The largest arena in the Czech Republic hosted the eleventh edition of the floorball Superfinal. 10,122 spectators found their way to the O2 arena for the women’s BigBoard Superfinal, and 12,538 for the men’s. In both cases, the previous record, held by the attendance from 2016, fell. The fans, entertained not only by great floorball, but also an amazing accompanying program2, created an amazing atmosphere in the arena.
Tatran is the champion for the seventeenth time
In the battle between the two most successful teams in history, overtime had to decide in the end Tatran Střešovice celebrated the championship title for the 17th time in its history. With silver around their necks, Jakub Hubálek and goalkeeper Lukáš Souček finished their eighth superfinal, tying the record holder Jan Natov (Mladá Boleslav).
From the very first minutes, you could feel that it would be a really tough fight, in which the players would not give anything away. Tatran jumped to a two goal difference in the opening period thanks to the goals from Matěj Havlas and Jakub Kolísko. The 2:0 score lasted until the last five minutes of the second period, when Adam Zubek equalized with two goals. The junior national team player is also ready for the Junior World Championship already next week.
Right at the start of the third period, Michal Pažák completed a turnaround from Vítkovice, but Tatran equalized in a power play thanks to David Šimek. A very nervous conclusion was brought by the unfortunate injury of Marek Beneš, the Střešovice forward. With a score of 3:3, the race continued until overtime, in which Havlas scored his second (and title-winning) goal, earning the title of Porsche Superhero.
BigBoard Superfinal 2023 referees Jakub Furmánek and Vlastimil Šolc, who represented Czech refereeing at the last two senior and junior championships, ended their rich career in the highest competition after fifteen years.
The Vítkovice women returned to the top, they overpowered FBC Ostrava in the city derby
For the first time in history, two teams from Ostrava fought for the title in the Women’s Extraliga. After a great battle, Vítkovice finally claimed their seventh triumph, with which they became independent at the head of the historical standings of the Women’s Extraliga. In addition, the Vítkovice captain scored her record-breaking seventh start in the Superfinal and together with Michaela Šponiarová tied her former teammate Veronika Enenkelová with the fifth title.
The heroine of the evening was Dominika Buczek, the most productive player of the regular season and the entire playoffs, who finally scored a hat trick and deservedly won the title of Porsche Superhero. Vítkovice already took a 5-1 lead in the third period, but then, thanks to two strikes from Michaela Mlejnková, Ostrava was able to reduce the difference to only one goal. However, Vendula Maroszová quickly stopped their hype, and put the stamp on Vítkovice’s triumph.
Despite the defeat, Ostrava FBC did not have to be so sad. In the next season, the Champions Cup awaits them. The competition will take place in a new format, thanks to which teams from Europe’s top four have the opportunity to call a pair of teams. Therefore, it helped Ostrava that Vítkovice already secured their way to the Champions Cup by winning the Czech Floorball Cup in January. In the men’s section, the Superliga champion from Střešovice will be accompanied to the top club event by cup champions Bohemians Praha.
Kloten-Dietlikon Jets defend championship title in Switzerland
After an even start in the Superfinal between the Kloten-Dietlikon Jets and Skorpion Emmental Zollbrück, the Jets took control of the game in the middle third and won 4-2 in the end, thus winning the championship title for the fourth time in a row.
The first period of this year’s women’s Superfinal did not offer the spectacle the spectators had hoped for. On the one hand, the nervousness of the many young players was clearly noticeable, and neither team seemed to want to make the first decisive mistake. So both teams concentrated on impeccable defensive work and defended their own zone with hard physical play. From the middle of the third period onwards, the reigning Swiss champions Jets became more dominant, but were unable to make the most of their opportunities. The first period ended 0:0 and the game continued with more offensive actions, but still without a goal. In the 30th minute, the young Noomi Überschlag was convincing and scored the 1:0. The lead lasted exactly 30 seconds before the experienced Zurich players carelessly gave the ball to the opponents and were punished by Nathalie Spichiger with a quickly executed counterattack. The game repeated itself 30 seconds later. Jets kept the ball well in the opponent’s zone after a free kick, while the Skorps did not put enough pressure on the person with the ball. Laila Ediz was given too much space and was able to put the ball into the near corner to make it 2-1. A minute of high-scoring play was the highlight of the second period, but neither team managed to score.
The Skorps had the chance to equalise at the beginning of the third period when they were outnumbered. The Emmental women showed fighting spirit and were willing to take the game back, but it was Chiara Bertini, who had previously been in the penalty box, put her team in front 3:1 in the 50th minute. A little later, Leonie Wieland scored to make it 4:1, but the Scorpions were not ready to give up the game and increasingly scored dangerous goals. Spichiger scored again in the 56th minute to make it 2:4. In the final phase, the Skorps tried to make the impossible possible with six players. But the ball would not go past the strong Livia Werz into the Zurich goal. This year’s Swiss champions are once again Kloten-Dietlikon Jets. It is the tenth title overall and the fourth in a row.
13th championship title for the SVWE
SV Wiler-Ersigen wins the Superfinal against cantonal rivals Floorball Köniz 3:2 after penalty shootout. SVWE thus wins its 13th championship title and is the sole record holder.
The two teams started actively into the decisive championship game. After a short feeling-out period, Köniz had more possession in the first half of the first period and also had a slight chance advantage. In the 12th minute, the first penalty was called and the SVWE was able to play two minutes in overtime. This power play remained scoreless and the more than 7000 fans in the stimo arena in Kloten had to be patient until the first goal. After the first intermission, the fight continued. In the 31st minute the first goal was scored: Otto Lehkosuo converted a pass from Simon Jirebeck and shot Floorball Köniz 1:0 in the lead. Köniz were rather passive after the opening goal, but Wiler-Ersigen could not react and the equaliser did not come for the time being. It was the expected low-scoring duel between the two teams with the strongest defence.
After the second break, the SVWE came back determinedly and scored the 1:1 equaliser after only 19 seconds. Philipp Affolter sank a cross pass from Deny Känzig into the Köniz goal. Köniz was unimpressed and reacted quickly to the equaliser. In the 43rd minute, the duo of Jirebeck and Bolliger took advantage of an SVWE mistake and regained the lead. In the 52nd minute, Deny Känzig and Philipp Affolter scored again to equalise at 2:2. Everything was open again and the hot final phase was definitely launched. There was no further goal in regulation time and the Superfinal went into overtime. The SVWE put pressure on the team from the city of Berne, but the defenders and goalie Patrick Eder prevented the decision. Köniz also had promising scoring opportunities through counter-attacks, but the ten-minute overtime remained goalless.
The thriller continued and the decision had to be fought for in the penalty shoot-out. Yann Ruh was the only player to score for Köniz. Marco Louis, Yannis Wyss and Andrin Hollenstein scored for Wiler-Ersigen. SV Wiler-Ersigen won the Superfinal 3:2 after penalty shootout and can lift the trophy again after losing two finals. It is already their 13th championship title, making them the sole record holders.
Photos by: Barbora Reichova, Martin Flousek/Cesky Florbal & Markus Aeschimann, Fabian Trees/swiss unihockey
