Ice Hockey 2018 - 2019 Discussion Thread

[phelps 6,856]

Czech Extraliga

 

The quarterfinals ended last night with the series between HC Škoda Plzeň and HC Olomouc playing the decisive game #7 in Plzeň...

and it was a double-faced match, with the hosts running away early, taking a 3-0 lead already in the first period...

but when it was looking so easy for them, HC Olomouc showed a great pride and fighting spirit, slowly but steadily coming back until they scored the goal of 2-3 with less than 3 minutes to go...

unfortunately for them, their final assault to Frodl's net was unsuccessful and HC Škoda could finally enjoy the win of the game and of the entire series...

 

Quarterfinals Recap

 

HC Kometa Brno b. Mountfield HK  4-0 (3-1; 5-0; 2-1; 3-2)

HC Škoda Plzeň b. HC Olomouc  4-3 (8-1; 2-3OT; 2-3OT; 3-2; 2-0; 1-4; 3-2)

HC Oceláři Třinec b. HC Vìtkovice Ridera  4-0 (3-2; 3-0; 2-1; 5-2)

Bílí Tygři Liberec b. BK Mladá Boleslav  4-1 (5-1; 6-2; 1-4; 3-2; 2-1OT)

 

Semifinals (best-of-7 series) will start next Wednesday, April 3rd with the following pairings: Bílí Tygři Liberec vs HC Kometa Brno and HC Oceláři Třinec vs HC Škoda Plzeň

[phelps 6,856]

Austrian "Open League" Ebel

 

The quarterfinals ended ith no surprise at all, which means, among others, that HC Bolzano/Bozen Foxies were beaten by KAC Klagenfurt and won't be able to repeat the extraordinary 2018 season...

 

Quarterfinals Recap

 

Vienna Capitals b. HC Orli Znojmo (CZE)  4-1 (7-0; 3-4; 5-2; 4-2; 5-1)

KAC Klagenfurt b. HC Bolzano/Bozen Foxies (ITA)  4-1 (5-4OT; 4-3OT; 4-1; 2-4; 5-3)

Graz 99ers b. EHL Liwest Linz  4-2 (7-3; 3-4OT; 4-3OT; 5-2; 2-3; 3-2OT)

Red Bull Salzburg b. Fèhèrvar AV19 (HUN)  4-2 (0-1; 3-2OT; 6-4; 5-4; 1-2OT; 6-1)

 

Semifinals (best-of-7 series) are already underway,  according to the following pairings: Vienna Capitals vs Red Bull Salzburg (Vienna currently 2-0 ahead in the series) and Graz 99ers vs KAC Klagenfurt (KAC leading the series 1-0 so far)...

[phelps 6,856]

KHL Conference Finals

 

Western Conference: Finally, SKA showed some sign of life in the series against their arch-rivals from Moscow, winning game #3 by a score of 2-1 (after the OT)...

but it wasn't as easy as walking around the streets of the town...and when CSKA's Pavel Karnaukhov scored the opening goal of the night just as the 1st period was expiring, the entire world seemed to collapse over the home team...

on the contrary of the 2 Moscow games, this time in any case SKA didn't give up early and entered the second period still fulle determined to get the game back on track, which happened after 7 mins and 58 secs of the middle stint, thanks to Alexander Barabanov...

since that moment, both teams looked more afraid of getting one more goal against rather than effectively trying to score another goal by themselves...and the quality of play dramatically lowered down, with the game that became quite boring...

it was therefore inevitable to go to the OT, where, after 12.43 minutes of play, Nikolai Prokhorkin was able to take advantage of a sleepy CSKA defence (5 Moscow men around him...and nobody really trying to steal the puck from his stick ) and score the game winner, giving SKA the chance to re-open the series, that frankly looked quite dead after the first 2 games in the Russian Capital (and even if they won the match, it's not that also today SKA was the best team on the ice...they really have to thank their goalie Shestyorkin for keeping them alive early in the OT with the save of the night)...

game #4 of the Western Conference Finals is scheduled for Tomorrow, once again in St.Petersburg (7.30 p.m. local, 6.30 p.m. CET)

 

Game #3 highlights

[phelps 6,856]

DEL

 

The German league also completed their quarterfinal stage...

and as usual, we've seen a lot of very tight series, 2 of them ending only after 7 hard fought games...

the series with most expectations on, was surely the revenge of last year's finals between Red Bull Munich and Eisbären Berlin...and once again the Bavarians edged out the men from Berin, and this time they did it in "only" 6 games (last year they went to the 7th and decisive match)...

