Bratislava, Nov 18 (IANS): A whopping nine victories in succession for Slovan Bratislava hockey club has given them a comfortable 11-point lead at the top of Slovakia's premier ice-hockey league, Tipsport Liga. At the other end of the league table, Nove Zamky lost their sixth match in a row.

Bratislava's 4-1 victory over Nitra on Sunday marks their 15th triumph in the current season. The last year's finalist did not offer much resistance to Bratislava, scoring a lonely goal in the last period, slipping from the eighth position to 10th.

The traditional and one of the most prestigious derbies in the league between Banska Bystrica and Zvolen, two teams from the central region of Slovakia who are located only 20 km away from each other, resulted in many fist-fights and a close 2-1 victory for Zvolen. The visitors remain in the hunt for a spot amongst the top 3 in the rankings, reports Xinhua news agency.

The newcomer of the season Michalovce is staying in the calm waters of the mid-table, defeating bottom-ranked Nove Zamky in a high-scoring game 6-5. The home team was very close to ending their six-game losing streak but Patrik Rogon's second goal of the night in the last minute of the second period secured the eighth victory of the season for Michalovce.

The former bottom-placed in the league, Liptovsky Mikulas is still struggling after losing to Detva on Sunday 2-3. The visitors built an early two-goal lead that brought them their fourth away victory out of five matches.

The fans in Trencin were in for a treat in the 22nd round of Tipsport Liga. The home team opened the floodgates against Budapest only 35 seconds into the game, scoring their first of many, and subsequently provided a solid workout for the visiting goalkeeper that resulted in an impressive 9-2 destruction of one of the two Hungarian teams playing in the Slovak league. The Canadian-born attacker Graeme McCormack took over the scoring board with two goals and two assists for the sixth-ranked Trencin.

The other Hungarian team Miskolc fared much better in their clash against the third-ranked Kosice. The visitors were the first to strike but Miskolc answered with three goals in succession, led by their Canadian attacker Kyle Beach and his two successful scoring attempts.