HK Partizan - Crvena Zvezda 6:1 (play-off, 3rd game)

Victory!!! What a victory!!!
Fantastic, amazing, incredible, confident, smooth, when the only question is how many more goals we should score to them.
We slid out to the rink and tore their faces off.

I brought lots of screenshots, these are from the warming-up

Team captain Marko Milovanović

Head coach Nikola Bera

This is one of the rare non-screenshots: group hug before face-off

(photo: Facebook/Hokej savez na ledu Srbije)

Fan banner: Nemate pare, imate nas! (You have no money, but you have us!)

(photo: Twitter)

Face-off: the puck was dropped by Partizan’s legendary goaltender Rašid Šemsedinović

The game almost started with a fight, after a Zvezda-player mocked Gavrić. This time the pace wasn’t that fast, compared to the previous two matches. Both sides were trying, attacking, Trifonov had some great saves.

To hell with these names. I failed to write correctly at least two, but possibly even three players’ names. Apologies to all whom it may concern. After I finished this post, I go back to my previous ice hockey reports and correct them all.

Nevertheless we scored our first goal after 3 minutes. Captain Milovanović personally took control over things when he got the puck after the great teamwork of Filipović and Janković.

Victorious high five with everyone on the bench

The goal made us even more fierce, while Zvezda was at a loss. They could barely get to our goal area, their only luck was that their defense line blocked our attempts relatively successfully. There was only one moment when they dangerously approached our goal line. There were approx. 9 minutes left from the first period. There was an upheaval in Partizan’s goalmouth, then the camera showed goalkeeper Trifonov laying on the rink with a Zvezda-player topping him, while a Partizan-defender (probably Srđan Ristić) threw himself into the way of the puck to keep it away from our goal line.
He succeeded.

The moment before the upheaval. Ristić raises his stick, while Krivov is arriving from the other side

After this we ruthlessly scored our second goal. Čuković was the goal scorer, assisted by Zhukov.

Hands up in the air...

...the entire bench is on their feet...

...Čuković arriving for high fiving

And this was just the beginning. In the 12th minute Ristić forwarded the puck to Ogrizović, Ogrizović wasted no time, shot and scored. 3:0!!!

Ogrizović with Luković behind him

Only 10 seconds were left from the first period when Vlasov scored our 4th goal, because it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Zvezda tried in the second period, too, without any success. Interesting that the 10th minute of the second part brought the first penalty. A Zvezda-player made Gabrić trip, he ended up sulking on the penalty bench for 2 minutes.

Komazec arrives at Partizan’s bench for a short rest

There were fights, but none of them ended up in a major battle

Mass scene at Partizan’s goalmouth

Then in the 11th minute Zubov scored our 5th goal.

For the end of the second period Zvezda got into double power-play but they couldn’t take advantage of it.

Brkušanin was one of the players who had to stay off the rink for two minutes

Penalty is over, Marko Brkušanin in da house

Anton Zhukov after the second period

Boban "Hitman" Čuković before the third period

Aleksa Luković (#13) is watching

Face-off before the 3rd period, Vlasov goes for the puck

Partizan-bench during the 3rd period: Aleksa Luković (#13) and Dragan Komazec (#15)

In the last part Zvezda switched to full speed to be able to score a goal. They were so successful about it, that Ogrizović scored our 6th goal in the 9th minute.
Bwahahahaha.

Ogrizović (25) almost falls into the box together with the puck...

...GOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLL!!!!

Zvezda could finally score one single goal in the 14th minute, but it didn’t matter.
We won. And we could celebrate.

The third game will be on Sunday, from 17:30. If we win that game, we'll be the champions.
Here is the postscript: this (most probably) screenshot was uploaded to HK Partizan’s FB-page. Boban Čuković said thank you to the fans for the support.

"Thank you, Grave Diggers, for the utmost support. Together for the title!"

(source: Facebook/Hokejaški klub Partizan (Fan page))

Last but not least, massive ecstasy at the end of the match.

