Preview
Frolunda Gothenburg, the reigning CHL champions, haven't always looked like champions this season, but they've got the job done when they've had to. In their first six CHL games so far, they've won and lost against Dynamo Pardubice, Grizzlys Wolfsburg and Yunost Minsk, and yet here they are. After losing in Minsk to start off the Round of 32, they returned home with a convincing 5-0 win, perhaps signalling that they're finally on their way. Their opponents are Eisbaren Berlin, who have made the Round of 16 for the second straight season. Last season they went out to Skelleftea AIK in that round, and now they play another big Swedish club. While they've never gone beyond this point in the CHL, they did win the CHL's predecessor – the European Trophy – in 2010. These two teams met twice in the European Trophy tournament, with Frolunda winning 6-0 at home in 2011 and Eisbaren returning the favour with a home-ice win in 2013 by a 4-3 score. Depsite accumulating more points than Frolunda through their first six games, Eisbaren will start at home in this series due to Mercedes Benz Arena's lack of availability the following week.
Closer look: Eisbaren Berlin
(4-0-0-2, 12 points, 18:14)
Eisbaren Berlin weren't given much of a chance to advance from a group that also included teams from Sweden and Finland, but after two wins against Lulea Hockey and two losses against SaiPa Lappeenranta, they finished right in the middle. Again they weren't given much of a chance in the Round of 32 against EV Zug, but opened with a convincing 4-0 victory at home, then won 2-1 in Zug for the sweep. Once again, nobody is giving the team from the German capital a chance in the Round of 16 against the reigning CHL and SHL champions. They've already knocked off one former CHL champion this year. Do they have any magic left for another?
Nicholas
Petersen
2+4, +2
Micki
Dupont
1+0, +3
Petri
Vehanen
92.78 %
Closer look: Frolunda Gothenburg
(3-0-1-2, 10 points, 18:12)
Frolunda Gothenburg were expected to win Group A, and they did, but it was a lot harder than expected. First it was a narrow 2-1 win in Wolfsburg, followed by a 3-2 overtime loss in Pardubice. When they got home to Gothenburg, things seemed to be getting back on track with a 5-2 win over Pardubice, which wrapped up the group. In the group's last game, with a lot at stake for the visitors, Wolfsburg won 3-2 to become the group's other qualifier. In the Round of 32, they lost 3-2 in Minsk, and followed that up with a big 5-0 win at home to take the aggregate victory. In each of the CHL's first two seasons, Frolunda has reached the Final both times.
Casey
Wellman
4+1, +3
Henrik
Tommernes
1+2, +4
Johan
Gustafsson
88.61 %
Not many people are giving Eisbaren Berlin much of a chance in the Champions Hockey League Round of 16 against defending champions Frolunda Gothenburg. Don't try telling any Eisbaren players that they don't have a chance, though. On the contrary, as defenceman Constantin Braun expressed, they've beaten Swedish teams before and they know what it takes to do it again.
“We played in the European Trophy for a few years and in 2010 we won it, so we've faced Swedish teams before and we know how they like to play,” the 28-year-old mainstay on the German national team said. “They're all great players, they can skate and they can shoot the puck. The thing is though, they like to control the puck and don't like to play without it, so if we try to get them away from the way they're comfortable, that's our best chance for success.”
Braun is one of eight players still on the team from 2010 that beat all four Swedish teams they faced, including Farjestad Karlstad in the final by a score of 5-3. Three years, later, they hosted Frolunda at Berlin's Mercedes-Benz Arena – then called O2 World – and beat them 4-3. And of course, in this year's group stage they beat former CHL champs Lulea Hockey twice.
“A lot of us have been here for several years now,” he said, talking about the core of players that has been in place several years. Braun transferred to the club from Mannheim in 2004 as a 16-year-old, and advanced to the pro team within a couple years via the club's junior program. Players who have seniority over him include defencemen Jens Baxmann and Frank Hoerdler and forwards Florian Busch and Andre Rankel, the team captain. Constantin's younger brother Laurin Braun came a year later. “Like me, they came here when they were young – 16 or 17 years old – so we know each other pretty well and we've forged a pretty strong identity here, and the organization takes really good care of us.”
Canadian general manager Peter John Lee, a former NHLer, has supplemented that homegrown German talent with reinforcements from abroad. Key acquisitions include Finnish netminder Petri Vehanen, Canadian defencemen Micki Dupont and Bruno Gervais and Canadian forwards Nicholas Petersen and Darin Olver.
“The best roommate I've had this year is Gervais, a French Canadian,” he said, with current roommate Dupont within earshot.
When asked what makes Eisbaren Berlin such an attractive club to attract players from elsewhere, he answered, “I think it's a combination of the city and the organization. Everybody knows Berlin – it's world-famous. It's an amazing city, you never get bored here. The people are great and the hockey fans here are great too. We get lots of people coming out to watch us play, there's great atmosphere in the arena, and it gets a reputation as a place that players like to come to, both Germans and from other places.”
The ability to attract top talent translated into seven DEL titles in a nine-year period from 2004-05 to 2012-13, plus the aforementioned European Trophy win. Then there was an abrupt drop-off in the next couple of years, which necessitated a change. After a poor showing in the 2014-15 CHL and a bad start to the DEL season, German hockey legend Uwe Krupp was brought in to take over as head coach.
