RAHL3 – Round 5: Admirals still perfect, Rockets score thirteen goals

The marquee game of the fifth round was played on Sunday. It pitted two teams against each other that had not dropped a point until then: Admirals from Group A and AHC Pezinok Grapes from Group B. Admirals won 3:0 – Gabriel Slamený and Michal Andel scored in the first half, and Tomáš Timko added the third goal after the break. After five rounds they have a full 10 points and a 25:3 goal difference.

The biggest win of this RAHL3 season was delivered by Rockets. They beat Pressburg Reapers 13:0, and already led 8:0 after the first half. Miroslav Wieger scored a hat trick, and Matej Murcko (2+2) and Peter Demeter added two goals each. Nine players got on the score sheet.

TJ Družstevník Petržalka remain unbeaten. They beat Royals 3:1, with Rudi Rehák, Maksym Yuriev and Peter Brauner scoring. With 9 points they are second in Group A, a point behind Admirals.

Hockey for all defeated Ice Punkers 5:2. They were up 3:0, Punkers pulled to within 3:2 with two goals in a span of 31 seconds, but two Hockey for all goals in the 36th minute – 12 seconds apart – decided the game.

HC Bratislava Black Wings beat Ľadoborci 3:1 after coming back from 0:1 and have their fourth straight win. By the same score, and also with a comeback, HC Lev Senec beat Alpha Hockey Team – they scored all three goals in the second half, two of them in the last three minutes.

Two ties brought points to teams from the bottom of the standings. Knights and Beers finished 2:2 and both earned their first point of the season. The game HC Vikings Petržalka – Márna Snaha 5:5 was a wild one: five goals were scored in the opening 129 seconds, and after seven minutes Márna Snaha led 5:2. Vikings then scored three unanswered goals, with Filip Blaho tying it in the 34th minute. Marian Rozemberg contributed to the tie with two goals and an assist.

Admirals huddle on the bench (Round 1). Photo: RAHL

Group A: two unbeaten teams and a big gap. Admirals have been on top since the second round and have allowed only three goals in five games. The only team keeping pace with them is TJ Družstevník Petržalka – they have dropped just one point, for a 1:1 tie with Rockets. Behind this pair there is a five-point gap: third-place Royals and fourth-place Ice Punkers have 4 points each. Newcomer HC Vikings Petržalka have two points after ties with Pressburg Reapers and Márna Snaha and are sixth.

Group B: four teams within one point. Rockets returned to first place after their 13:0 win. They have 9 points and a 34:5 goal difference, an average of almost seven goals scored per game. Hockey for all, HC Bratislava Black Wings and AHC Pezinok Grapes are level on 8 points, and fifth-place HC Lev Senec have 7. Grapes led the group after four rounds with a perfect record; their first loss dropped them to fourth place. Black Wings, by contrast, are climbing: they were fifth after their opening loss and are now third.

The HC Lev Senec bench (Round 1). Photo: RAHL

The scoring race is led by two Hockey for all players: Raduz Hrubý (5+5) and Ivan Havelka (4+6) have 10 points each. Right behind them are five players with 9 points – Matej Murcko and Lubo Maxián of Rockets, Daniel Mrva of AHC Pezinok Grapes, Zdeno Mikuláśko of Royals and Patrik Bučič of Admirals. Murcko and Mrva, moreover, have played only three games. The top goal scorer, with 7 goals, is Karol Vida of HC Bratislava Black Wings.

Round 6 – Saturday, 10 October:
13:30 Beers – Ľadoborci
15:15 HC Lev Senec – AHC Pezinok Grapes
16:30 Admirals – HC Vikings Petržalka
17:45 Pressburg Reapers – Royals
19:00 Márna Snaha – Rockets
20:15 TJ Družstevník Petržalka – Ice Punkers

Sunday, 11 October:
13:30 HC Bratislava Black Wings – Alpha Hockey Team
14:45 Hockey for all – Knights

The most interesting game of the round is played on Saturday at 15:15. HC Lev Senec against AHC Pezinok Grapes is a direct battle for position in the upper part of Group B, with a single point separating the teams.