Лудница на хокеју! Победа црно-белих у трећој утакмици финала плеј-офа... Партизан - Ц. звезда 6:1

A video posted by Partizan is life (@partizanislife) on Mar 18, 2016 at 12:13pm PDT

Crvena Zvezda - HK Partizan 4:5 (play-off, 1st match)

This game was like an adventure.

I watched the first period on sportuzivo.tv, without commentary. I realized only later - when I could find a working ArenaSport 2 link - how lucky I was to watch it hearing only fans’ chantings, and not the commentator.

Warming up

(photo: Twitter)

Face-off

(photo: hockeyserbia.com)

We skated out to the rink and immediately scored two goals. Seriously. In the 3rd minute Zhukov said ’hi’ to Zvezda’s goaltender, in the 6th Ogrizović came, saw and scored. We were leading to 0:2, Tikhonov made great saves, Zvezda struggled. They had attempts, but our domination was clear. All was going fine, it all looked like a smooth game.

Then right at the beginning of the second period Zvezda scored, from power play, of course, what else. Čuković had to stay on the penalty bench, after he (if I could see it well) had a verbal fight with a referee. Both teams fought hard. Filipović was thwarted right in Zvezda’s goalmouth, the red player earned a 2-minute penalty, but we got no penalty shot. We caused upheaval quite a few times in Zvezda’s goalmouth, they were all these screaming-shouting-collapsing-cursing kind of chances. It was always very close, but never a score.

Komazec, some time during the game

(photo: Twitter)

Only three and a half minutes were left from the second period, when Zvezda equalized.

And 43 (fourty-three!!!) seconds were left, when they took the lead.

No. Just... no. It can’t be. It’s impossible. Cold shower. The second period ended with 3:2.

The third one had a tough start. Vlasov clashed with a Zvezda-player so hard that our Russian player had his mouth covered with blood. He had to be carried off the rink (he couldn’t even stand up for long minutes, he was just laying on the ice).

The match continued, sometimes on the verge of a major fight between players. Then around the 14th minute there was a huge upheaval at Zvezda’s goalmouth. All that was visible was a big pile of players making traffic at the goal line, then Partizan’s players suddenly raise their hands, make happy dance and Nenad Raković skates along the bench high-fiveing with everyone, while teammates were hugging him. The slow motion replay showed him crashing heroically through the red wall and push the puck into the box. 3:3

Less than 30 seconds passed and we took back the lead. Filipović came and BANG, scored. 3:4

The commentator of ArenaSport 2 was amazing. Any time Zvezda had an attempt, he was screaming on the top of his voice. Seriously, the speakers next to my monitor were about to give it up. When Partizan scored, he just announced it with a totally casual voice, as if he was about to ask for a piece of bread.

(Okay, okay, I know that ArenaSport is one of Zvezda’s sponsors, but for hell’s sake, let’s not have double standards.)

Zvezda desperately attacked. As a result they knocked out Milovanović in the 6th minute so heavily that the Captain also had to leave the rink.

Milovanović, when he was still healthy

(photo: hockeyserbia.com)

Only 5 minutes were left, when Zvezda equalized. 4:4. Impossible. Only a few minutes are left, goddamn it...

But Partizan is Partizan, not a bunch of whining pussies who just give it up.

Because Janković scored such a GIANT goal that the echo came from the Genex Tower, when only 2 minutes were left. We were leading again (4:5), we just had to survive the last seconds. 

It wasn’t so easy. Only 30 seconds were left, when Tikhonov stayed on the ice in a painful pose after a big save. Zvezda tried everything to equalize. They failed. We won, return match will be on 14th March.

(photo: Twitter)

HK Partizan - Szegedi Tisza Volán 8:0

Some said, this game would be a derby. In fact it was a training match.

News reported about the Szeged-based team that they arrived in Belgrade with half the team. No source mentions though why it happened so.

