On the opening night of the new CHL season, two former Farjestad Karlstad teammates played against each other in Vaxjo and each scored 2 goals. That's where the similarity between Patrik Lundh and Stefan Meyer's nights ended, however. Lundh had 6 points, helping his Lakers to a 10–2 thumping of Meyer's Braehead Clan.
by Pontus Bjers
VAXJO – The Champions Hockey League debut of the Braehead Clan was an eye-opener for the Scottish club, as they found out how tough a task it is to beat the champions of the Swedish Hockey League. The Vaxjo Lakers scored five times en route to a 10–2 victory. One of Vaxjo's big offensive scorers was Patrik Lundh, who scored 2 goals and added 4 assists to make him the CHL Cramo Top Scorer after one day. He spoke after the game.
Congratulations first of all. What do you think about the game?
PL: Thank you! I think it was one team, the Vaxjo Lakers, who played the game in a much faster pace than they did and because of that we got a lot more scoring chances and we managed to score on some of those chances. I think we were obviously the better team tonight.
You had a great game yourself tonight with 2 goals and 4 assists, what do you say about your own and your line's effort?
PL: I think it felt good. We started off nicely and scored a goal in one of our first shifts, I think. Seeing the game altogether, we did well. There was a few times we changed the line combinations but otherwise I've played with (Joakim) Hillding before in Farjestad, so we get along well on the ice and have a good chemistry. Today we had Robin Soderqvist with us on the right wing and he had a great game as well. Overall, I think we played well.
This was probably the first time meeting a British team for the most of you guys. Was it how you expected it to be?
PL: I actually had no idea what to expect. You've heard that the British league isn't as good as the SHL and me might have more speed but they played a type of game where they tried to stay in their own end and be really tight in their defensive zone. Then they tried to go on offensive rushes when they got he puck but other than that I don't know what to say. I didn't have any expectations for the game, we just tried to do our best and there might have been a few times during the game that we dipped a little but overall we played with a good pace.
You're playing your next game next week, against ERC Ingolstadt. Do you know what to expect for that game?
PL: I've played German teams a few times before and they're usually quite passionate games. They often have some Canadians and Americans that have played in the AHL and they play a very physical game so it will probably be a different kind of game than it was today.
From a Braehead perspective it was a difficult game, but Stefan Meyer did his best to make the score look better by scoring both of his team's goals. His first one came midway through the first period on the power play to bring them to within a goal, but by the time he scored his second early in the third period, the outcome was no longer in doubt.
Stefan, what were your first thoughts right after the game?
SM: It wasn't the outcome we wanted. I feel that we are a better team than what we showed tonight. It's rust, maybe a little bit of nerves. Our puck possession game is better, our puck movement is better, we just weren't ourselves tonight and we are about to make this better I hope.
Did Vaxjo play the type of game that you expected?
SM: Absolutely 100 percent. I played in this league (SHL) a few years ago and I remember how good it is and they showed that it's still the same kind of hockey. They play a unique style of hockey, a puck possession style of hockey and it's pretty to watch. For us, we can't get down, we have to move on, we've got to be men and we have to get better. That's just the bottom line.
You managed to score 2 goals tonight. What can you say about your own game?
SM: It's always fortunate when you get to score a couple of goals but when you lose like that it doesn't mean anything. You want to win and that's the bottom line. It is what it is and as a team we have to get better and hopefully we can get some more goals and get guys jumping a little bit more and get more confidence and hopefully it goes that way for us.
How has the experience been coming to Sweden to play again but this time with a British team?
SM: To be honest with you I really enjoyed my time when I was here with Farjestad. It took me a little while to learn the game, it's a different style than the North American game and now that I've been over in Europe for a few years it's was just a great experience to come back here because I really, really enjoyed my time here.
Now you're playing Ingolstadt this Saturday. What do you expect for that game?
SM: We got to pick ourselves up. A better effort, a sharper team and maybe we got to be more upbeat and win more battles. We just need to be more upbeat, have fun, play our style of hockey and we will be fine.