Sports News
By Nick Carey.
It's good news for Czech hockey player Jaromir Jagr, the famous right wing for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Voting for next year's NHL World All-Star team is underway, and so far he has received 90,000 votes, nearly double the total for the second-place player alone.
Another famous Czech player, Dominik Hasek, who plays for the Buffalo Sabres and is widely considered to be one of the world's best goalkeepers in the sport, topped the goalkeeper charts, receiving twenty-five thousand votes more than his nearest rival so far. Voting will continue until January 12th, and the highest scoring players will play in the 51st annual NHL All-Star game in Denver on February 4th.
On to football now, and it's good news for Slavia Prague. Although the team is currently languishing in eighth place in the Czech Gambrinus League, the team has been performing somewhat better on the international front. After a worrying 2-0 away defeat at the hands of Croatian team Osijek in the first leg of the second round of the UEFA Cup, it certainly looked liked the boys at Slavia had their work cut out for them.
Despite a poor turnout of just over four thousand people for the home leg, they rose to the challenge in flying style, with an opening goal from Tomas Dosek in the fifteenth minute. Ludek Zelenka then slipped a second in the Osijek net in the twenty-eighth minute, giving Slavia a comfortable 2-0 lead. Not for long, though, as Osijek forward Almir Turkovic slotted one into the Slavia net just before the half-time whistle, making the score 2-1 at the break.
The second half belonged to Slavia Prague, as Tomas Dosek scored his second goal of the match to make the score 3-1 after just eight minutes of play. Osijek as unable to take advantage of any chances throughout the second half, and Slavia ruined the Croatian team's chances of progressing in the UEFA Cup with two further goals just before the close of play, from Ludek Zelenka, his second goal of the match, and Tomas Kuchar.
The final score 5-1, Slavia winning 5-3 on aggregate. Slavia Prague is through to the fourth round of the UEFA Cup, and will no doubt be hoping that the team's international success will continue, unlike its recent performance in the Gambrinus League.
