First victory for HS Riga

The players of HS Riga have played their first game, when they were challenged by the youngsters of Slovan. Two hours after noon, the Bratislava team wanted to repair its reputation after the morning disaster. But they didn't start well at all. 60 seconds from the whistle, Dmitris Dilevka punished Slovan's defending and sent his team into the lead. A few minutes later, Bohoš could have equalized, as he did not make use of his own escape. The same player charged Číč into an interesting opportunity, whose shot was stopped by the crossbar.

Slovan's failure in the attacking phase was also proven by a power play in the 24th minute of the match. It took a long time for the Slovak players to lock down the Latvian opponents in their third. They were unable to convert territorial and numerical superiority into equalization. On the contrary, it was once again Riga who celebrated. The increase of the lead to 2:0 came after the escape of Alexis Zaprivod. Only 24 seconds left before the end of the second period, when defender Matěj Šramatý sent a hard shot at Gusevs from the blue - 2:1.

The morale strengthened by the reduction helped Slovan to be more active in the attacking phase of the game. But the Bratislava players' shots lacked accuracy, or the Latvian treasure Oskars Gusevs was on the spot. The score of the match changed in the end after all: when Slovan conceded into an empty net while playing without a goalkeeper.