After a tough two games on the road for HC05 Banská Bystrica, the Slovakian side returned home for their third game of the Champions Hockey League Group Stage, where they hosted Red Bull Munich.
Munich took a 3-0 victory in the first meeting in Germany, but thanks to superb performance in net by Tyler Beskorowany for Bystrica it wasn’t to be a repeat performance for last years finalists.
The 29-year-old netminder stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced as the game went all the way to a shootout, where he stopped four of the five attempts by Munich as Bystrica picked up their first points of the campaign.
“We’re always satisfied with two points, especially against a team like that.”Tyler Beskorowany after HC05 Banská Bystrica’s shootout victory over Red Bull Munich
“They’re one of the best teams in Europe, and for us to come out and make a statement win against these guys, it’s definitely a feel good game for everybody.
“The last three games have been pretty tough, but I made the saves I had to make and I gave our team the chance to win, and we ended up with the win.
“They had five good shooters come down in the shootout and you never know what can happen in the shootout. We didn’t really have much video on these guys so I just had to come out and play big, and hope that they hit me with a few pucks.”
On the other side of the ice, veteran forward Derek Roy is making his first ever appearances in the Champions Hockey League after a move from Sweden to Red Bull Munich in the off-season, and with a goal and an assist he’s helped the German side into top spot of Group G.
“It was a good game, I thought they played hard and played really well. It’s a tough loss for us but it’s a long tournament and we just try to get better every game.” Roy said following the shootout loss.
“Their goaltender played very good, he made a lot of very big saves. We had a lot of chances on the power play and we didn’t connect very well and again that’s one thing again we’ve just got to keep working on.”
Bystrica stay at home as they face a rematch with Färjestad Karlstad while Munich continue their travels as they look to get back to winning ways against HC Ambrì-Piotta with Group G action returning on Saturday.