Opening Day Defeat

HC SLOVAN Bratislava - Admiral Vladivostok 1:3 (0:1, 1:1, 0:1)

Goals: 35. Sersen (Viedenský, A. Šťastný) - 17. Voronin (N. Lisov, M. Mamim), 33. A. Kuznetsov (Alexandrov), 47. Yakovlev (Voronin, Podshendyalov)

Penalties: 5:5 (2 min.), + M. Mamin (Admiral) 5 min. + game misconduct (kneeing). Powerplay goals: 0:1, Shorthanded: 0:0. Officials: Bulanov, Bukin - Maitak, Pronskikh (all RUS). Attendance: 9,270.

Lineups:
HC SLOVAN: Garnett - Sersen, L. Kozák, Starosta, Švarný, J. Valach, V. Mihálik, Luža - Surový, V. Nedorost, L. Nagy - Jeglič, A. Šťastný, D. Skokan - Kašpar, Protaseňa, Bartovič - Skalický, Viedenský, Lušňák
Vladivostok: Nalimov - Kosmachiov, Bartulis, Glazkov, Osipov, N. Lisov, Mnatsyan - Filatov, Pelletier, Bergfors - Fisenko, Lugin, Gorshkov - Alexandrov, A. Kuznetsov, K. Makarov - Voronin, M. Mamin, Yakovlev - Podshendyalov

The opening ten minutes of the season brought little excitement, the most noteworthy moment being an off-target effort from Viedenský in the 6th minute. Slovan then had to defend the first Admiral powerplay after Protaseňa's foul. In the 12th minute, home goalie Garnett saved with the pads off Glazkov, while at the other end Kašpar failed one-on-one and Nagy shot wide. The visitors finally opened the scoring in the 17th minute, Voronin diverting Lisov's effort past Garnett - 0:1.

Slovan did have an extended powerplay across the period break, Pelletier the first to be penalised, then Mamin receiving a 5 minute game misconduct for putting the knee in on Ladislav Nagy. But the Sky Blues failed to convert the advantage, whereas Admiral made the most of their own powerplay, as Bartovič ended up netting Kuznetsov's pass - 0:2. Slovan soon pulled one back, however: Starosta shot straight at Nalimov on the break, but Sersen's effort from the red line surprised the Vladivostok goalie - 1:2.

The hosts tried hard to find the equaliser in the final period, Sersen again trying from distance, but this time he shot straight at Nalimov, as did Starosta on the break. In the 47th minute, the Admiral skaters got the better of the home team, and Yakovlev found a gap between Garnett's pads to put daylight between the teams, a lead the visitors kept secure for the final stages - 1:3.

Post-match comments:
Miloš Říha (HC SLOVAN head coach): "It's difficult for me to assess the game, as starting at home is always tougher. The opposition put enormous pressure on us, they played their game and waited patiently for our mistakes. The powerplays let us down, and that was decisive. The lads kept playing to the end, but from our point of view we weren't very effective."
Alexander Andriyevsky (Admiral head coach): "From our point of view it wasn't a bad game, our team moved well. The penalties surprised us a little, but we handled the situation. The league is underway, and we have a lot of matches ahead of us."