Luleå wins European Trophy
17 Dec 2012 | Henrik Lundqvist
Luleå Hockey won the final of the 2012 Red Bulls Salute (European Trophy playoffs) against Färjestad. Hero in the game between the two Swedish teams was a Finnish player, Joonas Vihko, who scored both the goals.
Färjestad outshot Luleå 35-28 in the European Trophy final in Slofnaft Arena in Bratislava, but the Luleå goalie David Rautio kept his net clean. In the net for Färjestad played Fredrik Pettersson-Wentzel as their usual first choice goalie Alexander Salak was busy with the Czech national team at Channel One Cup. Pettersson-Wentzel was beaten twice: both times by Joonas Vihko.
"Three good games and we earned this", said the goal scorer to Luleå's website.
The first goal was a deflection of a hard pass by Linus Persson. The second goal was scored after a big mistake by the Färjestad goalie who didn't see Vihko coming at the net. Instead of blocking the puck, Pettersson-Wentzel just gave it to Vihko who easily could score his second goal of the night.
Luleå had beaten Brynäs 4-3 in the quarter final and Vienna Capitals 2-0 in the semi final. For Luleå this was the first big title in 16 years.