Red Bull Salute: JYP and FBK make it to the final match

The second day of the 2013 European Trophy finals, the so called Red Bull Salute, already gave us the two finalists as JYP Jyväskylä from Finland and Färjestad BK from Sweden each won their second and thus last group match for a no 1 finish. It was the first day of the tournament in the top modern O2 World in Berlin after the previous two games were held in the smaller and older venue Wellblechpalast but it had barely an effect on the disappointing spectator numbers who put the whole project into question after an aggressive advertising campaign in the city of Berlin that lasted for several weeks.

Lulea - JYP 2-3 (1-0, 0-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-1) SO - Group B

A total of 2,500 fans came to see the afternoon game between Swedish side Lulea and 2-time Finnish champions JYP. Lulea had to win to keep their chances alive in this tournament and the start was almost perfect for them. JYP's Jussi Halme had to sit down in the penalty box and at 03:19 already Per Ledin used a mistake of opposing goalie Tarkki for the 1-0 in power play. Afterwards both sides played very aggressively but Lulea had the better opportunities and Tarkki kept his team in the game more than once - also by stopping a break away! The Fins looked for a way to find into the match and clearly intensified their efforts to physically impress their opponents which resulted in a series of penalties against their own players.

In the middle period the picture was more or less the same. Lulea attacked while JYP concentrated on hard checks and a somewhat aggressive playing style but out of the blue it was Markus Nenonen who gave JYP the equalizer at 30:31. One of the JYP players, Max Wärn, exaggerated the aggressiveness when he was sent off at 33:54 for a check against the head with a 5+20 match penalty.

The third period was kept more open by JYP than the previous ones and they were rewarded with the go-ahead goal by Eric Perrin at 47:48 but just two and a half minutes later Robin Jonsson answered for Lulea to send the game to overtime. This one stayed scoreless with 0 shots on goal by Lulea who had to win this match to stay in the race for the final. The decisive penalty shot then was transformed by Eric Perrin who gave JYP the entry to the Red Bull Salute final as winners of Group B.

With one goal in regulation and the game winner in shootout JYP's Eric Perrin was a deserved winner of the three stars of the game and thus the MVP of the match award. He was followed by team colleague Tuomas Tarkki who received two stars and Lulea's Cam Abbott who received one star.

Standings Group B:
1st JYP - 2GP - 1-1-0-0 - 6:3 goals - 5pts  
2nd Lulea - 1GP - 0-0-1-0 - 2:3 goals - 1pts
3rd DIF - 1GP - 0-0-0-1 - 1:3 goals - 0pts

Berlin - Färjestad 0-4 (0-0, 0-3, 0-1) - Group A

In front of a very disappointing crowd of 3,900 spectators in the O2 World which has a capacity of 14,200 home team Eisbären Berlin entered the Red Bull Salute tournament as the last of all six teams at 20.30 CET on Friday. In an open first period they had more shots on goal (10-5) and several good opportunities, the best of them by Florian Busch. The big shocker though came when Eisbären goalie Rob Zepp hit the goal post with the back of his head after his team mate Barry Tallackson checked Milan Gulas to prevent a good scoring opportunity who then crashed into Zepp. From this point on substitute goalie Sebastian Elwing had to be in the Eisbären net for the remainder of the game. Eurohockey.com wishes Rob Zepp a quick recovery!

The middle period started with a huge exclamation mark by Färjestad when Milan Gulas scored the 1-0 lead for them after a 2 on 1 counter. A series of three consecutive penalties - to the outrage of the spectators in Berlin of whom some later in the game started to throw things on the ice - led to a 5 on 3 power play for FBK around "half time" of the match and Milan Gulas was there to double the lead with his 5th (!) goal in 2 games of this tournament. Just two minutes after this goal Julian Talbot was sent off with 2+5+20 for high-sticking and spearing while FBK's Christian Berglund received a 10 minute misconduct penalty. When Mark Bell was sent into the penalty box for roughing shortly afterwards this gave FBK another 5 on 3 situation and after a pass by Milan Gulas it was Per Aslund who made it a very clear result.

Instead of a big race to catch up the Polar Bears were completely out of their rhythm and were outplayed by FBK who even made it 4-0 through Jack Connolly. Milan Gulas (2 goals, 1 assist) was a deserved winner of three stars of the game and thus the MVP award while FBK goalie Danny Taylor received two stars for his shutout and Frank Hördler - as the only Polar Bear - was rewarded with one star.

Standings Group A:
1st Färjestad - 2GP - 2-0-0-0 - 9:2 goals - 6pts
2nd Frölunda - 1GP - 0-0-0-1 - 2:5 goals - 0pts
3rd Berlin - 1GP - 0-0-0-1 - 0:4 goals - 0pts

The two last group matches this Saturday stay without any significance for the final match.

Group B: 17.00 CET - Lulea Hockey - Djurgardens IF
Group A: 20.30 CET - Eisbären Berlin - Frölunda Indians 

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