There isn’t much to say about it. It was smooth, we were leading in the first period to 3:0. In the second period started that wave of exclusions that added a lot to Szeged’s defeat. Partizan kept on scoring, the end result of the second part was 6:0.
Tihonov saved. He had 21 (!!!) saves during the game. Nothing could shake him, disturb him or weaken him. Tihonov is HK Partizan’s main bastion.
In the third period we scored two more. Game done, there are only two left until the play-off, one against HK Vitez the other is against Vojvodina.
The hero of the day was Pavle Ogrizović with two goals and an assist. The others - Dimitrije Filipović, Marko Milovanović, Anton Zhukov, Stepan Krivov, Alexander Vlasov and Nenad Raković - all scored 1-1.

(photos: Hokejaški klub Partizan (Fan page))

Szegedi Tisza Volán - HK Partizan 2:9

First of all, a big thank you to szegedma.hu news site for the live text coverage and the excellent photos. They should be a great example to follow for all other news sites. Thanks and respect to everyone there!

The city of Szeged was looking forward to the arrival of Partizan a lot, they all took this match as a great derby. Meanwhile Partizan got a reinforcement of 3 new Russian players in the meantime, namely Alexey Tifonov, Evgeny Vlasov and Anton Zhukov.

A group of Grave Diggers were also present

(photo: Facebook/Hokejaški klub Partizan (Fan page))

Then Partizan got a "deus ex machina"-alike start. They pushed a heavy pace, Brkušanin scored our first goal in the 4th minute. (0:1) Szeged missed out a number of chances, if I could see well in the report of szegedma.hu, they actually scored a goal some time in the 10th minute, but referees invalidated it. Not that much later we were in power play, Milovanović took the advantage of it, shot and scored (0:2)

(photo: szegedma.hu)

Then for 6 long minutes the two teams were just battling hard against each other. Goalkeepers brought their best on both sides, while Vlasov missed out a couple of chances (so did Ódry on the other side of the ice hall). Then in the 16th minute Zhukov passed the puck to Vlasov, Vlasov thanked and shot it into the net. 0:3

(photos: szegedma.hu)

Until the end of the first part there was only a missed out chance left by Milovanović as well as a very heavy pressure by Partizan. The reporter of szegedma.hu wrote about Partizan’s Russian players who were (according to him) all a great advantage for us.

Srđan Ristić clashes with a player of Szeged, while Dragan Komazec is watching from the background

Marko Brkušanin

(photos: szegedma.hu)

Only 4 minutes passed from the second part, when Partizan was ahead with 0:4. Brkušanin sent a distant cannon shot to the goal of Szeged and scored. The home team reduced the difference a minute later by Ódry's goal (1:4).

Ogrizović chases Szeged’s player

(photos: szegedma.hu)

This goal sped up a bit the home team, but Brkušanin cooled them down in the 30th minute with a goal shot from power play (1:5). Then Vlasov hit the goalpost, then referees whistled and Partizan got a penalty. Mitić shot, Szeged's goalkeeper Szőke saved it.
Szeged got into power play in the 34th minute for the first time, but the funny (or absurd) was that even this way Partizan almost scored.

Marko "Unstoppable" Brkušanin

(photos: szegedma.hu)

Finally we really did score. Milovanović scored from a cheeky, extremely sharp angle. (1:6) Until the end of the second part there was no more goals, just a very heavy Partizan-pressure.
In the last part Volán sped up and tried to push Partizan hard, but eventually we scored again. In the 44th minute Brkušanin passed to Zhukov, the Russian didn’t waste any time, shot and scored. 1:7 Oh, and for the whole time Szeged was in power play.

(photos: szegedma.hu)

Then we got into double power play. We took advantage of it, now Terzić scored (1:8)
In the 47th minute Szeged scored another goal. First Bosnyák shot, but that was saved by Luković. The puck dropped to Dávid Szabó, he scored. 2:8

(photos: szegedma.hu)

Then in the 51st minute Gabrić almost started a private fight with a Szeged-player, but eventually everyone was calmed down. For a while both teams missed out their chances, then at the very end, almost at the end buzz Milovanović slid up on the left and passed to Zhukov, who slid with the puck right into the net, settling the final result. 2:9

(photos: szegedma.hu)

Victory and celebration together with the fans

(photo: Facebook/Hokejaški klub Partizan (Fan page))