Photo: Peter Mueller, an American, led the Tipsport extraleague with 64 Canadian points, tallying 29 goals and 35 assists during the 2020-21 regular season. HC Kometa start the postseason today at HC Vitkovice Ridera at 5:30 p.m. Credit: HC Kometa / Vít Golda.
Brno, March 10 (BD) — Basket Brno drop two games; Women’s basketball postpseason has started; Zbrojovka gets a lone point for a tie; and Lokomotiva women’s football lose spring opener on a late penalty-kick goal.
MEN’S HOCKEY
Kometa Starts Postseason Today
HC Kometa finished the 2020-21 regular season in ninth place and they will now try to work their way up through the postseason.
Brno starts today in Ostrava when they play HC Vitkovice Ridera at 5:30 p.m. Vitkovice jumped ahead of Brno and into eighth place in the final week of the regular season.
The best-of-five series moves to Brno on Thursday. The game will be on Czech TV and start at 3 p.m.
Game 3 is also in Brno; it is Saturday at 3 p.m.
The winning team will move on to the best-of-seven quarterfinals later this month.
For the league website, go to https://www.hokej.cz/tipsport-extraliga. For updated information and the schedule, go to the team website at https://hc-kometa.cz/. Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
American Tops in Canadian Points
Peter Mueller, an American offensive player, tallied 29 goals and 35 assists during the 2020-21 regular season to lead the Tipsport extraliga with 64 Canadian points. He is the first foreign player to lead the Czech league and the first Kometa player to do so in almost six decades.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Brno Struggles to 1-2 Group A1 Record
After an exciting overtime win to start play in Group A1, Basket Brno lost both of its games last week: at BK JIP Pardubice, 85-75, on Wednesday and at home against USK Praha, 68-70, on Saturday.
The young and exciting team showed flashes of brilliance, but they were unable to take control of the games when it mattered. Brno coach Lubomír Růžička was not on the sideline of the most recent game because he was in coronavirus quarantine out of an abundance of caution
Tomorrow, Brno travels to league-leader ERA Basketball Nymburk for a 5 p.m. tip off. All games are shown on tvcom.cz.
Therer are two home games next week: BC GEOSAN Kolín on Monday at 5 p.m. and BK Opava on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Group A1 includes the top eight teams from the regular season, who play home-and-away games with each other. The top six teams move on to the postseason. The seventh- and eighth-place teams will need to earn their way with an extra step against teams from Group A2. The postseason is scheduled for April 9 to May 22.
For updated information and the schedule for Basket Brno games, go to the league website at https://www.nbl.cz/. The team website is: https://basketbrno.cz/ Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Žabiny Brno Win Postseason Opener
BK Žabiny Brno shook off a poor start on Monday to beat visiting SBŠ Ostrava, 77-51, in the first game of their best-of-five quarterfinal series.
“We increased our aggressiveness in the defensive half and eventually forced Ostrava to make 22 losses, from which we gained 23 points,” said Viktor Pruša, the head coach of BK Žabiny Brno. “By getting such a comfortable cushion, we were able to play more of our game both in the fast counterattack and in the transition phase.”
Game 2 will be today at 2 p.m. in Ostrava. Game 3 is back in Brno on Saturday at 4 p.m.
KP Brno made it into the final game of the RENOMIA Final 4, but a tentative positive coronavirus test led to the game being postponed to after the regular season. Brno will play ZVVZ USK Prague for the Czech Cup.
Consequently, KP Brno will start its quarterfinal series today against visiting BLK Slavia Praha at 4:30 p.m. The teams go to Prague on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game. Then they return to Brno on Monday, where tip off will be at 2:30 p.m.
For updated information and schedules for both local teams, go to the league website at https://www.zbl.basketball/. The KP Brno team website is: http://www.kpbrnobasket.cz/ The Žabiny Brno team website is: https://www.bkzabiny.cz/ Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
MEN’S FOOTBALL
Zbrojovka Stuck in Relegation Zone
FC Zbrojovka failed to gain much of a foothold as it tries to stay in the Fortuna Liga when it tied Karviná last Sunday, 1-1.
Overall, Zbrojovka (3-6-13, 15 points) is in 16th place and in the relegation zone. They are four points behind 15th-place FK Mladá Boleslav (4-7-11, 19).
Next, Brno hosts Jablonec (12-3-6, 39) on Sunday at 4 p.m.
Earlier last week, Brno was eliminated from the MOL Cup when it lost to Teplice, 2-0, last Wednesday.
For updated information and the schedule for FC Zbrojovka Brno games, go to the league website at https://www.fortunaliga.cz/. The team website is at https://fczbrno.cz/. Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
Lokomotiva Nearly Beats Moravian Rival
Lokomotiva Brno-Horni Herspice gave up a penalty-kick goal in the 80th minute last Saturday and lost to 1. FC Slovácko, 0-1.
Lokomotiva, which is fourth in the women’s top-league standings, is having its best season. In the fall, it lost its first three games against the top teams in the league, then fought back to compile a season record of 3-0-4 with 9 points.
Slovácko is in third place behind the two Prague teams.
This month, Brno is scheduled to play at FK Pardubice on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. and at SK Slavia Praha on March 20 at 2 p.m.
