Men's Ice Hockey IIHF European Champions Hockey League 2022 - 2023

[phelps 6,872]

Knockout Stage

 

Semifinals, 1st Leg

Tuesday 10.01.2023 - Schedule*

 

17:30 Tappara Tampere (FIN) - EV Zug (SUI)

18:05 Frölunda Indians (SWE) - Luleå Hockey (SWE)

 

*All times CET

 

 

Watch live

 

Check here for details of live TV broadcasts:

https://www.championshockeyleague.com/en/fans/where-to-watch
 

All games are also live on the CHL website for free, subject to geo-blocking restrictions in certain countries due to TV rights.

[phelps 6,872]

Knockout Stage

 

Semifinals, 1st Leg

Tuesday 10.01.2023 - Results

 

17:30 Tappara Tampere (FIN) - EV Zug (SUI)  2-0 (1-0, 1-0, 0-0)

18:05 Frölunda Indians (SWE) - Luleå Hockey (SWE)  2-2 (1-0, 0-2, 1-0)

Edited January 10, 2023 by phelps

[phelps 6,872]

Knockout Stage

 

Semifinals, 1st Leg

Tuesday 10.01.2023 - Highlights

 

Tappara Tampere (FIN) - EV Zug (SUI)

 

Frölunda Indians (SWE) - Luleå Hockey (SWE)

Edited January 11, 2023 by phelps

[phelps 6,872]

Knockout Stage

 

Semifinals, 2nd Leg

Tuesday 17.01.2023 - Schedule*

 

18:05 Luleå Hockey (SWE) - Frölunda Indians (SWE)

20:15 EV Zug (SUI) - Tappara Tampere (FIN)

 

*All times CET

 

 

Watch live

 

Check here for details of live TV broadcasts:

https://www.championshockeyleague.com/en/fans/where-to-watch
 

All games are also live on the CHL website for free, subject to geo-blocking restrictions in certain countries due to TV rights.

[phelps 6,872]

 Luleå Hockey tops Frölunda in shootout and qualify to the 2022/2023 CHL Final

 

Brendan Shinnimin scored in the eighth round of the shootout as Luleå Hockey toppled Frölunda Gothenburg 4-3 and 5-4 on aggregate to earn their chance to play in the Champions Hockey League Final in February. 

 

Matteus Ward made 34 saves and stopped six shots in the shootout to help his team claim their 11th victory of the season.

 

The opening frame saw Luleå's 7th-ranked PK tested multiple times as Frölunda were awarded a pair of powerplays midway through the period and one more with less than five minutes to play.

 

The visitors were unable to solve Ward, however, who was stellar in net, denying all nine shots to keep the game 0-0.

 

A scoreless first period gave way to a five-goal second period as Frölunda netted a pair of tallies and Luleå found twine three times to close out 40 minutes of action.

 

Scoring began with the hosts making the most of their man-advantage debut when Erik Gustafsson rifled the puck past Lars Johansson 30 seconds into the middle stanza. 

Juhani Tyrväinen won the faceoff clean to Gustafsson who took his time along the blue line before firing it over the glove of the Swedish netminder.

 

Frölunda answered with their first of the night courtesy of Filip Johansson's shot through traffic.

 

Three minutes later, the visitors rallied their second when Patrik Carlsson's point shot breezed through bodies in front with Joel Lundqvist parked atop the blue paint able to tip it home.

 

But the hosts didn't chase the lead for long as another point shot sailed into the net with less than eight minutes to play. 

Jesper Sellgren skated along the far boards before directing it towards the net from the blue line and beating the Swedish goalie to even things at two.

 

Luleå would close out the second period with their third goal as Isac Brännström secured his sixth of the season on a backhander down low at 39:19 to give his team a one-goal advantage heading into the third.

 

As the sides entered the sixth period of their Semi-Finals series, Frölunda's urgency picked up and the visitors were rewarded with the tying goal off another shot from the point.

 

Defenceman Petteri Lindbohm let one rip from the top of the zone to earn his second of the season and tie the game three minutes into the third.

 

Lindbohm's would be the only tally of the third, however, and with the score still knotted at 5-5 on aggregate after 60 minutes, the clubs headed to 3-on-3 overtime and eventually a shootout as both netminders remained solid in the extra session.

