Ice Hockey 2016 - 2017 Discussion Thread

[phelps 7,677]

p.s. today the EHC Red Bull Munchen won their second consecutive DEL title, destroying Wolfsburg by a score of 4-0 (4-1 the score of the final series)...

 

and SC Bern are on their way to repeat themselves in Switzerland...they are 3-2 ahead in the best-of-7 series and at the moment they are also 1-0 ahead in game #6 (even though there are still at least 2 periods to play in Zug)...

[phelps 7,677]

SC Bern even closer to another Swiss title...they scored another goal and now they are 2-0 ahead in game #6 at the end of the first period...

[hckošice 14,834]

Friendly Matches

17th April 2017

 

Mens

 

Road to World Championships

Austria - Italy  6-5 After OT

 

[phelps 7,677]

13 hours ago, phelps said:

SC Bern even closer to another Swiss title...they scored another goal and now they are 2-0 ahead in game #6 at the end of the first period...

 

Mission accomplished! SC Bern won game #6 by a score of 5-1 and won the series 4-2, retaining their title for the second consecutive year (the first time that a team repeat themselves in many years in the Swiss NLA)...

[hckošice 14,834]

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

2016/2017

 

  GERMANY

EHC RED BULL MUNICH

2nd League Title

 

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Munich makes it two in a row

Bulls beat Wolfsburg to defend DEL title

The EHC Red Bull Munich players celebrate with the trophy after their successful title defence in the DEL.

 

 

With Game 5 serving as the match ball for EHC Red Bull Munich, the Bavarians convincingly took their second DEL championship in a row with a 4-0 victory over renewed opponent Grizzlys Wolfsburg.

Entering the season as the favourite for a repeat performance, the team eventually finished first overall and then marched to the final with a 4-0 series win over newbie Fischtown Penguins Bremerhaven and a 4-1 series victory over the Eisbaren Berlin, before facing a Wolfsburg team hungry for vengeance.

Wolfsburg’s path to the finals was a bit tougher, but aced with resilience. The team not only knocked off one of the biggest favourites, Cologne’s team Kolner Haie, in seven games, it then won a tough and emotional series over a tough Nuremberg Ice Tigers 4-2. Both opponents were felt to be among the biggest frontrunners for the title.

Yet when the dust of the finals settled Monday afternoon, Munich once again secured the championship for itself, this time right in its own backyard in front of 6,142 spectators thanks to a 4-0 score. With this shutout, the team took the series four games to one.

“I think things were real hard for us in the beginning today. Wolfsburg really put the pressure on,” explained Captain Michael Wolf, last spring’s finals MVP. “At the end of the day, we’re just really happy we got the job done.”

And it was done in a manner that was truly sweet for the hometown crowd. As the clock ticked down, the team’s fans were already singing chants of victory and the players were rattling the boards with their sticks. The final buzz led to a wave of players hitting the ice with the enthusiasm of a youthful pee wee squad winning it all for the first time ever.

“This is absolutely awesome being able to win this in front of the hometown fans. It just doesn’t get any better,” stated DEL Defenceman of the Year, Konrad Abeltshauser, for whom the moment was clearly surreal. “This is simply indescribable, being here on the ice and with my friends who are here with me today in order to celebrate this moment with me. When you’re kid out playing street hockey, you dream about one day winning a championship. This is like a dream.”

The win was truly a special one for Jason Jaffray, one of the team’s key players, who was nonetheless injured before the playoffs and only saw time and a diminished role in seven playoff games after 39 points and a +24 rating in 45 regular season games. A key figure in the locker room and a fan favourite, the elation was clear in his voice: “There are no words for it’s like watching the last few seconds of the clock run down and then to hear the final buzz, feeling and hearing the support of the fans who’ve been so very loud the entire season, and especially in the playoffs. I’m going to rest up now and then celebrate this thing.”

