Another six games today as Skelleftea look to book their place in round two.
Djurgarden Stockholm vs. HC Davos
Group B; Hovet, 14:00
With both sides having won their respective opening games at home to Rouen, Djurgarden and Davos meet with top spot in the group up for grabs over the next two matches. The results of today and later in the week could eliminate the Dragons before they next step on the ice if the teams share the points.
"Davos plays a very fast style of hockey and they have great individual skills," commented Djurgarden head hoach Robert Ohlsson ahead of the game. "To meet a team from Switzerland is different and it will be a change for our players compared to face a Swedish team."
Skelleftea AIK vs. KalPa Kuopio
Group N; Skelleftea Kraft Arena, 14:00
After last week's tight game in Finland, the two sides line up again for the re-match in Sweden.
Skelleftea will qualify for the next round if they win the game in regulation – leaving KalPa and Vienna to fight it out for the other place. However, a win for the Finns throws the group wide open, and would take them above Vienna for the time being.
"It's just about winning the games, it doesn't matter who's doing the scoring. We just want to win our group and go on to try and win the competition," said Andrew Calof, who's being putting up numbers for Skelleftea so far. "They were really good off the rush in our last game, with a lot of speed against our defence. The more we have the puck, the less dangerous they'll be, so we have to make sure we control the puck as much as we can."
"We had a very tight game in Kuopio, and either one of the teams could have won the game then. Now we know we are going to even tougher place – their home arena. Probably the biggest challenge of this trip is, however, the long bus journey. It’s nearly 700 kilometres and we are travelling to Skelleftea by bus!" said Pekka Virta, KalPa coach. "That will be a great experience, travelling together and spending time together as a team. I’m expecting a good game on Saturday, as the last game was very colourful and eventful. It’s going to be great CHL hockey!"
Frolunda Gothenburg vs. Dynamo Pardubice
Group A; Frolundaborgs Isstadion, 17:00
In their first CHL home game of the season, Frolunda Gothenburg host Dynamo Pardubice in an important game in Group A.
“I consider it one of the more important games of the season,” said Pardubice forward Petr Hudacek. “I haven't slept for three days. This is a high-quality team we're playing against again, and so we have to be ready. We have in mind that we expect a tough game after an arduous journey.”
Last Saturday, Hubacek had an assist in Pardubice's 3-2 shootout victory at home. However, Frolunda out-shot Pardubice 32-16 in the game, and Hubacek is under no illusions about how good the defending European champions are.
“The first game proved it – they're a level above us, and that's just the way it is. But that only underscores what a good job we did. It's not easy to play a team of that calibre in your first really meaningful game. We know that the Swedish team has the talent on their side, but that only motivates us more to do the best that we can.”
From what happened in the first game, Frolunda assistant coach Par Johansson knows what his team needs to to prevent a repeat of last Saturday: stay out of the penalty box and dictate the pace of the game. “Pardubice's power play is sharp and we can't fall into their tempo,” he said. “They don't like when it gets going fast, but they're skilled and dangerous if they get to play on their own terms.”
HK Nitra vs. HC Pilsen
Group J; Nitra Arena, 17:00
Nitra and Pilsen are each playing their second games following trips to Norway. Up north, Nitra fell 2-1 to the Stavanger Oilers, while Pilsen beat them 3-0. Now the two teams will face each other for the first time since the 1990-91 season, when they both played in the Czechoslovakian Extraliga.
The game is especially important to Nitra, who want to get their first points of the competition and get out of the group basement. It's also their first game at home.
“We're looking forward to it,” said captain Branislav Mezei. “After a long time, we play at home in front of our fans and I believe that we can win. We want to play good hockey and if we do that, I think we can be successful."
Mezei, who played 19 games for Pilsen in the 2009-10 season, went on to say that “Pilsen is a really good team. The players are fast, powerful, and still technically sound. They have a great power play, attacking all the way to the maximum. We have to pay attention to everybody, but particularly dangerous could be Dominik Kubalik on the wing.”
Nitra would be wise to keep an eye on the young Kubalik, who figured in on all three of Pilsen's goals in Stavanger.
Tappara Tampere vs. HC Lugano
Group C; Hakamesta Stadium, 18:00
After two games each, Group C is completely knotted up at thre points each, with all three teams beating each other in regulation time. On Saturday night, Tappara Tampere play their first home game of the competition against HC Lugano, and the two teams will begin the process of untying the knot – or not.
In their first meeting on Tuesday in Lugano, the home side opened the scoring in the first period but Tampere evened it in the second and then won it in the third. Whoever wins this game would move into first place in the group, with both teams still left to play one game against Adler Mannheim.
"Their top players didn't have the best of games last time, and I think they will want to prove themselves and get back to their own level," said Tappara defencemen Otso Rantakari ahead of the game. "They definitely want to avenge our win last time, so we have to be prepared and ready right from the start."
“I consider the Champions Hockey League a big opportunity. In this season we play in four competitions: the CHL along with the Swiss championship, Swiss Cup, and Spengler Cup. We are very hungry to win one of these tournaments. On Tuesday, in our arena, more than 5,000 fans were at the game. I love the CHL so far," said Gregory Hofmann, Lugano forward. "It will be very important to manage the situation and recover before the Swiss league starts but at the moment we're focusing completely on the game in Tampere. We know the game plan of our coach and we have to avoid individual mistakes we made in the last game against this Finnish team.”
Sheffield Steelers vs. HV71 Jonkoping
Group P; Sheffield Arena, 19:00
While Sheffield can't be eliminated tonight, anything other than a win would leave them with a huge mountain to climb in the group – needing to beat Salzburg by seven goals and hope the Red Bulls don't get any more points in the group. HV71 can go top of the group with a win tonight, although their upcoming home-and-away series against the Austrians will ultimately decide who takes top spot.
"We had a great performance on Jonkoping, and their quality shone through in the end – but I was very pleased with the performance. We didn't perform to our level against a good Salzburg team, we've talked about our discipline, and I expect us to be better this weekend," said Steelers' coach Paul Thompson. "We have to be smarter, Our fans were unbelievable in the two away games and we look forward to the game tonight at home."