Group B: All Quarter-Final Participants Are Now Clear
January 30, 2023
After Matchweek 6, all four teams of Group B that have qualified for the quarter-finals became known. Pölva Serviti, ZRHK TENAX Dobele, SK Tapa/N.R Energy and VHC Šviesa Vilnius secured their spots in the play-offs. The final places of these teams will be determined in the last rounds of the regular season.
TOP MATCH
The match between the Latvian and Lithuanian champions was the most intriguing. ZRHK TENAX Dobele defeated VHC Šviesa with a result of 30:24 and moved up to second place in the group. It was Dobele’s fifth consecutive victory.
ZRHK TENAX Dobele – VHC Šviesa Vilnius 30:24 (12:17)
Dobele – Kreicbergs 7, Pančenko 7.
Šviesa – Palevičius 5, Ugianskis 5.
Sandris Veršakovs (coach, ZRHK TENAX Dobele):
We won a very important 4 points at the weekend. We will try to finish as high as possible in the group. It is a tough fight and it is unclear which team will finish higher in the group. We still have a match against the leading team Polva. The rivals will also play an important match. The most important thing for us was to get 4 points at the weekend, and we achieved that objective.
Giedrius Morkūnas (goalkeeper, VHC Šviesa):
Today Dobele was better than us, we were struggling in the attack all the game. Kugis did a great job in the goal also the mistakes in the defense didn’t let us take the lead. We have to play much better if we want to stay competitive. Now it’s over and we have to think and prepare for the next game.
On Saturday, ZRHK TENAX Dobele defeated another Lithuanian team, HC Amber, after a very tough fight. This defeat has prevented Amber, a debutant team of the BHL, from reaching the quarter-finals.
ZRHK TENAX Dobele – HC Amber Vilnius 28:24 (12:13)
Dobele – Kreicbergs 9, Juzups 6, Pančenko 5.
Amber – Aukštikalnis 6, Ivanchenko 4, Tsitko 4.
Sandris Veršakovs (coach, ZRHK TENAX Dobele):
The opponents were in the lead for most of the match. We managed to outweigh the score only in the 50th minute. We have lost a great deal of energy. Our goalkeepers helped us a lot to get the win.
Gintaras Paškevičius (coach, HC Amber):
We were in a good mood for the match and played really well. The result was disappointing because we had every chance to get at least one point. Unfortunately, youthful mistakes prevented us from finishing our attacks successfully. When you are up by five goals, you need experience to maintain that lead. We lacked that.
In Group B, the Pölva Serviti team secured first place in the regular season. The Estonian champions won 16 points in 9 games.
Pölva Serviti – HC Tallinn 36:27 (17:11)
Pölva Serviti – Timmo 8, Sarapuu 5.
HC Tallinn – Shcherban 10,Mado 5.
Henri Sillaste (player, Pölva Serviti):
Our main task was to secure a group win today. And we achieve that. Bad thing was that we missed so many 6 meter shots and the second half defense wasn’t the best.
HC Tallin – SK Tapa/N.R Energy 17:30 (7:16)
Tallin – Shcherban 10, Kütt 4.
Tapa – Kosmirak 7, Oolup.
Madis Valk (player, SK Tapa):
Today’s game against Tallinn was really important to us like every other game. We went to the game with the expectation to win and so we did. The game went quite evenly in the first half but in the second half we took the game to our own hands.
Group B
| Position | Team | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Põlva Serviti | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 323 | 244 | 79 | 16 |
| 2. | ZRHK TENAX Dobele | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 266 | 251 | 15 | 12 |
| 3. | SK Tapa/N.R Energy | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 246 | 212 | 34 | 11 |
| 4. | VHC Sviesa | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 242 | 246 | -4 | 9 |
| 5. | HC Amber | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 194 | 255 | -61 | 2 |
| 6. | HC Tallinn | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 192 | 255 | -63 | 0 |