Liepāja's Kurši open Prague tournament with a win and a heavy defeat

The traditional pre-season floorball tournament Czech Open has begun in Prague, with Liepāja's Kurši the only Latvian team taking part this year. Having spent a season in Latvia's first division, the club has returned to the top tier and is now testing itself in the tournament's second-strongest category, Pro M. The team travelled to the Czech Republic missing three key players, most notably Latvian national team candidate Ralfs Polis.

Before the official tournament began, Liepāja played a friendly against the junior team of Swiss club Floorball Koniz Bern. Two tournament matches followed on the opening day.

Convincing win over Zug United u21

In their first tournament match, Kurši faced Switzerland's Zug United u21 and won 3:0. Ralfs Redjko, who has returned to the team after a break, opened the scoring. Endijs Ezeriņš extended the lead in the second period, and young player Armands Gulbis added the third goal in what is his first significant experience at this level. The goalkeeper kept a clean sheet in the match.

Heavy defeat to Pardubice

The second match brought a much tougher opponent — Czech Superliga club BA Sokoli Pardubice. The teams went into the break level at 0:0, but Pardubice scored six unanswered goals in the second half. Liepāja's only goal came from newcomer Linards Putniņš, who joined from Talsi's club over the summer and scored his first goal for Kurši. The match ended 1:8.

After two rounds in the Pro MB group, BA Sokoli Pardubice and Jönköping IK — Liepāja's next opponent — share the lead with six points each. Kurši sit third with three points, while FBŠ Slavia Plzeň, whom Liepāja will face in the group's final match, and Zug United remain pointless.