Radio Romania International Sports Club

Erste Liga is Central and Eastern Europe's leading ice hockey interclub competition. It has reached its final stage. The winner of the Liga's 2023 edition is ACSH Gheorghieni from Romania. It was for the fifth time running when a Romanian team won the trophy. We recall that in 2009, the winners were Hockey Club Csíkszereda. Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc walked away with the trophy in 2011, 2021 and 2022. Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc were defeated in three finals, while Corona Brasov lost two finals. 

Proving their mettle in the Liga's 2023 edition were ten teams, of which seven were from Hungary and three from Romania, namely the winner of the previous edition, Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc, Corona Braşov and ACSH Gheorghieni. All three Romanian teams went past the first stage and advanced to the quarterfinals, where Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc were unable to defeat Corona Brasov. There were two semifinals, an all-Hungarian one, with a 4-3 aggregate win of Ferencvaros Budapest against Jégkorong Akademia, and all-Romanian one, with another 4-3 aggregate win of ACSH Gheorghieni against Corona Brasov. In the final, Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc defeated Ferencváros, 4-3 on aggregate. Ferencvaros won the first two games in Romania. In the wake of the two other games played in Budapest, the two clubs shared their wins. However, the last three games were won by ACSH Gheorghieni. In this past Friday's game played in Gheorghieni, the Romanian team won, 2-1. The Hungarian player Peter Vincze drew first blood for the host team, then Ferencváros's British player Oliver Betteridge levelled the score. The fate of the game was sealed by Finnish player Matias Petteri Haaranen, who has been a Romanian citizen since the summer of 2022.

Still feeling elated after their Erste Liga's excellent run, ACSH Gheorghieni resumed their domestic championship fixtures; the impact was painful for ACSH Gheorghieni. On Monday, ACSH Gheorghieni were defeated by the National Championship's Group A leader, Steaua Bucharest, 3 to 10.

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