In one of three match-ups this round to feature a Swedish and Finnish team going head to head, Skelleftea AIK face JYP Jyvaskyla. Both of these teams have been among the strongest in their leagues the past few years, but both are also probably disappointed with their play in the group stage. One of them will be further disappointed by exiting at this stage of the tournament. These two teams met in the Round of 16 two years ago. In a see-saw battle, which saw each team lead by two or more goals on aggregate at one point or another, Skelleftea prevailed in a shootout. Will they go down to the wire again?
Closer look: Skelleftea AIK
(2-0-1-1, 7 points, 10:9, 1st in Group N)
As one of Europe's top clubs for the last several years, this year's group stage was somewhat of a disappointment for Skelleftea, as they picked up just 7 points in four games, yet amazingly still won Group N. They began with an overtime loss in Vienna and a one-goal win in Kuopio, then went home to face the same two teams again. They looked like they were back on track with a convincing 4-0 win over KalPa, but then lost to the Capitals for the second straight game 5-2. They know they'll have to be better against a strong Finnish team if they don't want their CHL journey to end very quickly.
Andrew
Calof
2+1, even
Top Forward & CRAMO Top Scorer: Skelleftea didn't score a ton of goals in the group stage, and they were led by three players with 3 points – Andrew Calof and a pair of returning players, Joakim Lindstrom and Oscar Moller. Princeton University graduate Calof is in his third season in Skelleftea, registering 46 and 44 points, respectively. Lindstrom and Moller both went to the KHL in 2014 after being offensive leaders on the SHL championship squad. Their return means a big shot in the arm to the team, both in the SHL and CHL.
Niclas
Burstrom
1+1, even
Top Defenceman: An undrafted d-man, Niclas Burstrom is one of the finest offensively in the SHL, as he's been a a notorious point-scorer every season since he first came up from junior. Last season he ended up scoring 28 points (9+19) in 50 regular season games and recorded 10 points (1+9) on 16 games in the playoffs. There isn't anything telling us he won't take another step upwards this season.
Joni
Orto
–
Goaltender: Joni Ortio was just acquired by Skelleftea on 7 September, following the dismissal of incumbant Erik Hanses. He is now the team's top goaltender in the SHL, though he has yet to appear in the CHL. The Finn has 37 games in the NHL and over 100 in the AHL on his account, making the 25-year-old an experienced guy who will help this team a lot. His knowledge of Finnish hockey could also be an asset against JYP.
Closer look: JYP Jyvaskyla
(2-0-0-2, 6 points, 12:9, 2nd in Group K)
JYP were right in the middle of a highly polarized Group K, winning both games against the Gap Rapaces from France but losing both against Linkoping HC from Sweden. Taking six points against Gap was expected, but taking nothing from the two games against Linkoping is a bit of a disappointment. In each game there problem was letting the Swedish team dictate the pace for a part of the game, and the speed was too much for them. Against a highly talented team such as Skelleftea, that could be lethal. They will have to play a strongly disciplined game if they want to have a chance.
Jani
Tuppurainen
0+2, +1
Top Forward: 36-year-old winger Jani Tuppurainen has been one of the most productive JYP players for many years. Despite being behind several teammates in points so far this CHL season, he's an important player to the team and has had built promising chemistry with Antti Suomela and Joonas Nattinen. This so-called "TSN Line" has produced well for JYP during the pre-season. Tuppurainen is very often the guy who snipes the puck into the net when the goal is most needed. JYP, as a team, has impressive depth at forward as they acquired several players during the summer, including Juha-Pekka Hytonen and Ossi Louhivaara, and didn't lose any key contributors from their roster.
Mikko
Kalteva
3+1, +3
Top Defenceman and CRAMO Top Scorer: Mikko Kalteva can be considered what is called a late-bloomer. He had his true breakout year in the Finnish Liiga last year after nine years in the league. He had 29 points, which was easily his career-best and it was also the best among JYP defencemen last year. He is going to have to be at least as good as he was last year because JYP's defensive corps has become much younger this season. Kalteva has an important role as a veteran presence for the younger defencemen on the team, such as U18 Champion Urho Vaakanainen, who was added to the team during the summer.
Veini
Vehvilainen
94.34 %
Top Goaltender: Although JYP signed veteran goalie Pekka Tuokkola during the summer, it's fair to assume 19-year-old Veini Vehvilainen will be the starting goalie for his club this year. He was really impressive during his debut year in the Liiga last year, playing 28 games with the save percentage of 92.5 and goals-against average of 2.04. Last year he was a backup behind Tuomas Tarkki, but this year he'll battle Tuokkola for the starter's position. They shared the workload in the group stage, and there's a good chance both Tuokkola and Jyvaskyla-native Vehvilainen will see action in the two games against Skelleftea.
