RAHL2 – Round 6: two 6:0 wins, HK Petržalka holds on to a 5:2 lead, and two teams sit on top with nine points

Round six of RAHL2 brought two 6:0 wins, one game with nine goals and a new team in third place. HK Petržalka beat Uličníci 5:4 and stays on top, but only just: TJ Družstevník Petržalka, which took Lions apart 6:0, has the same nine points.

The game of the round was played in the second morning slot. Against Uličníci, Petržalka had everything wrapped up by the break – and almost lost it all. Matúš Kocún opened the scoring in the fourth minute and Tomáš Jevčik added a second goal just nine seconds later. Lukáš Urban did cut the deficit, but Matúš Petrovič and Pavol Rybár pulled away to 4:1, and after a goal by Roderik Holenka, Jiří Cibulya scored the home team's fifth. The half ended 5:2. In the second, only Uličníci scored: Jozef Kapel made it 5:3 and Michal Mateička made it 5:4 on the power play. They couldn't find the tying goal, and Petržalka picked up its fourth straight win.

TJ Družstevník Petržalka beat Lions 6:0, with three goals in each half. Peter Tisovský and Miroslav Wieger each scored twice, and Martin Rázus and Tomáš Zsurik added one goal apiece. The man of the game, though, was Tomáš Heriban, who assisted on four of the six goals. The home team scored two goals on the power play, and goaltender Vladislav Kalis posted a shutout.

Lions – HK Petržalka (Round 3). Photo: RAHL

HC Senec won by the same score, only on the road, over Trnava Beast. It was decided right at the start: Ivo Palaky scored at the 51-second mark and Patrik Nguyen nineteen seconds later. Nguyen also added a third goal before the break, with Matej Pokryvka assisting on both of his tallies. In the second half, Tomaš Filak scored once and Ondrej Hraško twice. Senec thus ended a two-game losing streak, and its goaltender Adrián Nogely did not allow a goal.

The fewest goals came in the opening game of the day. Hockey for all beat Alpha Hockey Team 2:1, and all three goals came in the first half. Tomáš Šimek opened the scoring in the third minute, Adam Valášek tied it, and Jakub Fiľakovsky decided it in the eleventh minute off a pass from Adam Husár. Hockey for all won for the third time in a row.

How the standings have evolved. Two teams from Petržalka are on top with nine points and the same goal difference of plus 16. HK Petržalka's goal record is 26:10, TJ Družstevník's 25:9. Their head-to-head game in round two ended 2:2. Petržalka, mind you, was seventh with a single point after two rounds; since then it has won four in a row with a combined score of 22:5.

The biggest move of the round belongs to Hockey for all, which climbed from fourth place to third with its third straight win and trails the leading pair by a single point. It jumped over Uličníci, who led the standings after round four and are now fourth. Their goal record of 19:20 is negative, even though they have the third-best offense in the league. Thanks to its lopsided win, HC Senec is fifth and has evened its goal record at 12:12.

Alpha Hockey Team is heading in the opposite direction. It led the standings after two rounds, but has gone four games without a win since then and scored just three goals in those four games. It is sixth. Lions have three points and have scored a single goal in their last two games. Trnava Beast remains the only team without a win, and with 36 goals allowed it has the weakest defense in the league.

HC Senec – Alpha Hockey Team (Round 3). Photo: RAHL

Notes from the round. Two of the four games ended 6:0, and two goaltenders, Vladislav Kalis and Adrián Nogely, posted shutouts. In both of those games the winner scored three goals in each half.

The round was decided by quick strikes. Petržalka scored two goals in nine seconds, Senec in nineteen. In the Petržalka–Uličníci game, seven of the nine goals came in the first half, as did all three goals in the Hockey for all–Alpha game – sixteen of the 24 goals in this round were scored in first halves.

With his four assists against Lions, Tomáš Heriban has the most points in a single game this round, even though he didn't score himself. Four players scored two goals each: Tisovský, Wieger, Nguyen and Hraško. The only hat trick of the RAHL2 season therefore still belongs to Jiří Cibulya, who scored four goals in round four.

The scoring race is led by Tomáš Šimek of Hockey for all with nine points (5+4). Second is Tomáš Jevčik of HK Petržalka with eight points (4+4), which he collected in five games. Miroslav Wieger (4+3, in only four games) and Peter Tisovský (4+3) of TJ Družstevník Petržalka and Matúš Kocún (3+4) of HK Petržalka have seven points each. The top goal scorers, with five goals, are Šimek and Cibulya.

Round 7 – Sunday, October 18:
8:30 Lions – Trnava Beast
9:45 Alpha Hockey Team – TJ Družstevník Petržalka
11:00 Hockey for all – HK Petržalka
12:15 HC Senec – Uličníci

The marquee matchup is the third game of the day: Hockey for all, with three straight wins, hosts the leader, which has four. A win would move the home team ahead of Petržalka. Družstevník heads to Alpha's ice, where the home side needs to end its winless streak, and the opening game between Lions and Trnava Beast is a battle of the bottom two teams in the standings.