Mixed results for Finnish teams in their ET opener

HIFK - Adler Mannheim 4-0

In the match of the Finnish champion of 2011, HIFK Helsinki, and this year's DEL finalist, Adler Mannheim, the 1639 spectators in the small Valtti Arena in Vantaa, saw a fast and even game from the very first minute. When Ilari Melart checked Richard Gelke into the boards in the 12th minute he had to leave with a match penalty - although heavily bleeding Gelke came back in the second period after medical treatment. The following five-minute power play was not used by the Eagles who even had a 5 on 3 when Micke-Max Åsten received two minutes for hooking. The best chance for Mannheim came seconds after the Åsten penalty when Ullmann hit the goal post. Letting out so many chances later would become decisive.

In the second period Mannheim had to play long time shorthanded for many avoidable penalties and this was punished by the hosts. Already after 39 seconds Toni Söderholm opened the score in a 5 on 4 power play. He was followed by team mates Markus Granlund (30th), American defender Kyle Klubertanz (37th, this time with two men more in play) and Siim Livik in the same power play but off course with Mannheim having four player back on the ice. Due to the shorthanded play Mannheim could create absolutely no danger in front of the HIFK defending zone and faced 9-28 shots in these 20 minutes. In the last third Mannheim or better said their unlucky goalie Dennis Endras, who made 57 saves and had no chance in the case of all four goals against, avoided an even harsher loss and HIFK goalie Joni Ortio could celebrate a well-deserved shutout (the first in this ET season) by making 30 saves.

Tappara - Pardubice 4-1

Around 2000 fans came to Hakametsä to see the first European Trophy appearance of their local Tappara Tampere against current Czech champions HC Pardubice. The match had a weak start. So it had to come as it came - a terrible mistake led to the first goal. Pardubice goalie Martin Ruzicka lost the puck behind his own net and Jarno Koskiranta used it for the 1-0. Pardubice now created several dangerous plays but without the last precision. An interference penalty against Tappara's Markus Kankaanperä in the 20th minute finally led to the equalizer for the Czechs - they only needed seven seconds with the man advantage. The shot by Pavel Brendl was stopped but Vaclav Koci was succesful in the rebound. Just when Pardubice had survided a two-minute penalty early in the second period Ruzicka decided to do another exursion behind his net which again was a bitter mistake - this time Aleksander Barkov was the one with an easy goal into the empty net. In the following time Pardubice tried to get back on the scoreboard while Tappara was stopped several times by a good Ruzicka - when he stays between the goal posts. With a penalty almost over Henrik Haapala took away a lot of the guests' hope in the 49th minute. Shortly after this Antti Erkinjuntti put a point behind the match for a deserved 4-1 win of the home side. Tappara goalie Pekka Tuokkola had a good day with a total of 27 saves.

TPS - Liberec 5-2

Home side TPS Turku completely run over their guests from the Czech Republic in the first ten minutes of the game. Goals by Corey Locke, Jarkko Hattunen and Joni Seinelä got them an early three-goal lead. Marek Pinc was called back to the bench after terrible 7 minutes for him and substituted by Tomas Vosvrda. Now Liberec had to find itself and in the 19th minute Lukas Vantuch made the result look a bit more friendly for the Bohemians. With the start of the 2nd power play you could clearly see that Liberec was not going to give themselves up that early and their third consecutive power play brought them as close as to a one-goal margin when Tomas Urban's PP one-timer made it 3-2 (28th). Now a fully-open match developed but both teams continued to take too many penalties. One of them led to the late 4-2 through Marko Anttila (40th). Several power play occasions stayed unused by TPS in the last 20 minutes but due to the shorthanded play Liberec also couldn't get a closer result. With less than 2 minutes to go the guests pulled out their goalie in a desperate last try but instead Santtu Huhtala got the empty-netter for the 5-2.

KalPa - Sparta Praha 1-5

Only a couple of days after their surprise win against Slovakian KHL newcomers Slovan Bratislava, the Czech top club Sparta Praha crushed Finnish side KalPa Kuopio in their second away match in this ET season so far. Janne Kolehmainen got the early lead for KalPa with 4:39 being played but in the following minutes the team missed to extend this. A two-minute span at the beginning of the middle period put Sparta in front when Jaroslav Hlinka and the only Finn in Sparta's line-up, Ari Vallin, turned the result around. Now Sparta laid back and defended with sporadic counter attacks. One of them led to the 1-3 by Peter Jansky (34th). Two third-period goals by Daniel Pribyl who later was elected man of the match mad everything clear and let Sparta have a perfect six-point start into ET.