“When he first came here he instilled a feeling of confidence in ourselves, that we were a good team,” Braun said of Krupp. “It took some time to really get to know what he wanted, but you could see the change last year when we finished second in the regular season. He really stresses defence – he says if we play good defence, everything takes care of itself. That's not just the defencemen, but the forwards too, everybody on the same page. I think that's a good mindset and I like the way he coaches.
“I've worked with him for many, many years. He used to be the national team coach and the first time I played for him I was around 18, so I've known him for 10 years now.”
Krupp's defence-first approach led to an improvement in the domestic standings last year and a spot in the CHL's Round of 16 – the first German team to make it that far. This year they're back, which is amazing considering they were grouped with teams from Sweden and Finland.
“So far I'm really happy with the way we've played in the Champions League,” he said. “That was big to start with a win at home against Lulea, and then up there started really strong, went up 4-0 and I think we got a lot of confidence from that. Obviously we wanted to beat the Finnish team (SaiPa Lappeenranta) too, but in the end we advanced to the next round, which I think surprised a lot of people.”
About the team's Round of 32 victory, he said: “Then everyone thought we would lose to EV Zug, but we started with a 4-0 win at home and then we won there too, so I'm really happy so far.”
And while not intimidated by Swedish opponents, Braun knows that “as the champions, Frolunda is going to be a challenge. I haven't seen them play yet this year, but we're going to start preparing for that in the coming days – watching video and coming up with a plan. It should be fun.”
He sees using home ice to Berlin's advantage and dictating the play in the first game as key. “We have to play them really tight and hard, and if we can do that at home it gives us a really good chance. If we can get them to play our game, like you saw against Lulea, then they might turn over the puck and then we've got to be ready for our opportunities.”
As for the return game in Gothenburg, where the Indians have come back to win on numerous occasions, he simply said, “We'll get the best result we can at home and then see what the situation is when we go up to Sweden.”
And as for the fact that nobody is giving them a chance: “Nobody expected us to beat the Swedish team even once, but we beat them twice, so maybe the underdog role is good for us.”
Game One
Defending CHL champions Frolunda Gothenburg are in firm control of their Round of 16 series with Eisbaren Berlin after a huge road win, taking a five-goal lead home with them. They won 6-1 thanks to three-point efforts from Cramo Top Scorer Casey Wellman and team captain Joel Lundqvist. The visiting Indians started much better with a couple of early chances, including Rasmus Dahlin hitting the post inside the opening five minutes. Berlin did have their chance to open the scoring, as Kyle Wilson came in unmarked at the back post only for Johan Gustafsson to deny him with a great leg save. It wasn't long, however, until Frolunda did take the lead – Sebastian Stalberg the scorer at 5:49. Simon Hjalmarsson hit the post shortly before Frolunda doubled their lead – Lundqvist striking on the power play at 11:02.
"I think we played a pretty solid game," Lundqvist understated after the game. "It's always good to have some extra goals for the next game too, so overall a pretty good game for us."
The Eisbaren however didn't give up on the period, Sven Ziegler coming in 1-on-0 and wristing high over Gustafsson to half the deficit, but Frolunda weren't done in the opening stanza either. Wellman was left unmarked at the far post to fire it in with 18:06 played. Period two saw Frolunda with long spells camped in the Eisbaren zone. The only goal of the period came with 27:36 played, Lundqvist again the scorer to make it 4-1 – a lead the Indians took into the final period – although they almost doubled it, only for Victor Olofsson's shot to come back off the crossbar.
The last 20 minutes Frolunda were in cruise control, but weren't done scoring. Christoffer Ehn skated from his own blue line before pulling a move on Petri Vehanen to make it 5-1 at 45:56. It got worse for the hosts just over two minutes later, with Johan Sundstrom making it 6-1 at 48:19. At that point Vehanen pulled himself on that goal, with Marvin Cuepper coming into the net. The new man in net managed to keep the puck out for the remainder of the game, but despite a couple of half-chances for the Eisbaren, it was Frolunda who held on for a huge 6-1 road win.
"It's absolutely our goal for the season to win this league again and I really like the way we performed today," said Frolunda coach Roger Ronnberg. On the return game back home he said, "We have to stay humble and we have to continue playing good hockey, so if we play the next game as effectively as we did today we should be fine."
Game Two
The damage was mainly done last week, as the Indians entered the ice with a 6-1 aggregate lead which they never looked in danger of losing. They followed it up with a 4-1 win in the return leg to win going away. The home side started with intent and went a goal up on the night with just 1:19 played – Carl Grundstrom poking home a loose puck to extend his side's lead to seven overall. The young forward added both his and Frolunda's second just over ten minutes later, tipping Matt Donovan's blue-line wrist shot into the net at 10:37.
Frolunda took that lead through the middle period and into the third as Berlin tried to find a way back into the game. Eventually the Eisbaren did get themselves on the board in Gothenburg, Bruno Gervais slapping one in from the blue line at 50:44 to make it 2-1. Frolunda however were not going to let this game get close, and duly re-estalbished a two goal lead at 53:21 through Mats Rosseli Olsen putting home a rebound. The game's scoring ended with Victor Olofsson scoring on the powerplay 37 seconds before the end to make it 4-1 on the night, and an emphatic 10-2 overall.
No comments:
Post a Comment