Enjoying his best season ever was Yannic Seidenberg, who not only put up 41 regular season points, but also a +26 rating. In 14 playoff games, he chipped in 10 points, just like last spring, but his ability to play a key two-way defensive role when it mattered most helped see him named the MVP of the finals. “We’re definitely not going to sleep much tonight,” stated the playoff ace, who once collected 19 points in 20 WHL playoff games for the Medicine Hat Tigers many moons ago.

Just last season, on 24th April 2016 to be exact, it was these Bulls who defeated the very same Grizzlys Wolfsburg from Lower Saxony, four games to none. The Grizzlys managed to make things a wee bit closer this time around losing just 3-2 in the first two outings be-fore beating the Bavarians in Munich 2-1 in Game 3. But Munich left no doubt about its resolve to repeat as champions, winning Game 4 by a score of 7-2 and then shutting out Wolfsburg 4-0 Monday, allowing the team to celebrate the championship on home ice this time around.

The first period saw a Wolfsburg team ready to lengthen the series and an early was al-most put together when winger Gerrit Fauser just barely missed the goal shortly after Brent Aubin had hit the post from a sharp angle. A compact defence was able to keep Mu-nich at bay until some heady forechecking led to a messy turnover and John Matsumoto eventually pumped in his sixth goal of the playoff in the 19th minute of play. It would not only prove to be the game-winning goal but would end up being the first time in the series where the team scoring the first goal of the game would end up being the game’s victor.

Jerome Flaake, a former Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick who had a contract with the Ham-burg Freezers before the team folded last summer, put Munich up 2-0 on a penalty shot in the 25th minute of play. Wolfsburg would then bring everything the team could, but couldn’t find a way passed the very strong Danny aus den Birken, before defenceman Derek Joslin and Brooks Macek, who was the top scorer of the DEL playoffs with 17 points, put the nail in the coffin with their goals in the 47th and 50th minutes respectively.

For Danny aus den Birken, who stood tall in goal for all five games of the series and all 14 playoff games the team played, this championship will surely be seen as a good bit sweeter than last season’s, where his goaltending partner David Leggio played the hero appearing in all 13 playoff games on the way to the team’s first championship. In total, aus den Birken would end up playing 42 games this season after Leggio failed to find to his form of yesteryear. His 1.32 goals against average and 92.4 save percentage made the choice of netminders quite easy for coach Don Jackson.

Speaking of whom, the title is now the seventh the U.S. coach hailing from the state of Minnesota has achieved in Germany, all of which have been garnered since the 2007/08 season. Already seen as one of Europe’s most successful coaches over the last decade, Jackson has added to a legacy of coaching success that is seeing him turn into a man of coaching legend. Once a teammate of Wayne Gretzky in winning two Stanley Cups, it’ll surely be a long time coming before another DEL coach achieves a similar form of suc-cess.

“It’s very emotional. I’ve got tears in my eyes again. I’m happy about every single champi-onship and am just extremely proud of my team,” said Jackson, for whom post-championship interviews are becoming a thing of habit.

It’s always been difficult and we’re just terribly happy to have been able to achieve this victory. I am unbelievably proud of the entire team, of my coaching colleagues, and natu-rally of my team. Every championship is special, both the one last year and this one here.

For a Munich-based hockey team in Germany’s top pro circuit, it’s the fifth title after MTV won in 1922, Munich Hedos in 1994, and the Munich Barons in 2000. In addition, all four goal-scorers in today’s final victory joined the team last summer and thus enjoyed their first championship with the team.

Once again deserving to be pointed out is the continued relationship between Jackson and all-round Danish forward Mads Christensen. After joining the Eisbaren Berlin for the 2010/11 season under Jackson’s tutelage, the Danish national team forward proceeded to win two championships. As soon as Jackson took over in Munich for the 2014/15 season, Christensen signed to play under his old coach. This is now their fourth overall championship together and Christiansen was able to contribute seven points to the cause after having racked up ten in last season’s playoff run.

