Djurgarden Stockholm 5–3 EV Zug
They needed just a single point to advance, but Djurgarden took 3 anyway in front of their home crowd, temporarily taking over 1st place in Group B. Markus Ljungh and Marcus Sorensen each had 2 points for Djurgarden, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard did likewise for Zug. After three games Zug are still searching for their first points, on Sunday they will try to get them and at the same time do Djurgarden a favour in Tampere, by denying Tappara the group win.
Adam Ollas-Mattsson scored Djurgarden's second goal, his first goal at the professional level. “I had some luck when I got the puck and then I just banged it home,” he said about the 2–1 goal. “It felt good, I got to play and played pretty solid and tough and even scored one so a pretty good game for me.”
ZSC Lions Zurich 3–2 Eisbaren Berlin
The ZSC Lions become the perfect team to finish the group stage with a perfect 12 points, thanks to three power-play goals. Ryan Shannon had a goal and an assist, while Severin Blindenbacher scored the game-winner in the 27th minute. For Berlin, the game means a lost chance to wrap up a playoff spot – they can get that with a point in Gap on Sunday.“We did a lot of things very well tonight,” said a pleased ZSC coach Marc Crawford. “As a group of defenders we defended very well, and our power play was very good, scoring all three goals. We supported the puck and moved it, for the most part, very well. We've done very well so far in the CHL. I thought we've got better every game – at the beginning in Gap we weren't very sharp, but we've improved each time now. We want to keep going as far as we can in this tournament.”
“I think the effort was great, we game out of the gate really well and played a good opening period,” Berlin coach Uwe Krupp said about his team’s start. “The difference was that Zurich scored on their power plays. Gap will be a hard game, they're a good skating and experienced team, and I'm expecting a tight game.”
Fribourg-Gotteron 4–3 Lulea Hockey
There was nothing but pride on the line for the home team, but they can be proud of the way they've finished up their CHL campaign this season, by beating the defending champs. Julius Sprunger scored the go-ahead goal on the power play in the dying seconds of the second period, assisted by Sakari Salminen, who had 3 points in the game. The teams then traded goals in the third, with Marc-Antoine Pouliot scoring the winner on a perfect wrister. Lulea had a chance to move into first place in Group K with a win, but that will now be decided in their last game in Rauma on Sunday.“This win over the defending champion was important for our confidence. We worked hard during this whole CHL season but we were not able to win our games. In the first game at home, which we lost to Lukko Rauma after the shootout, we were also a bit unlucky, but then we had some more troubles in our roadtrip in Scandinavia,” Pouliot said about the troubles his team had in a very tough group. “But we have to take the positive aspects out of this CHL campaign. Tonight we played a good game and we finally collected a deserved win. With some key players that came back into the lineup, we have improved our level of play. I think we showed also a good mindset today - we played very disciplined and as a cohesive unit so that we can now look forward to the beginning of our league.”
“We will have to get ourselves ready for the next game now. You can't win every single game, but we want to finish in the top spot in this group. And if the situation is like now, when you can play head-to-head to decide who wins the group, this is interesting for everybody,” said Jacob Miclikier, who scored the first Lulea goal. “I know that there are high expectations from the fans to my person. But I try to face this challenge and keep doing what I'm doing. This means I have to be productive, helping my team win and also moving forward myself. That's what I'm here for and I hope I can continue as it started in the first games for my new club.”
Grenoble 2–1 Espoo Blues
They entered the game with hopes of getting the necessary three-goal victory and a chance at a spot in the Round of 32. In the end they didn't get that, but Grenoble did get the first win ever by a French team in the CHL to the delight of their home fans. With the score tied 1–1 after one period, Sebastien Bisaillion's power-play goal in the 25th minute gave Grenoble the lead, and aroused hope that the improbable might happen. Despite four power-play chances after that, however, they could not get another goal, which sends the Blues through to the next round.“We wanted to come out with a lot of intensity, making a lot of body checks like we did at the beginning, even if they scored early,” said proud Grenoble coach Edo Terglav. “We were very aggressive, putting the tempo. My guys played the game they were supposed to play: working hard, blocking the shots, hitting, going to the net. We just saw Grenoble play the game we expect to play all season. It’s a great way to finish the competition – we have shown what we are capable of. At the end of the game, we pulled the goalie with more than two minutes to go and we stayed in their zone for two minutes – we had the opportunities. It’s a pity we didn’t score but it’s really positive.”
“Congratulations to Grenoble, great game,” said Blues president Mika Rautio, who actually played goal for Genoble during the 1998–99 season. “We did the best as we could but Grenoble was better today. Grenoble is very dangerous, they can score every time, they had very good power play, their goalie is good, they played very solid tonight. Our guys didn’t expect anything because they haven’t played against French team, ever. But I’m not surprised, I thought games against Grenoble would be tough ones. And I got a thought that today it would be a big game for Grenoble. We are all happy tonight because we qualified and Grenoble won. This is very good for French hockey.”
Vitkovice Ostrava 3–1 Neman Grodno
With both teams entereing the game with 3 points, Vitkovice needed a win to wrap up a playoff spot, while a Neman victory would have given them a good step in that direction with Vitkovice still having a game to play tomorrow in Mannheim. In a defensive battle that remained scoreless more than halfway through the game, Petr Strapac opened the scoring in the 35th minute for Vitkovice. Neman were still very much alive heading into the last 20, but Vitkovice dominated the start, scoring twice – Strapac assisting on both for a 3-point game – and very nearly adding another, to effectively put the game away. Pavel Boyarchuk got Neman on the board on the power play with under three minutes to go, but that's as close as they'd come, ending their first CHL run while Vitkovice go on.“We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game, because it was a very tough in first game in Grodno,” Strapac said about what Vitkovice were expecting from the start. “They didn’t play defensively, they tried to put pressure on us. They had plenty of chances in the first and second periods. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t convert on them and then we struck. In the third period we were in control of the game. We want to win tomorrow in Mannheim to win the group. I would like to play a Swedish team in the next stage. We didn’t play against any Swedish teams last year, so it would be nice.”
“We had a unique chance to advance to the playoffs, but it wouldn’t have been sure even if we won this game,” said Neman coach Milos Holan, who was visiting his home town. “We knew it would be very tough game. Both teams had to win. We had some chances in the first two periods, but we failed on some 2-on-1s. We were looking for a pass instead of a shot on goal. I think this is a Russian mentality and I can’t change it. It was all about the first goal, then Vitkovice controlled the game. I would like to congratulate them for advancing to the knockout stage.”
No comments:
Post a Comment