Finally, Cervenka connected. With just under seven minutes to play, Kopriva stopped a shot through traffic, but the rebound went out to Cervenka, who put it in the open side. 

“We know each other really well,” Kopriva said of Cervenka. “We played together with Slavia Prague. He is a fantastic player. He scored against me, the puck rebounded to him and he shot into the empty net.”

Cervenka responded, “The Kosice goalie played well. Unfortunately, we failed to score more goals. Now the score is 1-1, which is not bad.”

Wanting to get a victory on home ice, Kosice did come with a late push but it didn't produce a goal. Therefore, the winner of this series will be determined completely by the result next week in Fribourg.  

"It was a very hard game, both goalies played very well, there were chances for both sides but it was all about defence," said Fribourg coach Larry Huras. "Both teams killed penalties very well. Kosice are a really good team and we knew they'd be well-organized with a great coach, so we're very happy to come out of here still on level terms. Our forwards should have done a bit better and scored a couple more, but equally they could have got a few more too so overall 1-1 is a fair score."