Not to be forgotten are Christensen’s Danish league championships, which he achieved in 2003, 05, 07, 08, and 09. There isn’t a player in Germany more familiar with winning than Denmark’s go-to face-off man and one has to wonder at this point just how much winning Christensen and Jackson can continue to do with each other.

Bitter for Wolfsburg is not only their second loss in the DEL finals in a row, but also their third finals loss since 2011. A club continually built on a low budget, there’s not a doubt in the minds of Germany most well-known ice hockey pundits that no one is better at squeezing water out of stone than Wolfsburg coach Pavel Gross. Now Gross and GM Charlie Fliegauf will once again have to spend a summer at the chalk board figuring out how to get over the hump that has become the Red Bull Munich.

For the champs, they’ll surely enjoy this victory as much as the last, before getting back to work on a third. For the Red Bull organization, it’ll be able to use Red Bull Salzburg, which failed to obtain what would have been its third championship in a row, as a case example of what Munich may need to do to secure its third in a row next season.

For many in the business, simply keeping Don Jackson at the helm would be seen as the best recipe for that endeavour.

 

[hckošice 14,834]

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

2016/2017

 

  SWITZERLAND

SC BERN

15th League Title

 

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SC Bern again

First Swiss club in 16 years to defend title

 

SC Bern won its 15th Swiss championship in Game 6 of the final series on the road against EV Zug and becomes the first Swiss team since the ZSC Lions Zurich (2000-2001) to win back-to-back championships in the National League A.

It was a perfect season for the club with the biggest revenue in the league and the highest attendance in Europe. Each playoff home game was sold out with 17,031 fans and the fans had a lot to celebrate this season.

Their team won the regular season with a 37-13 record and five points ahead of the other big team, the ZSC Lions Zurich that surprisingly lost to seventh-seeded HC Lugano in the quarter-finals making the road to gold less bumpy.

After smooth playoff rounds against EHC Biel (4-1) and HC Lugano (4-1) the team faced EV Zug, which reached the final for the first time since 1998 when the club from Central Switzerland won its only championship.

Zug had easily disposed of Geneve-Servette in the first round, 4-0, and beat HC Davos 4-2 in the semi-finals in a tighter series. The opponent for gold was again a higher hurdle. Too high. The first game in Berne ended with a 5-0 win for the home team. Two days later SC Bern won 4-2 on the road to set the tone for a seemingly easy series.

However, Zug came back, won 2-1 in overtime on the road in Bern and 3-2 in overtime in Game 4 in Zug to tie the series.

“They didn’t make it easy for us. It’s a great feeling to finish the championship like this. We’re pretty balanced all around. We have a great goalie, good forwards and a solid D core. When we play our best hockey we are tough to beat,” said Mark Arcobello, the top scorer of the regular season (25+30=55).

In Game 5 SC Bern switched back to their best hockey. They regained the series lead with a 6-1 victory on home ice and got the chance to win the championship on Easter Monday in Zug. They did it with a 5-1 road victory to win the series 4-2. Three of the four wins SCB had ended with a gap of four or five goals.

“We said we want to continue like in the last game, play aggressively and we managed to,” said Thomas Rufenacht, who stole the puck behind the Zug goal from former NHL defenceman Raphael Diaz to score the opening goal.

The forward, who was born in Switzerland but spent some of his formative years in the U.S., has been the biggest revelation. Not seen as good enough for top-flight hockey he had to play four years in the B league before he got a chance in Zug of all teams. He made himself a name as agent provocateur with many penalty minutes. He’s still a tough guy but also found other skills by scoring important goals in the post-season. In 16 playoffs games he contributed seven markers and 11 assists. Ten of his 18 scoring points came from the final series against his former club Zug.

