Rivals from Germany, Switzerland and Norway. And from the Czech Republic as well. This is the plan of games of Sparta for pre-season periods. In addition to summer training also the final form of the plan for this time is coming. Before a sharp entry into the prestigious Champions Hockey League Sparta plays at home with Liberec and also two duels in the announced Dolomiten Cup in Italy.
Summer training started on May 18 and will last until early July. During her Spartan team also attends almost weekly camps in the resort St. Katerina in Počátky in Vysočina in late June. "We chose this option because in St. Katerina resort provides ideal conditions for one of the summer training cycles. Additionally, it is useful to change the environment for a few days and undergo a common camp," Patrik Martinec says, Sport manager of Sparta.
An individual preparation phase will be followed by a so-called “Pre-season time”, which starts on the ice in the second half of July. The first game will be played on Friday, August 7 at home ring against Bílí Tygři Liberec. Then the team moves to a camp in the Italian Dolomites, which is scheduled Aug. 14 to 19 and will include a tournament Dolomiten Cup. Sparta will play there against two teams from the trio Adler Mannheim, ERC Ingolstadt (both Germany) and Kloten Flyers (Switzerland). Sparta plays against Ingolstadt on August 14, after that on August 16 will play either for third place with the loser of the second pair, or the finals against the winner.
"Some games against with Czech teams could be added to the preparation time before CHL starts as well as in the time before our league starts. But the basic framework of the game is done. It is first and foremost about getting great prepared for the Champions League, which for us is once again a clear priority," says Martinec. "For this reason we are very happy that we managed to arrange the tournament in the Dolomites, where we meet top European teams."
After Dolomiten Cup Spartans will look forward for an entry into the second year of the Champions Hockey League. The team around the head coach Josef Jandač will play on ice Norweigen Hamar on Thursday, August 20. Two days later Sparta plays in Geneva in Switzerland. Home reprisals are scheduled on Friday, August 28 (6:30pm against Hamar) and on Saturday, September 5 (3:30pm against Geneva). Tickets for both games will be on sale from July 28.
"Our clear goal is to succeed in the Champions Hockey League at least as last season. We advanced as the only Czech team to playoffs and we were not far from advancing even among the top eight teams, which failed. Therefore we want to make it up," Martinec says and adds that Sparta expects a tough games. "Hamar has long been at the top of the Norwegian league, on whose quality suggests for example that Stavanger last year to win in Třinec. As for the quality of Swiss rival, there is no need to discuss much of anything. Geneva is the team which belongs among the best in Europe."
