Salak after ten months in the goal: I was next door like that fir tree

Updates: 12.01.2021 22:17

Brno – One week after his 34th birthday, for the first time in his career, the globetrotter Alexander Salák stood in the goal in the Czech extra league. In the Sparta jersey, he scored four goals in the 12th round overtime in Brno, and the leading team of the competition lost to Kometa in a 3: 4 overtime period. Salák commented on his premiere with a clear view, he stood between the poles in the match after almost ten months.

“I’m glad I’m done, I didn’t play for a long time and I didn’t want to look like the biggest jerk. The boys played well and made it easier for me. If I had to evaluate my performance, I’d say nothing. God for the gifts,” he smiled. through the veil of a debutant who settled in Prague after 14 years spent in Finland, the USA, Sweden, Russia and Latvia.

Salák admitted that he was nervous at the beginning of the match, which he confirmed by falling behind his own goal, which the Brno attackers did not use. “Somehow my body fell there, but I didn’t think much about it. It wouldn’t be a good start if Holas (Petr Holík) put it in there. He’s a good boy if he didn’t,” the three-time World Cup participant continued in a light tone.

After a break of more than ten months, he had mixed feelings. “Today it occurred to me that I was next door like the fir tree. But again I have to say that the boys played well, they didn’t let the Brno people do more serious events. Even so, they managed to use something at home,” said Salák, who last caught on jersey Dinama Riga in KHL.

While he has a lot of experience in international hockey, he caught in the Czech league for the first time. “It was a championship match for me after a long time, I was nervous about it. I am glad that I went through the match, that I have it behind me and we will take home a point,” Salák added.

Today, Brno decided with two goals in overtime and then in overtime, when coach Libor Zábranský sent three forwards on the ice. “They had a nice time there, they have good players. And that three attackers played? It’s nothing new for me, I’ve already experienced it,” Salák confirmed his experience.

In it, Sparta got a very high-quality partner to Machovský, and according to coach Miloslav Hořava, Salák will get other opportunities. “I want to help Sparta, I’ll be like second two now. It will be tough at the end of the season, it will be important,” said the father of four, who is expecting a fifth child this year with his wife Michaela.

Of course, the game was played in Brno without spectators, and maybe that also helped Salák. “I’m quite glad that people here didn’t yell at me, that I was a pig and that they didn’t pour beer on me. I had a quiet premiere in this direction,” concluded Salák.