While SC Bern is the first club in a long time to defend the Swiss title, the team that won the 2017 championship had a couple of changes for its challenge. In goal SCB signed Leonardo Genoni from HC Davos for this season to replace Marco Buhrer, who retired. With Arcobello they found their new top import. And the club also didn’t extend the contract with coach Lars Leuenberger but instead went with Kari Jalonen, who was coaching the Finnish national team during the previous two seasons.

“It’s outstanding. I had a great team. Before the game we said that we came here to play our best road game and we did. Today we were so strong and they didn’t have a chance to win against us,” he said on Swiss TV after the final win.

His recipe? Hard work and not being an easy coach during the regular season, while in the play-offs “we just let the players play”.

For the next season SC Bern will aim at making it three in a row with more changes looming as David Jobin and Marc Reichert ended their career with another title while the club and long-time centre Martin Pluss, 40, decided to part ways after unsuccessful contract negotiations. While looking for high-calibre replacement for the Swiss answer to Jaromir Jagr, other teams will prepare to chase the team from the Swiss capital once again next season.

 

 

[hckošice 14,834]

Friendly Matches

18th April 2017

 

Mens

 

Road to World Championships

Hungary - Slovenia  3-5

 

[hckošice 14,834]

Friendly Matches

19th April 2017

 

Mens

 

Road to World Championships

Slovakia - Finland  0-3

Italy - Kazakhstan  1-3

 

Another offensive disaster...from last 3 matches we scored only 1 goal !!! very mediocre offensive play..it´s clearly visible that the players themselves are totally frustrated by this situation...hopefully our potency will rise during the world championships but I am afraid I´m just beating a dead horse here...but well, we´ll see,

the only positive thing is that it´s still only the preparation and results means absolutely nothing...but since the Day D is comming closer and closer, we know that a large amount of these players will go to Cologne, this is clear that we will have HUGE troubles this year with scoring goals..still there more than 2 weeks to complete team with some effective forwards..oh dear how much we will need them

[hckošice 14,834]

Friendly Matches

20th April 2017

 

Mens

 

Road to World Championships

Denmark - Norway  0-3

 

[hckošice 14,834]

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

2016/2017

 

  CZECH REPUBLIC

KOMETA BRNO

1st Czech League Title

(12th Title including the ex-Czechoslovakian League)

 

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Kometa Brno wins Czech title

Sweep finals for first championship since 1966

 

 

After finishing sixth in the regular season, Kometa Brno went 12-2 in the playoffs, including a four-game sweep of defending champion Bili Tygri Liberec in the finals, to win its first title in more than half a century.

“For me, this is the best,” victorious head coach, general manager and owner Libor Zabransky said to the gathered media after the fourth and final game, a 5-2 win. “The boys earned it. They wanted to win and they won. For Brno, for Kometa and perhaps for me too. There’s a real sense of pride.”

The series started with a pair of close games in Liberec. In Game 1 Kometa erased an early 2-0 deficit – a recurring theme for the team in the playoffs – and won 3-2. Then in Game 2 they won 4-3 on an overtime goal by Marek Kvapil.

When the scene shifted to Brno’s DRFG Arena, with their passionate, almost maniacal fans behind them, Kometa was firmly in the driver’s seat. Goaltender Marek Ciliak was the hero in Game 3 with a 27-save shutout, as the team won 3-0 while getting almost eardrum-piercing cheers on each goal and as the time wound down. Then it got four assists from Jan Hruska in the series clincher - a 5-2 win - with the decibel level in the arena not letting up all game, or throughout the Czech Republic’s second city all night.

“I’d really believed in them since last May, when I signed a bunch of players who had great skills, character and morale. We went through a tough time when the injuries hit – Ciliak was out of the line-up on two separate occasions – but we did it as a team.”

Zabransky’s off-season reinforcements included some of the team’s biggest performers in the playoffs – veteran defencemen Ondrej Nemec and Michal Gulasi, and forwards Hruska, Kvapil, and Martin Erat.

