Växjö Swedish champions after OT drama

23 Apr 2015Henrik Lundqvist»

Växjö Lakers won its first ever Swedish title when they beat Skellefteå 3-2 at home in game six of the finals. Tuomas Kiiskinen scored the championship winning goal at 90:21.

It took 30 minutes of overtime to separate the teams but eventually Växjö got the goal that earned them the first Swedish championship victory. Robert Rosén took a shot that Markus Svensson in Skellefteå's net saved. Rosén picked up the rebound, rounded the net and found Tuomas Kiiskinen who buried the winner from the hash-marks.

"We never lost faith, we came back and took it all", says Kiiskinen to TV4. "I just saw that Rosén had the puck and that I might have an opening", he says about the goal. "I knew the pass was coming".

Screenshot from TV4

"I'm empty", says Växjö coach Sam Hallam to TV4. "We have worked very hard. We are down 2-0 but manage to turn it around and come back. We had nothing to lose - gold or a seventh game".

All previous five game had ended with the away team as winner, and it looked like it would be same story tonight as Skellefteå had a 2-0 lead after two periods. But Jani Lajunen got on the scoreboard in the middle of the third period and then Jeff Tambellini tied it st 54:11.

The first overtime period saw only seven shots on goal. Five for Växjö who got to play on the power-play twice and only two for the guests. In the sixth period (that actually only was 10:21) Växjö outshot Skellefteå 5-1.

Cristopher Nihlstorp in Växjö's net only had to make 16 saves today to win a major title for the second year in a row. Last season he won the AHL playoffs, Calder Cup, with Texas Stars.