Extraliga try to begin

On Wednesday, it looked like the competition, would not even start, following the decision of the Central Crisis Unity of the Slovak Republic, all mass events, including sports, were to be banned from 1 October.

In the end, however, the Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic gave way to the demands of athletes and on Wednesday informed that sports events will be able to take place with a maximum of 50 participants.It will be possible to exceed this limit if they are persons who will act on behalf of the organizer (athletes, organizational team, etc.)

The absence of spectators means that the clubs will lose a significant profit from ticket sales.

"Fortunately, the worst-case scenario for sports and hockey has not materialized," said Aneta Büdi, executive director of the Association of Professional Hockey Clubs (APHK)."Extraliga clubs are ready to play the competition from October 2. This is good news, but at the same time we must realize that the clubs, unfortunately, will not last long in this format and in the current situation without financial compensation. We hope to succeed in the negotiations and we believe that in this phase of the setup we will bring it to a successful end"

However, the competition faces several other problems. Last week, Nové Zámky announced 20 members of the club, were tested positive, suspending the trainings and announced that the first two league matches were postponed for quarantine.They plan to debut on the ice of Michalovce on October 9. On Wednesday evening, HC Košice informed about two players tested positive, and two other hockey players, who were in close contact with them, also showed signs of symptoms. For security reasons, the club canceled the planned trip to Bratislava, where the players were to take part in a protest against the ban on holding mass events. Also Hungarian team DVTK Miskolc reported Covid-19 cases among players

Thus, instead of the originally planned six matches, only three will take place in the 1st round, .The matches DVTK Jegesmedvék Miškovec - HK Dukla Trenčín, HC Košice - HKM Zvolen and HC '05 iClinic Banská Bystrica - HC Mikron Nové Zámky will not take place.However, the competition management added to the Friday program a pre-play of the 7th round of HKM Zvolen - HC '05 iClinic Banská Bystrica, the derby of two teams that were not affected by a coronavirus infection.

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