Red Bull Salute: Berlin and Lulea leave tournament with wins

The last day of the group stage of this year's Red Bull Salute was meaningless for the participants as the finalists were known already after the Friday games but still the teams wanted to avoid a last place finish and end a long 2013 European Trophy campaign with a positive result.

Lulea - DIF 4-2 (0-0, 2-1, 2-1) - Group B

Around 2,600 people wanted to see the last match of group B between Lulea and DIF in Berlin's O2 World. In an even match - despite Lulea playing in Elitserien and Djurgarden only in second tier HockeyAllsvenskan - the fans had to wait until "half time" to see how Lulea defender Jan Sanström gave his side the lead in a five minute power play following a match penalty against DIF's Andreas Englund for a dangerous check from behind. Just seconds before the end of the very same power play Niklas Fogström doubled this lead at 33:37. Shortly afterwards Djurgarden received the chance to show their skills with a man more on the ice themselves and Mikael Ahlen brought them onto the scoreboard for the first time at 38:47 after a minor interference penalty against Lulea's Markus Oskarsson. In a very even match the power play continued to play a decisive role when Jan Sandström used a tripping penalty against Mattias Guter to score the game winner in favour of Lulea. The following goal by Mikael Holmqvist came too late for DIF and instead Karl Fabricius was awarded the 4-2, a technical empty netter, after he was fouled with the net wide open in front of him.  

The three stars of the game and thus the MVP award went to Lulea's double scorer Jan Sandström while two stars were given to Djurgarden's Mikael Ahlén and one star to Lulea's Lars Bryggman.

Final Standings Group B:
1st JYP - 2GP - 1-1-0-0 - 6:3 goals - 5pts  
2nd Lulea - 2GP - 1-0-1-0 - 6:5 goals - 4pts
3rd DIF - 2GP - 0-0-0-2 - 3:7 goals - 0pts

Berlin - Frölunda 4-3 (0-0, 4-2, 0-1) - Group A

The tournament hosts Eisbären Berlin were outshot heavily in all three periods but their efficiency in front of the Frölunda net gave them a not undeserved 4-3 win in front of 4,200 fans and thus a bit of consolation for the 0-4 defeat against Färjestad and the missing of the Red Bull Salute final 24 hours later. The spectators had to wait until the middle period for goals but then there came plenty as the "ketchup bottle effect" happened. Robin Figren opened the scoring in the 22nd minute for the Swedish guests Frölunda Indians with a wrap around. When Shawn Lalonde scored the equalizer for Berlin at 27:24 this seemed to be the wake up call for the hosts and only 25 seconds later Danish international Mads Christensen turned around the match completely for the Germans. But this wasn't the end of the danger for Frölunda who even received another one by Mat Foy who deflected a blue liner by Frank Hördler for the 3-1 at 29:16. Mads Christensen (hooking) and Julian Talbot (roughing) were send to the penalty box around "half time" and the Swedish guests didn't wait long to score with a 5 on 3 men advantage through former DEL player Mathis Olimb. An interference penalty against Frölunda's Erik Gustafsson was used by Constantin Braun - who returned to the ice only in November after suffering from a heavy depression - for the decision in favour of Berlin. Early in the third period Anton Blidh used a rebound for the 4-3 but despite controlling the match till the end of regulation, the Swedes weren't able to force overtime anymore.

Three stars of the match - the MVP award - went to Eisbären's Mads Christensen while Indians' Mathis Olimb received two stars and Shawn Lalonde received one point.  

Final Standings Group A:
1st Färjestad - 2GP - 2-0-0-0 - 9:2 goals - 6pts
2nd Berlin - 2GP - 1-0-0-1 - 4:7 goals - 3pts
3rd Frölunda - 2GP - 0-0-0-2 - 5:9 goals - 0pts

The tournament ends this Sunday evening with the final between Färjestad and JYP to determine the 2013 Red Bull Salute and thus European Trophy Champions.

RBS Final: 20.15 CET - Färjestad BK vs JYP

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