The end of hockey season 2022/2023

The play-off already started for us with beginning of the qualification for the play-off. Teams from Poprad, Michalovce, Trenčín and Nitra fought their way into it. Little did we know that we were in for a balanced playoff, full of twists and turns and surprises. After last season, we finally witnessed several series that had to be decided in the seventh game.

In terms of the table, the most balanced series should be the series that was called "the battle of two Duklas". The neighbors in the table were even in the playoff qualification series. The series required the maximum number of matches – 5. In the end, the Dukla from Michalovce was happier, advanced to quarterfinals. This was the end of the season for Trenčín.

Nitra, which advanced to the qualification from the last possible place, managed perhaps surprisingly easily beat Poprad, which was defeated 3:0. It is interesting that in the last match of the regular season, Nitra would not advance to play-off if Nitra has conceded one more goal. Despite this, the team, which was still in the last place of the table in December, managed to advance to the quarter-finals of the playoffs. On the contrary, for Poprad the season ended already in the qualification. In the qualification for the play-offs, we took part in a total of eight productions.

The quarter-finals were opened by the teams that made it directly to the play-offs. Zvolen met Nové Zámky and later we will also look at the series of Banská Bystrica with Spišská Nová Ves. Zvolen, who finished third after the regular season, managed to win over Nové Zámky after five games. However, in three of the four victories, they won by only a goal, so the result of this series does not reflect the balance of these teams. Nové Zámky, which was at the top of the table in regular season for a long time, managed to advance to the playoffs from sixth place. Nevertheless, the season can be considered a success for Nové Zámky.

The other quarter-final duo consisted of the teams from Banská Bystrica and Spišská Nová Ves. This series was the most even of any quarterfinal series. It had to be decided in the seventh game, which was decided by Martin Réway after extra time with a power play goal. This is the end of the season for Banská Bystrica, which extended the contract with the head coach, so we can look forward to what Banská Bystrica will perform in the next season.

The remaining quarter-final gamess were made up of the first two teams after the regular season and two successful qualifiers. After the regular part, first Košice hosted Nitra. The quarter-finals were already been a success for Nitra, but that does not mean that Košice had not to fight for advancement. Nitra lost both games in Košice, although the second one was lost after extra time. At home, in front of the traditionally great fans who sold out the winter stadium in Nitra, they managed to beat Košice in one game. However, in the fifth game they lost against the home team in Košice's Steel Arena, so they said goodbye to the season. The season was like a rollercoaster for Nitra. The team, which was worried about staying in the top competition after the season, made it all the way to the quarter-finals and was defeated by the later champion from Košice.

The last quarterfinal pair consisted of Slovan, who finished second after the regular season, and Michalovce – a successful qualifier. Slovan won the first match at home. In the second, however, he was outplayed by Michalovce, so Dukla left Bratislava with a score of the series 1:1. At home, Michalovce won both matches, and Slovan returned to Bratislava with a knife on his neck. However, he clearly won the match 4:0. In the sixth match Michalovce showed their full strength, winning 3:0, won 4:2 in the series. Surprisingly for some might be the fact that the season for Slovan ended after only six games in the playoffs. However, Michalovce played tactically excellently and later in the semi-finals they really were a hard opponent for the champion team Košice.

The semi-finals of the Tipos Extraliga play-off brought us two seven-game battles. The first games consisted of Košice and Michalovce. After the first two matches, it looked like the series would end quickly, but Michalovce did not give up and later they took the lead in the series 3:2. Košice, however, managed to win the last two matches and advanced to the final. So, the season ended for Michalovce, that played 18 matches during the playoffs and had to travel the most out of all the teams in the playoffs, as they eliminated Trenčín and Slovan. It was a successful season for Michalovce, during which they were coached by three coaches.

The second semi-final games consisted of Zvolen and Spišská Nová Ves. Even before this series started, it was expected to be extremely close. What was expected was also confirmed already in the first match, where Spišská was able to win on the ice of Zvolen. However, Zvolen managed the second home match, but 60 minutes was not enough for Zvolen – won after extra time. Spišská later also had the matchball match, as it was leading the series 3:2 after fifth match. In the end, however, Zvolen managed to turn it around and Spišská Nová Ves could take the bronze medals. Before the season, not many people would have expected that the Rysy from Spiš would win the bronze medals, but with the excellent composition of the team, great tactics and the excellent coaching staff, they fully deserved the bronze.

The final between Košice and Zvolen was also the highlight of the hockey season for us. Unfortunately, Zvolen was unable to compete with Košice in a more significant way, and despite the close results of the individual matches, the state of the series is quite clear - 4:1 for Košice. Košice celebrated the victory in the last match in front of the sold-out home Steel Arena. Zvolen took home the silver medals and therefore they have completed their medal collection, having won all three medals in the last three seasons.

The hockey season ended for us with this game. In the regular season, we were at 105 productions, in the play-offs at 50. In total, from September to April, we were present at 155 productions from the hockey Tipos Extraliga. The season before that we made 153 broadcasts. We believe that the quality that is visible in our work and especially our experience will ensure that we will be present at the next seasons of our hockey league. The numbers speak for the quality of our work – every season we participate in around 150 hockey productions. But we do not only participate in hockey productions, we are also able to participate in other projects (e.g. Fortuna Liga). We are already looking forward to the new season and new challenges.