BRATISLAVA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Slovak ice hockey premier league, known as the Tipos Extraliga, is still marred by the coronavirus pandemic with three out of 12 players testing positive and unable to participate.

The league's governing body is therefore inserting one match into each round that was initially scheduled for a later date.

Last year "champion" Banska Bystrica (crowned after the abrupt end of the 2019/2020 season in March caused by the COVID-19 strike and subsequently stripped of the title as the governing body decided not to crown a champion of the shortened season) and the runner-up Slovan Bratislava are still trying to find their lost forms, losing their respective second-round fixtures.

On the other hand, Michalovce and Nitra are leading the rankings after two victories in succession. Kosice, Nove Zamky, and the Hungarian team Miskolc are still in quarantine.

Slovan Bratislava was looking for its first triumph of the season on home ice, but a meager 22 shots and a single goal scored were not going to cut it.

The visitors from Poprad did not put on an offensive show either, but scored twice, which was sufficient for earning their first victory of the season.

Slovan's Canadian forward Brendan O'Donnell could have tied the game in the second period but only hit the goal post to go 1-2.

In contrast, a solid nine goals adorned the match in Banska Bystrica.

The Rams, as the champions of the previous three seasons are nicknamed, started off well and dominated 4-1 after the first half of the game, led by the Canadian forward Matthew Mistele's two goals, but the visitors from Michalovce produced a miraculous comeback by scoring four in a row.

Their Canadian forward Christophe Lalancette completed his hat-trick in the final stretch to guide his team to a respected victory and the first place in the rankings, 4-5.

Nitra's second victory in a row was based on a continuous effort, sending a total of 41 shots toward Zvolen's goalie and scoring one goal in each period to edge out their opponents by a small margin 3-2.

Trencin entered the new season with a triumph thanks to a strong second period, scoring four goals and breaking its opponent Detva in the process.

The former NHL player Marko Dano, who returned home to play ice hockey in Slovakia, led the scoring department with two goals and one assist and guided his teammates to a convincing 5-2 victory. Enditem

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