Radio Romania International Sports Club
The latest from ice hockey
Florin Orban, 05.04.2023, 13:45
Erste Liga is Central and Eastern Europe’s leading
ice hockey interclub competition. It has reached its final stage. The winner of
the Liga’s 2023 edition is ACSH Gheorghieni from Romania. It was for the fifth
time running when a Romanian team won the trophy. We recall that in 2009, the
winners were Hockey Club Csíkszereda. Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc walked away
with the trophy in 2011, 2021 and 2022. Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc were defeated in three finals, while Corona
Brasov lost two finals.
Proving their mettle in the Liga’s 2023
edition were ten teams, of which seven were from Hungary and three from
Romania, namely the winner of the previous edition, Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc, Corona
Braşov and ACSH Gheorghieni. All three Romanian teams went past the first stage
and advanced to the quarterfinals, where Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc were unable
to defeat Corona Brasov. There were two semifinals, an all-Hungarian one, with
a 4-3 aggregate win of Ferencvaros Budapest against Jégkorong Akademia, and all-Romanian
one, with another 4-3 aggregate win of ACSH Gheorghieni against Corona Brasov.
In the final, Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc defeated Ferencváros, 4-3 on aggregate. Ferencvaros won the first two games in
Romania. In the wake of the two other games played in Budapest, the two clubs
shared their wins. However, the last three games were won by ACSH Gheorghieni. In this past Friday’s game played in Gheorghieni, the
Romanian team won, 2-1. The Hungarian player Peter Vincze drew
first blood for the host team, then Ferencváros’s British player Oliver
Betteridge levelled the score. The fate of the game was sealed by Finnish
player Matias Petteri Haaranen, who has been a Romanian citizen since the summer
of 2022.
Still feeling elated after their Erste Liga’s
excellent run, ACSH Gheorghieni resumed their domestic championship fixtures;
the impact was painful for ACSH Gheorghieni. On Monday, ACSH Gheorghieni were defeated by the National Championship’s
Group A leader, Steaua Bucharest, 3 to 10.
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