JYP - Chomutov 4:5 SO

In this match two champions faced - but JYP won the crown in SM-liiga, one of the European power houses, while Chomutov was winner of the Czech 2nd tier "1. liga". So the roles would be clear if Extraliga newcomers wouldn't have had an impressive comeback against KHL's Slovan Bratislava in the ET season opener that earned them one point in shooutout. Today Chomutov made another favourit stumble over them. The guests earned an early two-goal lead through Miroslav Zalesak and Milan Kraft. Late in the first period Antti Jaatinen used a PP for the 1-2. Early in the second Olli Sipiläinen even scored the equalizer for JYP but the immediate reaction by Pirati Chomutov followed with two power play strikes and with less than 2 minutes having passed since the 2-2 Karel Hromas and Milan Kraft with his second of the evening not only had gained the lead back but also the original two-goal distance. A lot of hard work and passion let JYP come to a 4-4 with goals by Jason Lepine and again Antti Jaatinen even before the end of the second period. Despite several good opportunities on both sides the third 20 minutes stayed goalless and so the game went into overtime. As this one also didn't find a winner Pirati Chomutov faced their second shootout in their second ET appearance ever. This time they had the better end on their side and Jan Rutta earned them the extra point.

Kärpät - Salzburg 3-5

Last year's ET winner Red Bull Salzburg had the difficult task to travel to Finland where they faced Kärpät in front of a low attendance of 948 people in the Kajaani Arena. After 4:17 everyone in the Austrian squad was warned but they already were behind 0-2 after goals by Toni Kähkönen and Ville Pokka. The shock didn't last too long and not only five minutes later Ryan Glenn had cut the lead by the half. In an even middle period two power play goals by Ryan Duncan and Ryan Kinasewich brought Salzburg in front for the first time. The home fans had to wait long for a reaction of their team but Atte Ohtamaa scored the equalizer in the 44th minute. Three minutes later another power play was used by Matthias Trattning for the game-winner. Kärpät showed heart but a clever Red Bull side defended their lead well. In the end they even managed to score an empty-netter for the 3-5 away win.

Eisbären Berlin - HC Plzen 1929 6-4

A total of 7,200 fans found their way into the top modern O2 World in Germany's capital Berlin to see the local Eisbären open their ET season against the Czech neighbours HC Plzen. The winners of the first ever European Trophy (2010) had a difficult start against well-defending opponents but when Vincent Schlenker put his stick into the right position to deflect a Dominik Bielke shot into the net (15th), the spell was broken. Within four minutes Frank Hördler and Julian Talbot made it a three-goal lead for their team. Whatever the Czech coach told his team, was history when Vojtech Mozik received a holding penalty that was used by Talbot (second goal for the Canadian this evening). With exactly 24:00 being played Daniel Weiß made it 5-0 and decided the match very early. As a consequence Adam Svoboda, who had not his best day, left for Marek Mazaec between the posts. Plzen tried to find into the match but a short handed goal by TJ Mulock made things even worse for them. Out of the blue Plzen scored three times within 117 seconds of the middle period to cut the lead to the half at 39:29 - Onrej Kratena had made the beginning with a goal that came ironically shorthanded, before Vaclav Pletka and Jan Kovar made the result a bit friendlier. In the last period Plzen tried to get a bit closer on the scoreboard but more than the 6-4 in the last minute of play didn't happen and Berlin took the three points without major problems.

Hamburg Freezers - HC Kometa Brno 7-3

Another German-Czech match brought another three-point win for the home side. For marketing reasons the Freezers decided to hold their first ET game in Crimmitschau, usually home of a 2. Bundesliga team, and not in their own O2 Arena. For the fans the match was pure entertainment. The first minute of play was barely over before Serge Aubin was sent to the penalty box and the first power play of the night was used by Brno's Hynek Zohorna. The good start should have given Brno confidence but within six minutes the Freezers were put ahead by younger Jerome Flaake and Brandon Reid. As fast as the high level of play came, it went away again. The only real highlight for a long time was a fist fight between Freezers' Oppenheimer and Brno's Erat at the end of the first period. Before Dlouhy had checked Oppenheimer into the boards. In the middle period Hamburg tried to stay with the small lead but suddenly Dlouhy tied the match (36th). When Brno goalie Martin Falter left his net, he lost the puck and Flaake with his second of the night made it 3-2 for the Freezers with 27 seconds left on the clock. WIth two goals in 24 seconds in the 43rd Kevin Schmidt and Thomas Dolak decided everything for Hamburg. A minute later Miroslav Holec scored for Kometa in PP but the game was over for them. Instead Danish interntaional Julian Jakobsen and Canadian Garrett Festerling made the solid 7-3 win perfect for the Freezers.

 

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