Czech hockey finals

We got to one last hockey game a couple of weeks ago because Slavia Prague made the finals - and Karlovy Vary did me a favour by eliminating top-seeded Mountfield of České Budějovice. (Interestingly, both semifinals went seven games, and Karlovy Vary's 2-1 win in Game 7 was the only road win in either series.) With Mountfield's loss, Slavia had home-ice advantage, giving us the chance to go to Game 2 on a Saturday.
We hadn't been to Slavia's rink before, but it's the newest in the Czech Republic, and really quite nice - on par with some North American rinks. It was built in 2004 for the world championships, and is much bigger and brighter than Sparta's arena. Also like North American stadiums, it has a new soundsystem which pumps music at most opportunities. Sometimes it seemed like a contest between the music and the chants of the fans at either end of the ice.
We witnessed Slavia bounce back from a Game 1 loss with a very well-earned victory. Slavia was the better team for most of the night, and generated a lot more scoring chances. Karlovy Vary goalie Lukaš Mensator, apparently a Vancouver Canucks prospect (or ex-prospect), frustrated them for quite a bit, but in the end the home team won out.
Slavia went on to capture Game 3, but Karlovy Vary thumped them 8-2 in Game 4. They traded home wins to set up another Game 7, the first in a Czech final since 2003, I believe. Back on home ice, Slavia controlled the game for a 4-2 win (Karlovy Vary's second goal came with one second left) and claimed their second Czech championship.
I'm not sure who the top NHL prospects in the league are; it's mostly dominated by mature players who either have already played in the NHL (Slavia captain Josef Beranek, Mountfield goalie Roman Turek) or older players who're probably going to spend their whole career in Europe (league scoring champ Petr Ton of Sparta). But maybe you'll see some of them, like 18-year-old Slavia forward Vladimir Ružička, in the NHL someday.
-Jason