Erat, of course, was the big name, a veteran of 13 NHL seasons. He was one of the league’s top scorers early in the season before missing 13 games due to injury. Still, his 36 points in 39 regular season games ranked second on the team behind linemate Kvapil. After only recording three points in the first two rounds of the playoffs, he had two assists in Game 2 of the finals and one goal and two assists in Game 4.

“From the beginning, we were trying to build a team that would be competitive in the playoffs,” Erat told hokej.cz. “I think that everyone, from the Zamboni driver to Libor Zabransky, did everything they could to help us be successful. And we were.”

Led by Erat, Kvapil, and 17-year-old rookie Martin Necas on the top line, Kometa blazed at the start of the 2016/17 season, winning 14 of its first 19 games. But then injuries to Erat, Ciliak and others derailed the season somewhat.

Kometa never really got on track the rest of the regular season and finished sixth. Few gave the Brno squad much of a chance in the quarter-finals against Sparta Prague – a team that had been the best in the league in the last half of the season and had also reached the Champions Hockey League final.

In addition to the off-season additions, another key piece of Kometa’s playoff run was defenceman Jakub Krejcik, who was picked up from the fire sale of the KHL’s Medvescak Zagreb late in the season. After getting into only one regular season game, Krejcik was the quarterback of Kometa’s defence in the playoffs, leading the whole team with 13 points in 14 games.

In each of the first two games at Prague’s O2 Arena, Kometa came from behind to win. Three straight third-period goals in Game 1 turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 victory, and Jozef Kovacik was the overtime hero in Game 2. In Game 3, back in front of another packed house at DRFG Arena, Sparta scored twice in the first three minutes but Kometa came back to win again in overtime – this time Marcel Hascak’s second of the game gave them a 4-3 win. With Sparta’s will seemingly broken, Kometa completed the sweep with a 4-1 win.

In the semi-finals the opponent was Hradec Kralove, with Kometa winning in six games – Hynek Zohorna was the double-overtime hero.

“It's amazing to play in Brno, for this I am grateful,” said Erat. “When I see the scene tonight, it gives me chills. It’s really amazing, this city really deserves it.”

Last year at this time, it was Liberec celebrating the title. This season after finishing first in the regular season, Bili Tygri was favoured to repeat, but they just never got on track in the finals. Nonetheless, head coach Filip Pesan is happy overall.

“For us, despite the defeat, it is definitely a success,” the Liberec coach said of the season. “Winning both the regular season and playoffs in back-to-back years is a monumental task, and we fell just a bit short of it. Overall, it was a great season, and I have to thank the players for that.”

On getting swept, he said: “I don’t see any difference between losing a series 4-0 or 4-3. Either you do it or you don’t. Last year we won 4-0 twice [en route to the finals], this year it was 4-2 twice, and I was no more or less happy. That's how I feel about it. Maybe if we’d lost in the seventh game, it would hurt even more. This series was decisive.”

There was a time when no one could touch Brno. From 1955 to 1966, the club that was then called Ruda Hvezda Brno, then TJ ZKL Brno, won 11 of 12 Czechoslovak titles. It was also dominant on the European level, winning the first three IIHF European Cup titles in 1966, 1967 and 1968.

Since then, however, it’s been a long climb back to the top. After years of mediocrity, the team was relegated from the Czech Extraliga in 1996, and then fell to the third tier of Czech hockey in 2000. The team returned one level up in 2003 and was finally back in the top league in 2009, after a 13-year absence.

Since its return to the Extraliga, Kometa has got its fans’ hopes up a few times. In 2012, it went to the final from the no. 8 seed in the regular season, falling in six games to Pardubice in the finals. In 2014 it was back in the finals, this time falling to PSG Zlin in five.

But the third time was the charm in 2017.

“When I bought my first 20 per cent of the club's shares in October 2004 and saw how indebted it was, I could only dream of this,” Zaborsky summed up. “And after 12 years, it's come true.”