Slavia Prague 4-2 Zubr Prerov ( att : 1,298 )

January 18, 2020

It’s fair to say that Slavia Prague Hockey Club have fallen on hard times. Champions of the Czech Ice Hockey League in 2003 and 2008 they are now playing in the Second Division. On a trip to Prague in 2014. Mrs Fatbear and I saw Slavia play Brno in the modern 17,000 capacity O2 Arena with nearly 8,000 people in attendance. Since relegation in 2015, cross-town rivals Sparta Prague have taken the opportunity to move out of the dilapidated Tip-Sport Arena and into the O2, and currently sit top of the league and are playing to large crowds . Ice Hockey is the most popular spectator sport in the Czech Republic.

Slavia now play in their own small stadium built in the 1970s, which is part of a large Eden sport complex that includes the 23,000 capacity football stadium ( the name of which seems to change every few years due to sponsorship – it is now the Sinobo Arena ), rugby and field hockey pitches, an athletics stadium, a swimming pool plus the ice rink.

After a 52 game season, the top 6 in the second division take part in a complex play-off system with the two winners then going into a play-off league with the bottom two teams from the top division. The best two from this play in the top league next season.

Today’s visitors are Prerov, a small town in the east of the country not far from Olomouc, and according to both Wikipedia and Tripadvisor is famous for……..well, nothing !! Their Ice Hockey team though, HC Zubr Prerov, sit in second place in the table and are sponsored by a brewery.

Slavia are 7^th in the table, one place below a play-off position but 13 points behind today’s opposition, and a staggering 41 points behind runaway leaders Ceske Budejovice. However, they have two consecutive wins, including an overtime win at Ceske Budejovice.

The Zimni Stadion Eden has an official capacity of 4,000 but Slavia have only been attracting between 500 to 700 spectators in recent home games, with the only attendances over 2,000 being the visits of Ceske Budejovice.  However, the good recent form, plus a Saturday afternoon 3pm start with no other distractions attracts the sixth highest home crowd of the season. 

The stadium has seats on one side, and a steep terrace on the opposite side. Tickets are 130 KCS for seats or 90 KCS for standing, discounts of 10 KCS are available if tickets are bought on-line 24 hours before the match. 

The match programme is free but is simply a folded sheet of A4 paper with the squads, recent results, next fixtures and league table. It is a nice souvenir though. We buy tickets for the seats.

As temperatures are dropping to close to freezing we head for the bar/restaurant which is behind one end and has good views of the rink. We are advised we could have watched the game from the restaurant for the price of standing tickets, and are able to grab two seats directly above the goal. The service is good and the drinks flow. Next to us are three Germans Ice Hockey fans from just over the Czech border, who are in Prague after having seen a match at Liberec the evening before.

Outside the restaurant, the Slavia fans are making a lot of noise on the terrace, and there are around 200 away supporters at the far end of the terrace, although many of the visitors appear to be pre-occupied with queueing for drinks. 

There are also a fair number of people watching from the concourse above the terrace. The spectators in the seats mostly watch in silence.

Slavia start the match aggressively and take an early lead, but Presov gradually get into the match and equalise before the end of the first third. Slavia also start the second third quickly but after retaking the lead, slack marking leaves a Presov forward with a clear shot on goal, which levels the scores. However, Slavia continue to have most of the play and are able to covert two more chances for a 4-2 lead at the end of the second third, and the match sort of fizzles out after this. 

We leave a couple of minutes before the end to ensure we get the tram back to the centre of the city before the rush.

Despite the comfortable win, Slavia remain in 7^th and 2 points from a play-off position. Prerov slip to third

There is certainly a huge difference between Ice Hockey in the top and second division. The top league is very similar to the NHL, with dramatic entrances of players in darkness on to the ice, regular playing of the organ, and features during the breaks such as “kiss-cam” and other types of crowd involvement. There is none of this today, and in many ways the experience is more enjoyable. However, it is a bit like comparing non-league football to the Premiership !

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou0-FvREs_s