BRATISLAVA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) - Both the leading Kosice and third-ranked Bratislava were upset in the 37th round of Slovakia's premier hockey league Tipsport Liga by bottom-ranked teams in their respective overtimes on Saturday.
Only the second team of the league Banska Bystrica succeeded in prevailing in a shootout thriller and trails Kosice only by two points now.
Kosice Hockey Club traveled to Hungary's capital to face-off against the 11th team of the league with the aim to continue its tremendous 12-game winning series but the home team took the initiative early on and the visitors had to tie the game twice to force a continuation in overtime. Budapest's third and final lead was provided by Istvan Sofron who scored the game-winner three minutes into OT, snapping his team's five-game losing streak. Budapest's most productive center Chris Langkow led the scoring department once again with two goals and also assisted on the Sofron's decider in the 4-3 victory.
Another surprising upset witnessed the fans in Nove Zamky. The team that is sitting in the penultimate place in the league standings for what seems like forever managed to outflank the third-ranked roster of Bratislava.
The visitors started the second period with a comfortable 4-1 lead but the home team rallied in a spectacular way, scoring a barrage of four consecutive goals and ultimately brought the game into overtime.
One minute before the final siren, Nove Zamky's Czech forward Petr Obdrzalek scored the golden goal to put the game away at 6-5 and ended his team's streak of the three straight defeats in the process. Bratislava presented two new additions to its roster, the Kazakh Martin St. Pierre and the Canadian Joe Basaraba, both of whom managed to get on the scoreboard.
Elsewhere, another top team was close to a defeat but the second-ranked Banska Bystrica succeeded in averting a humiliating defeat by edging out the last-placed Liptovsky Mikulas 5-4 in a shootout.
The last season's champions were close to getting their four-game winning streak snapped but the American forward Cason Hohman scored in the last minute of regulation to tie the game up and ultimately enabled Banska Bystrica to return home with a shootout victory. The home team's Rudolf Huna led the scoring department with two goals and one assist but failed to convert on any of his two shootout attempts.
Trencin leads the league's category of home wins with 12 triumphs and confirmed its dominance on home ice also in the 37th round, defeating Michalovce 4-2. Trencin's forward Juraj Bezuch capitalized on Michalovce's desperate power-play at the end and scored an easy empty-netter, his second goal of the night.
Zvolen's luck has official returned, the team from the central region of Slovakia winning its fourth consecutive match after a long dry spell. Rastislav Spirko scored twice against Detva and added one assist to lead his team to a clear 5-1 victory over the 10th-ranked Detva.
Elsewhere, Nitra scored a goal in each period to build a sufficient lead over the sixth-ranked Poprad, winning 3-2 in a close clash between two teams from the middle of the league standings, trailing Miskolc by only a single point.
