Yesterday's last set of Game Day 4 games saw a special moment for one of the teams, as Polish champions and Champions Hockey League newcomers Unia Oświęcim picked up their very first win in the pan-European competition.
With emotions still running high, we caught the ever-calm Head Coach of the team Nik Zupančič for a quick interview.
"We stay humble."Nik Zupančič, Unia Oświęcim Head Coach
The Poles started the game poorly, going 2-0 down by the end of the first frame thanks to two powerplay goals from home team KAC Klagenfurt. How did Zupančič view this point of the game?
"The first period of the game we played too far away and gave KAC too much room and they capitalised on that," explained Zupančič. In the second period, Oświęcim made it 2-1 but then got knocked back down to 3-1 before the 40-minute mark came.
"Things got better and we scored on the powerplay," said the Head Coach, noting Erik Ahopelto's powerplay goal that opened the Polish champions' score tally. But come the final frame, everything expected from Oświęcim was out the door and the visiting side went on a monumental rampage which saw them score four goals in just over eight minutes to completely turn the game on its head. What changed?
"We started to do the right things, we started to believe," responded Zupančič, "our goaltender saved us many times and we backed him by taking the chances up front."
First win aside, it's proved tough for the newcomers to hit the ground running in the CHL. They played a close game on the road against Ilves Tampere that had to be decided in OT, but Eisbären Berlin kept them out of the game on Game Day 2. It was another close affair when Red Bull Salzburg came to the Hala Lodowa MOSiR - again having to knock on an extra frame to decide this one - but it again ended in a loss. What does this win mean in context of the last four games?
"Like I always said, it was always going to take us time to get used to the speed of the Champions Hockey League games but we got better game by game. I'm really proud of our group but we'll stay humble - we have a lot of things to improve and work on," responded Zupančič, adding, "it's been great to be a part of this competition and learn and build up our game."
Talking about learning and building, what can/have Unia Oświęcim take from the CHL experience?
"Many things," replied the Head Coach instantly, "we've met teams that are better than us skating-wise and have better reactions. We can take lessons from them and build up ourselves - these types of games are really positive!"
"Like I always said, it was always going to take us time to get used to the speed of the Champions Hockey League games but we've been getting better game by day," started the Oświęcim Head Coach.