First Leg
Two years ago, JYP Jyvaskyla were defeated by Skelleftea AIK in the CHL Quarter-Finals. On Tuesday night, they took a big step towards revenge with a 4-0 home-ice win in the first leg of the Round of 32. It was an evenly-played game between two teams that have been among the best in Europe in recent years, but JYP got the breaks this game, and seemed a little hungrier too. They caught a break on their first goal, as Joonas Nattinen's shoot-around caromed out front to Jani Tuppurainen, who beat Gustaf Lindvall from a sharp angle before the Skelleftea goalie could move across and close the gap. Skelleftea had a golden chance to tie the game on a power play, but with goalie Pekka Tuokkola out of position, Pontus Petterstrom's shot couldn't get through a forest of penalty killers. In the last minute of the first period, JYP got a huge 2-0 goal when Mikko Salmio went hard to the net and won a battle for a rebound, putting it past Lindvall. Skelleftea tried to get back in the game in the second period and put together a solid 20 minutes, but couldn't find a way to solve Tuokkola, who stopped all 13 shots he faced in the period and all 25 in the game. At the other end, Lindvall made 24 saves in total. JYP took a commanding 3-0 lead early in the third period when they converted on a 5-on-3 power play – Tuomas Pihlman in front finishing off a nice tic-tac-toe passing play.
At that point, Skelleftea was thinking less about winning this game and more about closing the aggregate gap to give themselves a better chance to win it next week at home. Again Petterstrom had a great chance but Tuokkola robbed him with a glove save – probably his best of the game. Skelleftea then ran into penalty trouble, which interrupted their momentum, and Antti Suomela made it a four-goal difference with a shot from the blue line with less than three minutes to play.
"It was a good game overall," said JYP coach Mirko Virtanen. "Strategically, we were successful and we managed to suffocate the opponent’s offensive game very early on their own defensive zone. We managed to kill their speed and they didn’t get too much of their dangerous skating speed. Our toughness in the battles was good."
He added, "There is obviously room for improvement; even though we scored one goal on the power play, we had many more opportunities and our power play was not as good overall as it can be. But our opponent was tough tonight, so it was because of that as well. They were able to generate pressure and they played really aggressively on their penalty kill. Also, because of injuries, we had some guys back and we had to fix our power-play units. They weren’t really that ready yet and we need to improve that. Overall it was a good performance."
That puts JYP in the driver's seat heading into the second leg in northern Sweden. However, those with a keen memory will also recall that JYP had a four-goal lead at one point in their series with Skelleftea two years ago.
To that suggestion, Virtanen said, "Well, we have a completely new team here and I don’t even remember how many of those players are still on the team. I don’t think they think about that. This is a new and challenging place to be in right now."
JYP Jyvaskyla had a successful opening leg against Skelleftea AIK.
Second Leg
by Karolina Antosova
Games between Swedish and Finnish teams are always tough, and this game wasn’t an exception. Skelleftea AIK had a really hard job because the result from the first game wasn’t promising – they 4-0 in Jyvaskyla, but there was still a chance to make it to the Round of 16.
But JYP did a proper job throughout all three periods. Skelleftea started very offensively, collected one shot after another. JYP defended quite well, but also took two penalties. Thanks to a solid Finnish defence, they killed both of them.
“It was tough at the beginning of the game,” admitted JYP head coach Marko Virtanen.
Skelleftea didn’t give up and halfway through the first period scored the first goal. Niclas Burnstrom deflected Joakim Lidstrom’s pass into the net with his skate, but the referees saw no intention or kicking motion, so it was allowed.
Although the Swedish team played very well on offence, problems were in front of Gustaf Lindvall. They didn’t play that solid in front of the own net and commit couple of big mistakes. After the first one, Joonas Nattinen made it 1-1.
The second period was really up-and-down hockey. JYP played really offensively, had many chances, but it was Skelleftea who scored twice – Joakim Lindstrom made it 2-1 and Sebastian Aho 3-1. At the end of the period, Skelleftea were on fire and were awarded with a power play in which they were close to another goal, which would have closed the aggregate difference. But instead, they made another mistake, and Ossi Louhivaara scored a short-handed goal.
Skelletfea tried hard in the third period and Sebastian Ohlsson scored their fourth, but it wasn’t enough. The JYP players did their jobs properly and, thanks to solid defence and almost no mistakes, advanced to the next round with a 6-4 win on aggregate.
“It’s really really important for our club that we’ve made it to the next round,” added Virtanen with a huge relief. His team will compete in the Round of 16 against SC Bern from Switzerland.
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