CHL - Gameday 1 - Friday, August 21, 2015

IFK Helsinki and Neman Grodno both open with home-ice wins – for Neman, their first-ever CHL game is a shutout win! Also, Skelleftea won in Nitra and Litvinov won in Grenoble.

Grenoble 1–4 HC Litvinov

In a game between two teams each making their CHL debuts, Czech champions HC Litvinov went into Grenoble and won. After a relatively even first period that was scoreless, Litvinov broke it open in the third with 3 goals (2 of them on the power play) and a 15–6 advantage in shots. The teams then traded goals in the third. Michal Travnicek and Filip Pavlik each had a goal and an assist for Litvinov, while Sebastien Basillion broke Jaroslav Janus's shutout bid with 9 minutes to play.

HK Nitra 2–4 Skelleftea AIK

Nitra faced a daunting task in their first CHL game, going up against one of Europe's best clubs. In the end they couldn't do it, but they wouldn't quit. Three times they fell behind two goals, and twice they were able to strike to get back within one, but no closer. Michal Valent kept his team close by making 40 saves, while Tibor Kutalek and 43-year-old legend Jozef Stumpel had 2 points each. For Skelleftea Jimmie Ericsson, Janne Pesonen and defenceman Tim Heed had 2 points each.

Neman Grodno 2–0 Adler Mannheim

Urged on by a jubilant home crowd, Neman Grodno were impressive as a team in their first-ever CHL game, shutting out German champions Adler Mannheim. The star of their win was goaltender Maxim Samankov, who stopped all 35 Mannheim shots, while Neman scored on 2 of 15. It was the power play where they did their damage, scoring in the first period with a man-advantage and in the second up two men – Milan Mikiluk from a sharp angle and then Michal Hovan on a cross-pass one-timer.
“First of all, I say a big thank to our fans. It is pleasure to play in such atmosphere,” said Neman coach Milos Holan. “We played well on the power play and it was a great experience for our players. We had a clear goal on the game and everobody played great today.”
“It was a tough game," said Mannheim head coach Greg Ireland. “I pay tribute to Neman, they battled great tonight. Also, we played well, but did not score on our chances. The puck didn't find the net on the PP, and Neman’s goalie played so well. The was intense due to the fact that the teams are playing in the Champions League – they are fighting for their cities and countries. I would not say that Neman’s game was a surprise. We saw a lot of videos. We expected that their fans would put a lot of pressure on us. I like how my team responded to the pressure."

IFK Helsinki 3–1 SC Bern

Corey Elkins scored the first goal of the game ona wrap-around and assisted on Lauri Taipalus's game-winner as IFK Helsinki open Group A play with a win over visiting Bern. Trailing by 2 goals, Trevor Smith got his team on the board on the power play in the 48th minute, but that's the only shot that beat Ville Husso in the game. At the other end, Janick Schwendener was solid, stopping 25 of 27. Tomas Zaborsky rounded out the scoring with a late empty-net goal.
"This was a hard, tough game," IFK Helsinki coach Antti Tormanen began. "We came out skating well and got two goals very early in the game. We had opportunities to score even a few more goals, but we took some penalties and let SC Bern back in the game. In the second period we had the power plays but Bern had the best chances. It was a tight game until the very end. We were playing with only 18 players named on the roster, including some young guys. On the power play we weren't playing our best. Bern was pressuring hard and even we had some great scoring chances. When we couldn't score, their pressure made us look lousy. They had some power play opportunities too, even 5-on-3 and they have lots of experienced guys but they scored only once.”
"We practiced our penalty-kill tonight a lot, that's for sure,” Bern coach Guy Boucher said about the amount of time his team spent shorthanded. "Five-on-five we had a difficult start, they surprised us with their speed, but just as we got some scoring chances we went into the box. It was a good chance for us to try some pairings and lines, considering we have nine new players. Especially in the opening 10 minutes we didn't manage the puck well, which gave them two goals and we were playing catch-up hockey most of the game. They're a good team, and they deserved to win. The CHL is exciting because you get to travel, it helps the players bond faster, and you see new teams. We came here with the idea to get better, and enjoy the challenge.”