Champions Hockey League Semi-Final Preview

Skellefteå v Luleå

Lets start off by looking at the all Swedish semi-final which sees reigning SHL champions, Skelleftea AIK take on one of their most fiercest rival, Lulea, in this northern derby. In their domestic league Skelleftea hold the upper hand, currently sitting top of the table by quite some margin. While Lulea sit mid-table with their season hanging in the balance as either relegation or play-off success both highly possible. But in the CHL it is Lulea that have the better record, racking up 3 more points than their fellow countrymen in the group stages. They also hold the advantage for goals scored, with their forward Daniel Zaar scoring six goals, which puts him joint ninth in the goals scored table.

It wasn't so long ago that these two rivals last met, last Thursday in fact. It ended 4-2 with Skelleftea coming out the victors in their home arena. The reigning SHL champions will be without Janne Pesonen who is not registered to play in the CHL. That will be a huge blow for Skelleftea as he has been in fantastic form as of late, having only played 3 games so far this season for SAIK he has managed to score 5 total points, 4 of them being goals.

Despite Skelleftea losing their leading scorer, Kirill Kabanov, to a season ending injury the club are managing to find ways to win with contributions coming from all over the ice. First year pro Andrew Calof leads the way for goals scored with 11 from 30 games. Their defencemen have had curcial part to play in their season also. Tim Heed leads the way for assits with 15 to date. Czech Republic native Martin Sevc leads the team with a plus/minus rating of plus 15.

This clash will be the two team's fourth meeting of the season and so far Skelleftea hold the better record winning two games to Lulea's single win.

Frölunda HC v Kärpät Oulu

The other match of this year's semi-finals is between Sweden's Frölunda HC and Finland's Kärpät. This is obviously an interesting match-up due to the rivalry between Sweden and Finland, especially as it features some of the two nation's top teams.

Frolunda currently sit fifth in the SHL league table but were tied for first in their CHL group along with Geneve-Servette. The team from Gothenburg have lit up the Champions Hockey League in it's inaugural season with a competition leading total of 50 points.

In Mathias Olimb and Andreas Johnsson Frolunda have the CHL's top goal scorers and they've been at the top of the points table from near enough the start of the competition. It's not only their offence that the Finns have to wary of. Erik Gustafsson has a total of 17 points from 10 games and leads all CHL defencemen. In fact, those numbers put him third in overal points behind his team mates Olimb and Johnsson. It's not just in European competition where the Frolunda defenceman has excelled, in the domestic lead Gustafsson has a total of 19 overall points from 30 games.

The Swedes know they have to be wary of their opposition. The Finnish outfit play a high speed passing game and have a high number of players who have been recruited through their academy.

This is not the first time FHC have come across Finnish opposition in this competition. The Indians have already eliminated the likes of Tappara and IFK Helsinki on the way to the semi-final. Can they make it 3 in a row in their quest for the CHL title?

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