Slovan wins as Czech tourney starts

The Czech town of Pardubice paid tribute to Zbynek Kusy, legendary GM of the local Dynamo club and multiple trophy winner. He passed away in 2015 and a pre-season tournament was established in his memory. This year’s edition sees Admiral and Slovan join Dynamo Pardubice and Eisbaren Berlin in a four-team tournament which began on Thursday.

Admiral Vladivostok 2 Aisbaren Berlin 3 (0-2, 1-0, 1-1)

Admiral suffered its first loss of the summer, having previously won home games against Amur and defeated both CSKA and Dynamo Moscow in shoot-outs. Here, though, things went wrong in the first period as the German club jumped to a 2-0 lead. The Streltsov brothers combined midway through the second to halve the deficit, but a Colin Smith goal six minutes into the final frame restored Berlin’s two-goal advantage. Vladimir Butuzov got one back in the last minute but Admiral could not force the game into overtime.

Dynamo Pardubice 1 Slovan Bratislava 3 (0-1, 1-0, 2-0)

The second game of the day brought a victory for the KHL as Slovan enjoyed a winning start after the short hop across the border from Slovakia. Thus far in pre season, Slovan had played only Czech teams and that experience possibly helped Vladimir Orszagh’s team take control of this meeting.

Two goals from Mario Lunter, a 24-year-old forward who managed just one goal in 31 KHL games back in 2014-15, helped the Slovaks claim the win; young defenseman Mario Grman, still awaiting his KHL debut, added a third late on. Dynamo’s only goal came when Tomas Rolinek – well known in the KHL after spells at Metallurg and Salavat Yulaev, tied the game midway through the second period.