Wednesday’s university hockey duel between HC MUNI and the VUT Cavaliers at the packed 7,700-seat Winning Group Arena provided an exciting and dynamic game with loud cheers from the colourful stands and fun competitions for the fans.
This year’s sporting event began on the gallery of the stadium. A fan zone awaited the students, where they could play for prizes on the hockey shooting range, try slalom with a hockey stick and puck, visit refreshment stands or get autographs from the octagon wrestlers. There was no parade to the arena this year.
The game started with the ceremonial drop of the first puck by the representatives of both universities, with Vice-Rector for Studies and Quality Michal Bulant representing Masaryk University. The Cavaliers scored the first goal, so the MU players did not go into the second period as they had hoped. In the second period, the hockey players from BUT scored another goal, but the next minutes on the ice belonged to MU. Matyáš Horský, a newcomer to HC MUNI, put the puck in the net and Tadeáš Jakubec scored the equaliser shortly afterwards.
Vojtěch Kadlic scored his third goal in a row in the final period to give MU their first lead of the game. The Cavaliers levelled the score at 3-3, but Tadeáš Jakubec scored his second goal in the last fifteen seconds to win the game. After a one-year break, Masaryk University had once again beaten the hockey players from the Brno University of Technology and reclaimed the Golden Cup. “We knew we could beat the BUT team. We have been preparing for this season since the beginning of August,” said player Štěpán Linka, a student at the Faculty of Economics and Administration.
“Our first goal was exemplary,” commented Júlia Buchtová, a student at the Faculty of Science. “I liked the fact that no goal was accidental, it was something to watch,” she added.
Daniel Jirousek, a journalism student at the Faculty of Social Studies, was also pleased with the outcome of the match: “I think both teams started the game very cautiously and the game only picked up speed after BUT scored the first goal, but in the second period the game opened up and I really liked the performance of the players. I think the result reflected their efforts.”
There was also a parallel battle of the stands accompanying the game, with various competitions in the stands and on the ice. MUNI students scored in the foam ball throwing contest and the puck chase on the ice in inflatable costumes, but the battle was ultimately won by BUT students.
The author of this article is a student of the Faculty of Social Studies and a member of M Magazine’s student editorial team.
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