After a series of average or even mediocre performances, Cracovia hockey players showed in the last two games of the regular season, that they are getting prepared for the key games. A narrow but confident victory over GKS Tychy at home and spectacular win in Gdańsk showed, that Pasy are the major title contender.

GKS Tychy was the only team that could depose Cracovia from the top place in the league. For a while GKS even matched Pasy in terms of points and had a better balance of previous games. For some Tychy, whom Cracovia beat in the last year’s final, are our most dangerous rivals. On Friday, when Justka scored a power-play goal for GKS just after three minutes of play, some may have doubted in our team. Later into the game Cracovia attacked with passion, but GKS goalie Sobecki played a fantastic game; Pasy were unable of scoring even playing 5-on-3. But the stands exploded with joy when Pinc smartly passed the puck to Csorich, who gave Sobecki no chance with a powerful shot. After this power-play goal gained more confidence, but, despite many chances, the result remained square until 58^th minute when Daniel Laszkiewicz scored after Piotrowski’s fine counter attack. This was a very good game, although just a few goals were scored. What counted was that it was clear, that Cracovia was getting back to form.

After beating Tychy our team needed a draw in an away game in Gdańsk to secure the first place after the regular season. Stoczniowiec Gdańsk is doing really well this season and is 3^rd in the league; together with Tychy and Podhale Nowy Targ they are Cracovia’s strongest rivals in the championship race. On Sunday, when after 16 minutes of play Stoczniowiec was leading 3:1 our first place was endangered. But Leszek Laszkiewicz managed to score an important goal just before the end of the 1^st period and later equalized some five minutes into the 2^nd period. A 45-seconds double salvo by Pasiut and Hartmann came right after the equalizer. This was enough for Gdańsk goalie Odborny, who two weeks ago kept Cracovia at bay recording a shoot-out. But his substitute Soliński did not stop Pasy from scoring three more goals in the last period. Stoczniowiec was crushed and Cracovia showed, that they are favorites of the play-off.

Pasy enter the play-off as the top-seeded team, in the first round (best-of-five) our rival will be Naprzód Janów, who finished second in the lower pool of the league. If Cracovia beats Naprzód, we will face Podhale Nowy Targ or Zagłębie Sosnowiec.

Our footballers played a double-friendly on Saturday. The squad was divided into two more or less equally matched teams, though the first team was supposed to be stronger in defense, and the second team was stronger in attack. The first team met 2^nd leagued Piast Gliwice and won the game 2:1. Piotr Bania scored both goals, first beating the goalkeeper after Wiśniewski’s fine pass, later scoring from a penalty after Kłus was fouled in the area. The second team surprisingly lost to 3^rd leagued Kolejorz Stróże 2:3, despite Bojarski’s two goals (one of them scored from a penalty after Moskała was fouled). The reserve team easily beat MZKS Alwernia 4:0.

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CRACOVIA - GKS TYCHY (0:1, 1:0, 1:0)

0:1 - Justka (Belica) 3’ 1:1 - Csorich (Pinc) 36’ 2:1 - D.Laszkiewicz (Piotrowski, Cerny) 58’

Attendance: 2500

ENERGA STOCZNIOWIEC – CRACOVIA 3 : 8 (3:2, 0:3, 0:3)

1:0 - Zachariasz (Skrzypkowski) 2’ 1:1 - Pinc (Cerny, Prokop) 6’ 2:1 - Hurtaj (Jurasek) 13’ 3:1 - Jurasek (Hurtaj, Rompkowski) 16’ 3:2 - L.Laszkiewicz (Hartmann, Słaboń) 20’ 3:3 - L.Laszkiewicz (Piekarski, Csorich) 25’ 3:4 - Pasiut (Dulęba, Piotrowski) 26’ 3:5 - Hartmann (Słaboń) 26’ 3:6 - Hartmann (L.Laszkiewicz, Piekarski) 42’ 3:7 - Pasiut (Csorich) 55’ 3:8 - D.Laszkiewicz (Słaboń) 60’

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CRACOVIA - PIAST GLIWICE 2 : 1 (2 : 0)

1:0 - Bania 42’
2:0 - Bania 45’ – penalty
2:1 - Przewoźniak 60’

Cracovia: Cabaj, Radwański, Skrzyński, Uszalewski, Wiśniewski, Kłus, Heidemann, Szwajdych, Nowak, Dudzic, Bania

Piast Gliwice: Kozik - Rogalski, Widuch, Gamla, Zajączkowski, Podgórski, Krzycki, Chylaszek, Kompała, Świątek, Kukulski

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CRACOVIA - KOLEJARZ STRÓŻE 2 : 3 (0 : 0)

0:1 - Łukasik 56’
1:1 Bojarski 57’
2:1 Bojarski 62’ – penalty
2:2 Petrowicz 64’
2:3 - Znamierowski 89’

Cracovia: Olszewski, Wojciechowski, Karwan, Baster, Kostrubała, Baran, Pawlusiński, Jeleń, Giza, Moskała, Bojarski

Kolejarz: Pyskaty - Szczepanik, Walenciak, Berliński, Mielec, Trela, Frankiewicz, Łukasik, A.Basta, Petrowicz, D.Basta

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CRACOVIA II - MZKS ALWERNIA 4 : 0 (0 : 0)

Goalscorers: Obrzut, Kubica, Wrona i Martynus

Cracovia II: Pączek – Suślik, Urbański, Łuczak, Brózda, Trędota, Kękuś, Szlęzak, Borek, Obrzut, Żuławiński.

Also played: Brzeziański, Żurek, Tomkowiak, Martynus, Guzik, Gałczyński, Wrona, Kubica.

MZKS Alwernia: Chuderski, Dukała, Cecuga, Kozera, Jajko, Jasieczko, Cecuga, Borowczyk, Guja, Chylaszek, Jozkowicz.

Also played: Ciupek, Ficek, Krawczyk, Kaczmarek, Banaszkiewicz, Sepioł, Tabisz, Knapik.