RAHL1 – Round 6: HK Petržalka turn 1:3 into 8:3 and close in on the leader, Patlevič has his second straight hat trick

Round six had one game that will be talked about for a long time. In the matchup of second against third, HK Petržalka trailed Uličníci 1:3 in the 13th minute – and won 8:3. The defending champion scored seven straight goals and now sits just two points behind Wild Thing Karaoke, who had a bye. Uličníci had actually gotten off to a great start: Tomáš Griglák scored in the 4th minute and assisted on the next two goals, by Peter Šulc and Adam Ryšavý. But from 1:3 on, Petržalka struck three times in two minutes and fifteen seconds. Tomáš Jevčik cut the deficit just 20 seconds after the visitors' third goal, Štefan Pillar tied it, and Marek Hronec turned the game around on the power play to make it 4:3. In the second half, Ľubomír Patlevič settled it with two goals in the span of twelve seconds, making it 5:3 and then 6:3 in the 31st minute. Patrik Hubek added the seventh goal, and Pillar closed out the scoring on another power play ten seconds before the end. Patlevič finished the game with a 3+3 line, Hubek with 1+3.

Black Jokers ended a two-game losing streak with a 6:1 win over Mad Vipers, although they, too, trailed. Jakub Antos opened the scoring in the 9th minute, and after that only the visitors scored. Tomáš Kollár and Stano Bročko turned it around to 2:1 by the break, and in the second half Black Jokers added four more goals. The fifth came at four-on-four and the sixth even shorthanded – Marko Šotek scored while Mad Vipers were on the power play. Kollár and Bročko each had 2+1, Nikolas Ketner 1+2.

Wild Hogs beat Neanderthals 4:1, but the result is skewed by the finish. After goals by Matúš Mucha and Vladimír Hegely on the power play, the home team led 2:0, but Peter Sakala cut the lead in the 19th minute and the last-place team kept it a one-goal game for a full 21 minutes. It was only decided in the final minute: Hegely scored 48 seconds from the end and Mucha 29 seconds later. Both scored two goals, and Hegely added two assists to his.

AHS beat AHC Pezinok Ducks 5:3 and turned around a game in which they trailed three times. Ducks led 1:0, 2:1 and 3:2, with two goals from Peter Mitter – the second just 26 seconds after the visitors had tied it. After the break, however, the home team did not score again. Erik Koštuřik tied it at 3:3 on the power play in the 30th minute, and 26 seconds later Islam Kertanti put AHS ahead for the first time. Denis Bučko sealed it. Koštuřik and Bučko both had a 2+1 line. Wild Thing Karaoke had a bye in this round.

Wild Thing Karaoke – HK Petržalka (Round 2). Photo: RAHL

How the standings have developed. Wild Thing Karaoke did not play, and yet they remain on top: five games, five wins, ten points. For the first time this season, though, they can feel an opponent breathing down their neck. HK Petržalka have eight points after their fourth win and the same number of games played. Both teams also have the best defense in the league, with seven goals against each. As recently as after the third round Petržalka were seventh; since then they have won three in a row with a 23:3 goal difference.

Behind the top two it is extremely tight. Four teams have six points each and goal difference decides the order: Black Jokers, AHS, Wild Hogs and Uličníci. With their win Black Jokers moved back up from fourth place to third, and with 28 goals they have the best offense in the competition, but they have played one game more than the other three. AHS have won three of their last four games and have gone from eighth place after the fourth round to fourth. Wild Hogs are fifth and have lost just once in five games.

The biggest losers were Uličníci, who dropped from third place to sixth. In a single game they allowed eight goals, almost as many as in the previous four combined (ten), and their goal difference is negative for the first time this season. AHC Pezinok Ducks lost for the fourth straight time and, with 35 goals against, have the weakest defense in the league, even though with 24 goals scored they are among the strongest offensively. Mad Vipers lost for the third straight time and scored only one goal in each of those games. Neanderthals remain without a point, but a three-goal margin is their narrowest loss of the season.

Neanderthals – AHC Pezinok Ducks (Round 2). Photo: RAHL

Notes from the round. In three of the four games the team that allowed the first goal won. Mad Vipers, AHC Pezinok Ducks and Uličníci all led and lost; only Wild Hogs scored the first goal and also won the game.

Ľubomír Patlevič has his second straight hat trick. After four goals against Neanderthals he added three against Uličníci, so he has scored seven times in two games. It is already the seventh hat trick of this RAHL1 season, and three of them belong to HK Petržalka players: two to Patlevič and one to Jozef Krafčák.

There were 31 goals, an average of almost eight per game, and the results often came down to seconds. Petržalka scored two goals in 12 seconds, AHS in 26 and Wild Hogs in 29 seconds. Peter Sakala scored only the second Neanderthals goal of the season, and the first after two games in which the team did not score. Islam Kertanti was sitting in the penalty box in the 4th minute when Ducks opened the scoring, and in the 31st minute he scored the game-winning goal for AHS.

Black Jokers have the best offense in the league, but according to the game sheets they have yet to score on the power play this season. Šotek's shorthanded goal, on the other hand, is their first. The most penalties in the round, four each, were taken by HK Petržalka and Neanderthals.

The scoring race has a new leader. After a 2+2 game, Vladimír Hegely of Wild Hogs is up to 13 points (6+7), and he has collected them in four games. Second is Ľubomír Patlevič with 12 points (8+4), who with eight goals is also the league's top goal scorer. Stano Bročko of Black Jokers and Matúš Mucha of Wild Hogs have 10 points each, both with a 5+5 line. Five players have nine points: Denis Bučko (AHS), Tomáš Griglák (Uličníci), Marián Horváth (Wild Thing Karaoke), Alex Ftáčnik (Black Jokers) and Patrik Hubek (HK Petržalka), who needed only three games to get there. Among the goal scorers, Hegely and Peter Mitter of AHC Pezinok Ducks follow Patlevič with six goals apiece.

Round 7 – Saturday, 17 October:
8:30 Black Jokers – AHC Pezinok Ducks
9:45 AHS – Uličníci
11:00 Neanderthals – Wild Thing Karaoke
12:15 Wild Hogs – HK Petržalka

This time Mad Vipers have the bye. The leader returns to action against the last-place team, so the marquee game will be the final game of the day: Wild Hogs, with the league's top point scorer, host HK Petržalka, with the competition's top goal scorer. The AHS–Uličníci matchup brings together two of the four teams with six points, and Black Jokers can confirm third place against AHC Pezinok Ducks.