 

Eight rounds later, Shinnimin sent the crowd into a frenzy when he buried the game-winner on a beautiful backhand forehand deke to propel his club to their second CHL Final appearance and first since the 2014/15 season.

Edited January 17, 2023 by phelps

[phelps 6,872]

as a consequence of their qualification to the Final game, Luleå Hockey will host the decisive act of this year's Champions Hockey League.

[phelps 6,872]

 Tappara Tampere advance to the CHL Final for the second season in a row

 

A high-pace game packed full of action saw Swiss side EV Zug do their absolute best to secure their place in the Champions Hockey League Final but ultimately Tappara Tampere's consistent performances, solid goaltending and patience across the two legs proved superior, as the Finns move on to the Final for a second season in a row.

 

A slow start to the game from home team Zug saw Tappara pick up some decent chances in the opening ten minutes, but the Swiss were just getting into operating temperature as a bevy of opportunities would come their way in the following few minutes.

 

Their attacking prowess, sparked by a roughing call for Veli-Matti Savinainen at 12:23, would see Zug test Christian Heljanko in net and ultimately give them their one-goal lead when Reto Suri picked up a stray puck in front of Heljanko and fired it in.

 

They kept the pressure up for the remainder of the first period, but to no avail.

 

The same could be said for the second which saw an even hungrier team return to the ice, but despite their best efforts for almost 15 minutes of the second period, Tappara's Niko Ojamäki found the perfect lane to pass to Patrik Virta who had no trouble firing the puck past Leonardo Genoni in net at 35:18. 

 

Despite the goal gifting the Finns back their two-goal aggregate score margin, it was Zug again who would go on the attack, racking up an astonishing 32 shots on goal by the time the second buzzer sounded.

The very start of the third period saw Zug pick up where they left off when Jan Kovář placed a perfect pass to Fabrice Herzog who tipped the puck between Heljanko's blockers and into the net to reduce the aggregate score back to within a single goal.

 

The Swiss, riding high on positive energy, kept the chances coming forcing Heljanko to make a few big saves in the following minutes.

 

Both sides exchanged blows for the next ten or so minutes, before a cross-checking call for Tappara's Petteri Puhakka gave Zug a late powerplay opportunity and a chance to level the series. 

 

A second penalty for Tappara even gave the Swiss a brief period of 5-on-3 play but they still couldn't score.

 

As Puhakka returned with his penalty time up, Genoni sprinted for the bench to make way for the extra skater, but the youngster was able to intercept a puck and headed for the net to drive home the equaliser that returned Tappara's two-goal lead in the series.

 

With nothing to lose, Genoni stayed on the bench leaving the net unmanned which gave Tappara's Jori Lehterä all the space he needed to score the final goal of the night to finalise the score at 3-2 and 5-2 on aggregate. 

 

Tappara will now face Swedish side Luleå Hockey in the one-game CHL Final on 18 February 2023.

[phelps 6,872]

Knockout Stage

 

Semifinals, 2nd Leg

Tuesday 17.01.2023 - Results

 

18:05 Luleå Hockey (SWE) - Frölunda Indians (SWE)  4-3 PSO (0-0, 3-2, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0); 6-5 on Aggregate

20:15 EV Zug (SUI) - Tappara Tampere (FIN)  2-3 (1-0, 0-1, 1-2); 2-5 on Aggregate

[phelps 6,872]

Knockout Stage

 

Semifinals, 2nd Leg

Tuesday 17.01.2023 - Highlights

 

Luleå Hockey (SWE) - Frölunda Indians (SWE)

 

EV Zug (SUI) - Tappara Tampere (FIN)

[phelps 6,872]

CHL will not award the Wild Card spot to the IIHF Continental Cup Champions next season

 

The Champions Hockey League Board has decided to not allocate a Wild Card to the IIHF Continental Cup Winners for the upcoming CHL season.

 

The decision was taken in regard to the format change of the Champions Hockey League for 2023/24 and the related reduction to 24 participating teams which includes a reduced 5 places for Challenger Leagues (8 before).

 

The formal process of allocating the places for the 5 Challenger Leagues is currently in progress and the outcome will be communicated in due course.

 

The Champions Hockey League thanks the IIHF for its continued excellent collaboration.

 

Potential future cooperation with the IIHF Continental Cup will be reviewed between the two parties.