Romania’s ice
hockey championship this week will come to a close. On Thursday, the last match
will decide the Romanian champion. Corona Brașov will be pitted against Sports
Club Miercurea Ciuc. Right now, the score is 2-all, and the final is taking
place in the best out of five system. Miercurea Ciuc last week won the first
two games, both played in Brașov, winning 5-2 and 4-1. In Miercurea Ciuc, on Monday,
the host team was leading 3-nil after the first 20 minutes of play, and came
very close to actually winning the championship. Corona came back strong into
the second quarter, winning it 5-1. The third quarter ended 1-all, so the team
from Brașov eventually won 6-5. On Tuesday, in the fourth match of the final,
also played in Miercurea Ciuc, Corona evened the odds, winning 3-nil. The
deciding match will be played on Thursday in Brașov.
For Corona Brașov,
the spectacular comeback in the last two games also comes with the hope of getting
even after losing the final of the regional interclub competition Erste League,
also to Miercurea Ciuc. In early April, Sports Club won 4-2 overall, managing
to win the Erste League for the third time. Over the years, Erste League has
been won by two teams from Miercurea Ciuc, Hockey Club Csíkszereda, in 2009,
and Sports Club, in 2011 and 2020. SC Miercurea Ciuc played another three
finals in 2009, 2013 and 2019, which it all lost. In turn, Corona Brașov played
and lost a final in 2014. Last season, the competition was suspended in the
semi-finals due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and SC Miercurea Ciuc and Ferencváros
Budapest were declared winners. (V.P.)