Olimpija vs Villach 3:2

I am an employee of Slovenske železnice which is a sponsor of the Olimpija Hokey club we can get tickets for their home games. I decided to visit their first IceHL game of the season against Villach. After work, I went first to Maru Japanese restaurant – good but expensive. I arrived in front of the venue to meet coworkers Jure and Rok. Before the game, there was a program (Pero Lovšin and Gregor Skočir had a concert). I got a ticket after some searching. The beer was 4 €.

The venue was quite full (3700/4000), where we got seats on the upper west stand. On VIP you could see the mayor, prime minister, SŽ CEO, … Supporters were quite loud with their chants, notably the song Mala terasa. Even away supporters gather in smaller numbers. The game started nervously with many mistakes on both sides. In the 5th minute, Simšič scored after an assist from Čosić. In less than 10 minutes in powerplay, Villach equalized, Coatta. A few seconds before the first third ended Pavlin (assist Čosić) put in to lead the home team. In the mid-second third Simšič (assist Lavoie) scored to double the lead. The final result 3:2 was set by MacPherson (Wall assist) in another powerplay at the beginning of the last third. Olimpija had a few more chances but they didn’t score. It was a nice opening of the season, a good atmosphere with good company. I greeted Puco before leaving the venue.