CHL - Swedish teams dominate quarterfinals

Kärpät Oulu vs SaiPa Lappeenranta 3-2 (5-2 on aggregate)

SaiPa had to come back from a 2 goal deficit from the first leg. And after taking a couple of penalties they started well when Matti Järvinen scored just 7 seconds after killing a penalty. But with only one second left on the clock in the second period Joonas Kemppainen tied the game. This might have shocked SaiPa a bit, because 3 minutes into the last frame Joonas Donskoi added another goal to his splendid CHL record to give Oulu a 2-1 lead. A tiny bit of hope returned to the SaiPa team when Sam Lofqvist managed to convert a power-play, but Juho Keränen sealed the deal with 5 minutes left and Oulu advanced to the Semi Finals.

Lulea Hockey vs Lukko Rauma 2-1 (7-3 on aggregate)

Lulea was in the most comfortable position of all 8 quarterfinalists as they had a 5-2 lead from the first game and they did not let it go to waste. Lukko had a tough time finding its way through the Lulea defense and so nothing changed on the score for 34 minutes. Then it was Marcus Fagerudd who scored on the power-play for Lulea. Just 18 seconds later Chris Abbot doubled the score for the Swedes. Only Jonne Virtanen managed to break Joel Lassinantti’s shutout, when he got the puck with 45 seconds left in the game all alone in front of the goalie and he used his wide reach to get the puck around Lassinantti.

Frölunda Gothenburg vs Helsinki IFK 5-3 (6-5 on aggregate)

The crowd in Gothenburg should be the witnesses of the most dramatic game of the night, in which fortune shifted back and forth. Going in HIFK had a goal advantage from last week when they beat Frölunda at home 2-1, but after 22 minutes Mats Rosseli-Olsen and Andreas Johnsson had already turned the tables in favour of Gothenburg. At the 25:40 mark, when Frölunda was just about to take over control completely, Nikolai Goldobin found Robert Leino on a breakaway and he scored in the upper left corner on goalie Lars Johansson. 4 minutes into the last period it was Corey Elkins, who brought HIFK ahead again. For exactly 3:30 minutes. That was the time Robin Figren and Mathis Olimb needed to re-establish the 2-goal lead in the game and bring Frölunda back on track to the Semis. But Robert Leino sneaked away one more time and Nikolai Goldobin found him again after he broke through on the left side. The game was tied overall and drama reached its climax when Elias Falth was called into the penalty box after high sticking, but the referees decided to give a bench penalty as well to HIFK for too many players on the ice with only 1:10 to go. The IFK coach was everything but happy about this call, but finally had to accept it. 20 seconds later Robin Figren got a shot on Ville Husso, collected his own rebound and batted it in for the game-winning goal that sent Gothenburg to the Semi Finals.

Skelleftea AIK vs Linköping HC 4-4 SO (6-5 on aggregate)

Skelleftea had one goal to defend from last week’s game, but Linköping had the better start when Jonas Almtorp equalized the series after 9 minutes. Daniel Widing got back 5 minutes later for Skellefetea, but again LHC could even things when Fredric Andersson scored the 1-2. At this point it looked like the Swedish champion could indeed fall. At the 38:08 mark Oskar Sundqvist sent Skelleftea back on the winning street. Martin Lundberg could add an insurance goal after 50 minutes and suddenly it looked like the favourites from North Sweden would march on to the Semis. At least until Jacob Micflikier scored right off the face-off to even the score of the night to 3-3 and get LHC back into a 1-goal distance. This goal was scored on a 4-on-4 as Adam Pettersson sat out for AIK with a 5-minute penalty, so LHC found itself on another power-play afterwards. When they pulled the goalie they had a 6-on-4 and Broc Little finally managed to get the 4-3 for Linköping which equalized the series again and brought the match into overtime. As both teams failed to add the game-winner in overtime the shootout had to decide. And here it was Skelleftea’s Rob Schremp, who scored the only penalty with a nice move to send the LHC goalie in the wrong corner.

The Semi-Finals now look like this:

Kärpät Oulu vs Frölunda Gothenburg
Lulea Hockey vs Skelleftea AIK

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