Red Bull Salute: JYP become first Finnish and last ever team to win the ET title

Photo: GEPA pictures, Christian Ort

In the fourth and last edition of the European Trophy - at least under the current name - JYP beat Färjestad BK with the close result of 2-1 in the final match so that the Trophy went to a different nation in every year. From next year on there will be the a new competition - the revival of the Champions Hockey League - with 40 teams and for the first time 16 teams will get the chance to qualify for the tournament via results in the national championships.

Färjestad BK - JYP 1-2 (0-1, 1-1, 0-0)

In an open first period with minor advantages for FBK it was Max Wärn who gave JYP the surprising lead by using a two minute tripping penalty against Färjestad's Jack Connolly. FBK goalie Danny Taylor didn't look too good in this situation and the goal did look avoidable. Early in the middle period Markus Nenonen doubled the JYP lead with a shot from the right wing that surprised Taylor. The Swedes were dominant in the middle period but ironically their only goal of the day came in a shorthanded situation when Anton Grundel appeared in front of JYP goalie Tarkki during a cross-checking penalty against Magnus Nygren. In the last 20 minutes Färjestad tried everything to make the race to catch up perfect but they couldn't score another time due to the strong performance of the JYP goalie.

Markus Nenonen whose 2-0 turned out to become the game winner received three stars and was the Red Bull Salute MVP of the final match. Two stars went to Färjestad's Per Aslund while Tuomas Tarkki - the JYP goalie - received one star for his stellar performance with a total of 39 saves.

With 3,100 spectators in Berlin's O2 World the numbers were once more very disappointing and heavy marketing had barely any effect over the course of the tournament.

All in all 19250 fans came to see the 7 games of the 2013 European Trophy for an average attendance of just 2750. The first 2 matches in the old and small venue Wellblechpalast were seen by 1900 and 1050 fans for an average of 1475. The numbers very higher due to three day weekend tickets for O2 World but an average of 3260 was not really impressive either. Still it was the second best tournament spectator wise for the ET final tournament and only slightly below last years 3048 average in Vienna. 

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