Stavanger Oilers finding their rhythm

One of the biggest surprises in the group stages of the CHL this year has been the play of the Stavanger Oilers. As one of the more exotic teams in the competition they could show that they are able to compete with the big leagues. So far they could beat each team in their group (Bern, Tappara, Trinec) at least once and before the last game day they are still in the mix for one of the tickets to the next round.

But as successful as their play on international level has been, their national league has not yet seen them excel on their highest level. On the second game day they suffered an unexpected loss in Sarpsborg with 6-3, which was even more upsetting due to the 3-2 lead they held still late in the second period. On game day 4 they lost the shootout in Lillehammer and so they were left with a 2-2 record after 4 games. Definitely not what they expected.

But this weekend they found their rhythm. On Thursday goalie Ruben Smith could celebrate a shutout against Stjernen Fredrikstad and Stavanger could pick up three points due to two goals from Henrik Solberg and Petter Fossen. Yesterday they could even improve their offensive output with a 9-1 goalfest against Storhammar. Mathias Trettenes collected 5 points.

The other CHL contender from Norway, Valerenga Oslo, is having the same problems in their national league as they are facing on international level. After 5 games they could only get 2 wins against Manglerud and Lorenskog. But at least the last game against Manglerud was an offensive outburst. Brian Ihnacak contributed with 4 points to a 7-1 beating and maybe this will spark their game a bit going down the road.

Stavanger leads GETligaen for now before Lillehammer, while Valerenga finds themselves in 7^th position.

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