Regular season champions going out in the first round, teams unable to win on home ice, and goals in double overtime – it’s all been happening in Europe over the past week as the playoffs kick in!
by Luke Fisher
Austria
The opening two games of the EBEL playoffs have thrown up some surprises, with all series locked in at 1–1 – that is, except for one, where Hungarian side Alba Volan Szekesfehervar are up 2–0 on the Vienna Capitals. The Viennese club’s miserable run of form has continued into the playoffs, with the team now having only one of their last 10 games. Elsewhere, Villach SV bounced back from a defeat in Salzburg to win 6–5 on home ice with a goal three minutes into overtime, and HC Bolzano came out on top in a 10-goal thriller at home to Black Wings Linz 6–4 to even the series. The best second game of the quarterfinal round, however, goes to Orli Znojmo – Klagenfurt AC, where the Znojmo levelled the series on the road thanks to a double-overtime goal by Ondrej Sedivy at 87:24!
Czech Republic
Both of the Czech Extraliga’s preliminary series wrapped up on Sunday, with BK Mlada Boleslav and HC Pardubice each advancing with 3–1 series victories over HC Plzen and Vitkovice Ostrava, respectively. That means that Mlada Boleslav will face first-seeded Ocelari Trinec and Pardubice will face HC Litvinov, both beginning on Friday. The quarter-final round gets underway on Wednesday, however, with Kometa Brno hosting PSG Zlin, and Sparta Prague at home to Mountfield Hradec Kralove.
Denmark
Regular-season winners Blue Fox Herning are now in an all-or-nothing situation against seventh-placed Rungsted, finding themselves 3–2 down in the series. Meanwhile, Frederikshavn and SonderjyskE Vojens have both made the next round, coming through 4–1 in each of their respective series. Esbjerg also locked in their place in the semi-finals, sweeping Odense 4–0.
Finland
With only a couple of games to go now in the Liiga schedule, attention is starting to shift towards the playoffs. What we already know is that Karpat Oulu cannot be caught at the top of the table, and will go into the post-season as the top seeds. Tappara Tampere and Lukko Rauma will join them, but the race for the other three top-six places is tight. The Espoo Blues, JYP Jyvaskyla and KalPa Kuopio currently occupy the remaining three places, but SaiPa Lappeenranta in seventh are only a win off moving up to fourth. Even IFK Helsinki in eighth could still mathematically make the top six, but they’d need help from other teams. The playoffs are set to begin on 14 March, so we will know the situation before the week is out.
France
The semi-final stage of the Ligue Magnus playoffs are all set to get underway, with third-seeded Gap facing 11th-seeded Dijon – the latter putting out top-seeded Grenoble 3–2 in the best-of-five series. In the other match-up, Angers, who went into the post-season ranked fourth, face Epinal, who dumped out second-seeded Rouen 3–1.
Germany
The DEL's preliminary round is over, meaning we now know the full quarter-final line-up. The Nuremburg Ice Tigers overcame Eisbaren Berlin in three games to book their place in a series with league winners Adler Mannheim, while Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg’s prize for beating Krefeld Pinguine is a series with Red Bull Munich. The best-of-seven quarter-finals begin on Wednesday.
Great Britain
The Cardiff Devils have picked up their first silverware since 2007 by winning the Challenge Cup last week, overcoming the Sheffield Steelers on Sunday to lift the trophy. A day before, the Welsh side put 12 past Dundee in Scotland to keep them in the league title race as well – three points behind with two games in hand. The Braehead Clan’s lead at the top is now down to a point, in part due to a 6–0 thumping on home ice by the Nottingham Panthers. The latter still find themselves six points off top spot, with Sheffield a point behind the Clan and having played a game fewer.
Norway
The playoffs are well underway as in Norway, with regular-season dominators Stavanger Oilers already 2–0 up on Fridrikstad in the best-of-seven series. The Storhamar Dragons also lead by the same score against Lillehammar, while Sparsborg and Lorenskog both won on each other’s ice to have their series tied at 1–1. In the remaining match-up, it was at home win each for Frisk Asker and Valerenga Oslo to make it a level series after two games.
Slovakia
HK Nitra were the first team to book their place in the next round, overcoming MHC Martin by a combined score of 28–8 to win the series 4–1. HC Kosice are now 3–2 up on SHK 37 Piestany, while four other teams play tonight. Banska Bystrica know a home win over Dukla Trencin will put them through to the next round, while Zvolen and Poprad are tied at two wins each as they go into game five.
Sweden
The SHL is waiting for its preliminary round to run its course before the quarter-finals can get underway. Farjestad Karlstad currently find themselves a game down to Brynas Gavle, while Lulea Hockey overcame Djurgarden Stockholm on home ice to go 1–0 up in that best-of-three series. If either Brynas or Lulea win on Monday night, they will go through – however, should they lose, it will come down to a winner-takes-all game on Tuesday evening.
Switzerland
A fascinating set of series in the NLA playoffs sees all four match-ups tied at 2–2. The games between top seeds ZSC Lions and 8th-placed EHC Biel sees neither side having won on home ice yet after four games, with the last two games needed either penalty shots or overtime to decide the winner. Bern and Lausanne both have a win in each other’s barns in their deadlocked series, while the duel between EV Zug and HC Davos has also seen all four games won by the visiting team. HC Lugano and Geneve-Servette are the final match-up, with the former winning the last game big a big score of 7–2 in Geneva.