Linköping, Jokerit, Salzburg and Luleå to the ET semis

Linköpings HC - Frölunda Indians 4-2
Linköping won the all Swedish quarter final against Frölunda 4-2. A good self confidence boost for LHC who has been in poor form in Elitserien recently. The first period was bad with a quite low tempo and not many chances. Frölunda however opened the scoring at 14:48 when Tömmernes shot from the blue line found the net by the post.

The second period was even less entertaining but then suddenly Linköping exploded and scored three quick goals. Mark Hartigan who made his first game for the club had been invisible so far but now he made two goals and staged one in less than four minutes. Linköping also missed a penalty shot right before the 3-1 goal.

The goals made the intensity of the game better and both teams had some chances early in the third before Erik Lindhagen closed the game with a nice individual effort on the power play. After that Linköping was in good control of the game even if Frölunda pulled one back on a power play. They also pulled the goalie and put good pressure on Linköping at the end but didn't come any closer.

"We followed the game plan today and we won thanks to that", says Linköping's Andreas Jämtin who scored the 2-1 goal.

Jokerit - HC Mountfield České Budějovice 7-2
Jokerit from Finland easily defeated Czech Ceske Budejovice 7-2.

"We came here to win, nothing else", says Nichlas Hardt to Hufvudstadtsbladet. "If you don't win the first game it is all over. Therefore we knew that we must prepare incredibly well".

The Danish forward scored twice in the game and so did Antti Kerälä. Ben Eaves, Janne Lahti and Jani Rita scored a goal each.

Unfortunately for Jokerit both Riku Hahl and Ben Eaves had to leave the game with injuries.

HC Plzeň 1929 - Luleå Hockey 1-2 (SO)
The late game in Vienna between Plzen (Czech Republic) and Luleå (Sweden) had to be decided in a shootout. Johan Harju of Luleå was the only player to manage to score there.

Luleå had taken the lead at 34:12 when Toni Koivisto scored from close range assisted by Joonas Vihko. Jan Kovar tied it for the Czechs five minutes into the third period with a goal from Jan Kovar's stick. Radek Duda and Nicolas St. Pierre assisted.

Plzen was the better team in the overtime but neither team managed to score.

HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice - EC Red Bull Salzburg 1-2
The home team Red Bull Salzburg also made it to the semi final, but it wasn't easy. Czech Pardubice was beaten 2-1. All goals were scored in the second half of the middle period. Jeremy Williams made it 1-0 Salzburg on the powerplay. Pardubice tied it through the captain Petr Koukal but only 46 seconds later Tyler Redenbach restored the Austrian lead.

In today's semis Jokerit will play Luleå 17:15 in Vienna while Red Bulls hosts Linköping in Salzburg.

For yesterday's losing teams the tournament isn't over. They will continue to play today and tomorrow for places 5-8.

 

Advanced player search

Tweets by @eurohockey