Jihlava vs Kometa Brno

Kometa seized the initiative from the opening face-off. A power-play opportunity inside the first two minutes gave Leino and Hartl early chances, but Jihlava's Adam Beran held firm. The breakthrough arrived in the 18th minute (P1): Kristián Pospíšil collected a pass from Adam Zbořil and fired from a sharp angle, the puck squeezing past Beran and over the line to make it 0-1. Róbert Leino also drew a secondary assist.

The second period was tighter. Kometa controlled possession without converting, while Jihlava began to find their footing. Jakub Brabenec drew a cross-checking penalty at 46:23 but the hosts could not capitalise on the ensuing power play. Beran denied Zbořil and Selič to keep the deficit at one.

The decisive damage came in the third period. Just four minutes in (44th absolute minute), defenceman Jan Ščotka fed Pospíšil on the right side, and the captain buried his second of the night — 0-2. Brabenec was awarded a penalty shot moments later but Jihlava's Beran read the backhand deke and made the save. Andrej Kollár then put the result beyond doubt in the 52nd minute, racing onto a loose puck for a clean breakaway and sliding it inside the far post to make it 0-3. Jihlava's Patrik Srdínko was later penalised for slashing (54:41), but neither side scored on the power play.

Pospíšil's opening goal in the first period was the defining moment. Coming from a sharp angle with traffic in front, it gave Kometa the cushion to play expansively and forced Jihlava to chase the game against an organised Brno defence that never looked rattled. Jihlava coach Viktor Ujčík acknowledged after the match that conceding first against a team of Kometa's calibre makes for a difficult evening.

Kristián Pospíšil (Kometa Brno) — Two goals, one from a tight angle and one on a set play from Ščotka's feed. The captain led by example in his first pre-season outing, showing the finishing touch that made him Kometa's offensive leader last season. Player of the match.

Jan Kavan (Kometa Brno) — A 24-save shutout in the first pre-season game of the year. Kavan was particularly sharp in the second period when Jihlava pushed hardest, and his composure on the penalty shot denial of Brabenec preserved the clean sheet.

Andrej Kollár (Kometa Brno) — Sealed the win with a breakaway goal in the 53rd minute. Kollár's speed in transition punished Jihlava for a turnover at the offensive blue line.

Matouš Menšík (Jihlava) — The most visible Jihlava attacker on the night. He created several chances for teammates and spoke post-match about the need to sharpen finishing after two consecutive 0-3 losses. "We have to work on the finishing — two games in a row without a goal," Menšík said via the club's official YouTube channel.

The box score shows a clean 0-3 scoreline, but the penalty count (4 for Jihlava, 5 for Kometa) and the 0-0 power-play record on both sides reveal a game played at five-on-five for almost its entirety — neither team could convert with the man advantage. The attendance of 5,304 at the new Horácká aréna was notably high for a pre-season friendly. Jihlava had opportunities in the second period but could not solve Kavan, while Kometa's 14 homegrown players in the lineup underlined the club's commitment to youth development.

Both teams were coming off full training blocks, which Ujčík noted post-match: "Both Kometa and we went into the game from full training, so it's not easy." The scoreline reflected Brno's sharper execution rather than a gulf in territorial dominance.

For Kometa Brno, this was the first pre-season fixture of the 2026-27 campaign — a confident start under head coach Libor Zábranský, who gave significant ice time to prospects Tomáš Selič, Michal Hartl and Tadeáš Beroun. Brno next compete in the Dolomiten Cup in Italy. Jihlava, playing in the second-tier Maxa Liga, suffered a second consecutive 0-3 pre-season defeat after losing to Mountfield HK by the same scoreline days earlier. Their preparation continues with further friendly fixtures ahead of the league season.

A dominant but controlled pre-season win for Kometa Brno, built on Pospíšil's finishing and Kavan's reliability in net. Jihlava competed well in the middle period but lacked the cutting edge to trouble a well-organised Extraliga side. The scoreline accurately reflected the difference in quality — Brno simply took their chances when they mattered.