Although the Csíkszereda Sportklub (from Csíkszereda/Miercurea Ciuc) had an aggregated lead of 2-0 after the first two games in the Romanian ice hockey championship finals against the Corona Brassó Wolves (from Brassó/Brașov), the yellow-blue team was able to turn the series around. After winning both the third and fourth games, they managed to defeat the Szekler team Thursday evening in the fifth and final game. Thus, after winning in 2014, 2017 and 2019, the Corona Wolves won their fourth Romanian championship title.
One month after the Erste Liga finals (international ice hockey league organized for clubs based in Hungary and Romania), which this year was also played between the very same Transylvanian teams and won by Csíkszereda Sportklub, Corona Wolves managed to strike back at the Szekler team in the Romanian ice hockey championship, taking the title in the fifth game of the finals, winning with a score of 4-3 at the Olympic Ice Rink in Brassó,
Both teams were closing out an extremely hard season with this game, as both had not only played in the Romanian Championship, the Romanian Cup and the Erste Liga but had qualified for the finals of all three series. The Romanian Cup finals was won by Corona Wolves last December, while the Erste Liga by Sportklub in the beginning of April.
The only questions left were which one of the two Transylvanian teams was going to win their last, 16th game against each other in the 2020/2021 season and which one would snag its second title of the season.
The Brassó team started the decisive game harder and took the lead already in the 9th minute with the goal of the Canadian defender Josh McFadden (1-0); less than three minutes later, the home team captain, Roberto Gliga (a player who was present on the ice in all four Romanian championship titles of the Corona Wolves), managed to score for (2-0). But in the very last second of the first period, the blue-white team also managed to score, thanks to the Canadian Judd Blackwater (2-1).
After the break, the game was dominated by the guest team, but halfway through the second period, the game was equalized when following the assist of Tousignant, Blackwater managed to score again in the 31st minute (2-2).
Not even a minute passed from the third period when in the 37th second, Sportklub took the lead with the score of its Russian defender Alexander Loginov (2-3). But despite the Szekler team continuing to dominate the game, they could not increase their lead anymore. Mathieu Tousignant once put the puck into the net, but the referees invalidated the goal because of high-sticking.
In the second part of the third period, the dynamics of the game seemed to be changing and the amazing saves of the blue-white team’s Belarusian goalkeeper Maxim Samankov were needed to prevent the home team from scoring their third goal. But after a sending-off penalty, Sportkub got into a hard situation, and Corona Wolves finally managed to equalize in the 55th minute with the score of their Slovak striker Tomas Klempa (3-3). In the next minute, the yellow-blue team’s Canadian striker Cody Fowlie managed to take advantage of Alexander Loginov’s blunder and scored for 4-3.
This goal was the one that decided the championship, making the Corona Brassó Wolves the Romanian champion in the 2020/2021 season.
Romanian ice hockey championship finals, decisive 5th match
May 6, 2021: Brassó/Brașov, Olympic Ice Rink
Corona Brassó Wolves – Csíkszereda Sportklub 4-3 (2-1, 0-1, 2-1)
Goals (minute): McFadden (9th), Gliga (12th), Klempa (55th), Fowlie (56th) and Blackwater (20th and 31st), Loginov (41st)
Shots on target: 43-30
Penalties: 4 and 6 minutes
Final result of the series: Corona Wolves is the champion with the aggregate result of 3-2.
Title image: Corona Wolves wins the Romanian ice hockey championships in the 2020/2021 season. (Photo: Daniel Maximilian Milata)
