Read all about how Sparta Prague have reached the Champions Hockey League Semi-Finals for the first time.
Twice in the past, Sparta Prague have made it to the finals of the European club championship, only to lose to Russian club Metallurg Magnitorsk in both the 1999-2000 European Hockey League Final and the 2007-08 European Champions Cup Final. Now, after heartbreaking defeat in the Round of 16 in two straight seasons, they're in the Champions Hockey League Semi-Finals for the first time, where they will meet the Vaxjo Lakers from Sweden. The road hasn't been easy, but they've gotten stronger as the tournament's progressed.
Group Stage
Sparta Prague started in Group O with Farjestad Karlstad of Sweden and Comarch Cracovia of Poland. On 17 August, they played the first-ever CHL game in Poland, and in front of a festive crowd of 7,124, spoiled the party by winning 7-2. They were led by a hat-trick by Tomas Netik. Four days later, Sparta debuted on home ice and led Farjestad 1-0 after two periods, only to give up two goals in the third and come away empty-handed.
The rematch against Cracovia was quite different. Twice Sparta led by two goals and twice the Polish visitors came back, and the game was tied 4-4 late in the third period, despite a wide edge in play in Sparta's favour. Finally, on a power play with less than five minutes to play, Netik scored his second goal of the game and sixth of the group stage – which led the whole CHL at that point. In the end, Sparta fired 65 shots on the Cracovia net, but the whole league was talking about the goaltending of Rafal Radziszewski, who kept his team close.
“I’m quite happy that we ended up winning from this game, because it wasn’t really as easy as maybe some of our players had thought after the first game against Cracovia,” noted Sparta coach Jiri Kalous. “We had almost 70 shots but our productivity was horrifying – I didn’t really like it. We had also almost no pressure in front of the net – we should have definitely scored more. But for us it’s important that we’ve made it to the next round, because that was our goal.”
As expected, Sparta and Farjestad advanced from the group, but the teams had one more game to determine the group winner. However, Sparta needed to win in regulation time, while Farjestad needed only a single point on home ice to claim top spot. Sparta nearly pulled it off, leading 2-1 late in the third period before Tim Stapleton scored a late equalizer for Farjestad. Sparta then won on an overtime goal by Lukas Pech, but it wasn't enough as the team from the Czech capital had to be satisfied with advancing as group runner-up.
Knockout Stage
Sparta drew CHL finalists Karpat Oulu as Round of 32 opponents, and opened up at home. There were concerns about the team's defence against a top Finnish club, but the team put in a great effort in the first game and battled to a 1-1 draw. A week later in northern Finland the defensive struggle continued, as the teams played to a scoreless tie for 60 minutes. Finally in overtime, Sparta won it, with Petr Vrana's pass attempt going in off the leg of Miroslav Forman.
Vrana described the winning goal: “They went 3-on-2 to our end but our defence did a good job. Me and Forman got a 2-on-1 from there. I saw the defenceman laying down to block the pass so I held it a little longer to open up a pass in front of the goalie. It was a little bit of a lucky goal, I guess, but it counts.”
In the Round of 16, Sparta faced HV71 Jonkoping, and they got in a hole early as Martin Thornberg, the CHL's Top Scorer at the time, scored twice in the first game in Prague, leading his team to a 4-2 win. That left Sparta with a real uphill climb in the second leg in Sweden, but they did it – thanks to three goals in a span of 2:40 in the second period, they won 5-0 to win by three on aggregate to make the CHL Quarter-Finals for the first time.
“I think we finally played the game we wanted to play – solid and get the puck out on defence in a good way. And the offensive chances we had we executed very effectively,” Vrana said after the game in Jonkoping. Looking ahead in the CHL, he added, “It’s a long road ahead of us. Right now we will concentrate on the next round. It will be two hard games against SC Bern. There’s going to be a lot of fans in Bern and we’ll surely be in for a real tough game there.”
There certainly were a lot of fans at the first game in Bern – a CHL record of 14,567. In the midst of a defensive battle, the teams traded goals in the second period and went to Prague tied on aggregate. There, after a scoreless first period, Sparta blew it open in the second period with two power-play goals, en route to a 4-1 win and a berth in the Semi-Finals.
About the team's accomplishment, assistant coach Jiri Veber summed up: “We are the first team in the final four but people will remember only the winner, so it’s a really small step and we need two more to make this become a real success.”
Summary
Below is a list of Sparta's path through the 2016-17 CHL season. Click on the score to see a recap, live blog, highlights and statistics from each game.
| Gameday | Day | Date | Time* | Group | Venue | Home | Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game Day 1 | Wed | 17.08.2016 | 19:30 | Group O | Tauron Arena Krakow |  Comarch Cracovia |  Sparta Prague | 2:7 |
| Game Day 2 | Sun | 21.08.2016 | 14:30 | Group O | O2 Arena Prague | Sparta Prague |  Farjestad Karlstad | 1:2 |
| Game Day 4 | Fri | 26.08.2016 | 18:00 | Group O | O2 Arena Prague | Sparta Prague | Comarch Cracovia | 5:4 |
| Game Day 7 | Sun | 04.09.2016 | 17:00 | Group O | Lofbergs Arena | Farjestad Karlstad | Sparta Prague | 2:3 (OT) |
| Round of 32 | Tue | 04.10.2016 | 17:30 | First Game | O2 Arena Prague | Sparta Prague |  Karpat Oulu | 1:1 |
| Round of 32 | Tue | 11.10.2016 | 18:00 | Return Game | Oulun Energia Areena | Karpat Oulu | Sparta Prague | 0:1 (OT) |
| Round of 16 | Tue | 01.11.2016 | 19:30 | First Game | O2 Arena Prague | Sparta Prague |  HV71 Jonkoping | 2:4 |
| Round of 16 | Tue | 08.11.2016 | 19:30 | Return Game | Kinnarps Arena | HV71 Jonkoping | Sparta Prague | 0:5 |
| Quarter-Finals | Wed | 07.12.2016 | 19:45 | First Game | PostFinance Arena |  SC Bern | Sparta Prague | 1:1 |
| Quarter-Finals | Tue | 13.12.2016 | 18:30 | Return Game | O2 Arena Prague | Sparta Prague | SC Bern | 4:1 |
| Semi-Finals | Tue | 10.01.2017 | 20:00 | First Game | Vida Arena |  Vaxjo Lakers | Sparta Prague | |
| Semi-Finals | Tue | 17.01.2017 | 18:30 | Return Game | O2 Arena Prague | Sparta Prague | Vaxjo Lakers |