 

Quarterfinals Recap

 

Red Bull Munich b. Eisbären Berlin  4-2 (3-2OT; 0-4; 4-1; 5-2; 0-3; 4-3)

Adler Mannheim b. Thomas Sabo Nürnberg Ice Tigers  4-1 (7-2; 4-2; 4-1; 3-4OT; 7-4)

Augsburger Panther b. Düsseldorfer EG  4-3 (7-1; 1-4; 3-4; 2-1; 4-3OT; 3-4OT; 2-1)

Kölner Haie b. ERC Ingolstadt  4-3 (2-6; 3-4OT; 3-2OT; 2-3OT; 4-2; 5-2; 3-2)

 

Semifinals (best-of-7 series) are scheduled to start later today (7.15 p.m. CET),  according to the following pairings: Adler Mannheim vs Kölner Haie and Red Bull Munich vs Augsburger Panther

[phelps 6,856]

Another top-tier European League entering the semifinal stage, is the Finnish Liiga

 

the quarterfinals were completed very quickly, no series reached the 7th game and only 1 went to the 6th...

but it wasn't always the favourites to dominate the games, as 2 of the 4 series actually resulted in the lower seeded team eliminating the higher seeds...

 

Quarterfinals Recap

 

HIFK Helsinki (6) b. Pelicans Lahti (3)  4-2 (0-6; 3-2; 2-1OT; 3-1; 1-5; 2-1)

HPK Hämeenlinna (5) b. TPS Turku (4)  4-1 (3-2; 5-3; 2-3OT; 2-1; 3-2OT)

Kärpät Oulu (1) b. Ilves Tampere (8)  4-0 (4-3OT; 4-0; 2-1; 3-2OT)

Tappara Tampere (2) b. Lukko Rauma (7)  4-0 (3-2; 3-2; 3-2; 2-1)

 

Semifinals (best-of-7 series) are scheduled to start later next Thursday, according to the following pairings: Kärpät Oulu vs HIFK Helsinki and Tappara Tampere vs HPK Hämeenlinna

[hckošice 13,246]

HC05 Banská Bystrica is the first finalist of Slovak Extraliga eliminating Poprad 4-2 in the series. The reigning champion won todays 6th match in Poprad 0-2.

[hckošice 13,246]

Tomáš Jurčo scored this goal tonight in AHL

 

 

[phelps 6,856]

20 minutes ago, hckosice said:

Tomáš Jurčo scored this goal tonight in AHL

 

 

 

wow! but the goalie...

[phelps 6,856]

KHL Conference Finals

 

Eastern Conference: Ready? Steady. Go! not even 10 minutes into the 3rd game of the series and it was basically already over...

Salavat Yulaev Ufa took advantage of the great athmosphere in their home arena and started fast and furious, scoring 3 goals in the first period (Artyom Sergeyev, Joonas Kemppainen, Teemu Hartikainen), who killed any hope for Avangard...the last 2 periods were just "cosmetic"...

the final score was 5-1 in favor of the home team, adding also a pair of empty netters just for the stats...

So, now Avangard still lead the series 2-1, but Salavat look definitely on top of their game and today thet have the chance to tied the match up by playing once again in front of their very supportive home fans in game #4...

game #4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which is scheduled for later Today in Ufa (7 p.m. local, 4 p.m. CET)

 

Game #3 highlights

 

Western Conference: There has been very marginal difference between game #3 and #4 in this series...

CSKA played better, had more puck possession and more ice time in the offensive zone...they did even score the first goal of the game in the 1st period (thanks to Mikhail Naumenkov), like it happened last Monday...

but once again SKA refused to lose in front of their fans and came back like last Monday, first tying the game in the 2nd period (goal by Nikolai Prokhorkin) and then scoring a couple of goals in the 3rd stint, thanks to Nikita Gusev first (game winner, power play goal) and Sergei Plotnkiov then (basically this is the only difference with Monday's game...they dind't need to go to the OT...and the final score was 3-1) with the cooperation of a not so focused CSKA's defence, especially on the 3rd goal...

now the series flies back to Moscow on the tied score of 2-2...we'll see if CSKA get back dominating as in the first 2 games played at home or if SKA have finally found the way to get into CSKA players' minds and keep their positive streak running...

game #5 of the Western Conference Finals is scheduled for Tomorrow in Moscow, as usual @ 7.30 p.m. local, 6.30 p.m. CET

 

game #4 highlights

[phelps 6,856]

the ice looks so hot in Ufa!

 

I'm not an expert in Russian facts, but the rivalry between Salavat and Avangard must be really deep...every action is good for some dirty hits from both sides...

 

by the way, at the moment things are still on the starting 0-0 tie when they've played around 21 mins (2nd period just started)...

Edited April 4, 2019 by phelps