A second all-Swedish clash in the Round of 16 sees two Champions Hockey League veterans go head-to-head: past CHL finalists the Växjö Lakers and reigning CHL Champions Frölunda Gothenburg. Although the two clubs have combined for 17 seasons in the Champions Hockey League, this two-game, aggregate-scoring series marks the first time they will face each other on the European stage.
- Växjo and Frölunda combine for 17 seasons of past CHL experience
- Frölunda are reigning CHL Champions
- Plenty of domestic history between these two SHL teams
Växjö, who have now qualified for the CHL Playoffs in 7/9 seasons, finished 12th in the Regular Season Standings with a 3-3 record. Across their first six games of the season, the four-time SHL champions faced some mighty strong teams and held firm against them.
A 4:0 win over past CHL champions Genève-Servette in the Vida Arena - the venue for the upcoming First Game of this Round of 16 series - and two very close 2-1 losses to reigning Czech Extraliga champions Dynamo Pardubice and reigning Liiga champions Tappara Tampere stand out as a great representation of how Växjö have played up to this point.
The Swedes have scored in each game they've played and with 16 goals for and just 11 goals against (second-lowest out of all teams in the Regular Season!), a strong blue line and near-perfect goaltending are two areas they have clearly relied upon. Powerplay efficiency (15%) has been mediocre but their penalty kill (90.48%) is up their with some of the best. Stats like these would usually give a team solid ground over an opponent, but not against Frölunda.
Four wins over the course of the Regular Season saw five-time CHL Champions Frölunda beat teams from Finland, Norway and France to ultimately finish 6th in the standings. The Swedes scored the second-most goals for across the Regular Season (28) and also recorded one of the highest goal differences, finishing on +14 after the first phase of the competition.
Their staple high-scoring, high-output and strong special-unit play hasn't left them one bit and heading into the knockout rounds, everybody should be fearing these juggernauts of European hockey. A 40% PP prove they use extra-man play to dicatate their game plan and with a PK operating at over 90%, they block others in doing so in style.
Filip Cederqvist leads the team in scoring with 3G, 6A in six games played, while D-man Henrik Tömmernes's contribution cannot be overlooked, as the 36-year-old has started in each of Frölunda's CHL games so far this season, scoring 2G and 5A and racking up over 20 minutes of time on ice on average!
Despite Frölunda's edge on paper, this is a closer series than first meets the eye. Yes, Frölunda have proved year in, year out that they are a Playoffs monster of a team, but if anybody can hold them off and strike when they need to, it's Växjö. Keep an eye on this series!