The addition of offensive defenceman Henrik Tommernes has been a huge help to Frolunda Gothenburg, who have set lofty goals for this season. Tommernes leads all CHL defencemen in scoring and the team has been perfect – a trend they'd like to continue.

by Jon Rowson

In all of Frolunda Gothenburg’s games during the 2015–16 CHL group stage, all eyes have been on the player wearing the Cramo Top Scorer jersey. After the group stage, Frolunda defenceman Henrik Tommernes is not only his team’s top scorer, but the Karlstad native is the CHL’s leading point scorer among defencemen after racking up a remarkable eight points in four games – in fact, all of his points came in the first three games. Tommernes is the quarterback of Frolunda’s lethal power play, the CHL’s best, which has found the back of the net 13 times already. Tommernes failed to register a point in Sheffield in the team's last group-stage game, but the defenceman took some time to reflect on his fine form.

“My game has been pretty good. Our power play has been succeeding and scoring a lot of goals and I’ve been contributing on the point, but today I had a bad game,” Tommernes said after the team's win 4–1 over the Steelers. 

As a team the group stage couldn’t have gone any better, as Frolunda took the maximum three points from all four games against JYP Jyvaskyla and the Sheffield Steelers in Group N. Speaking about the team’s success, Tommernes stated, “We’ve been doing well getting some wins and gaining some confidence during the CHL. Hopefully we’ll be seeded pretty highly for the playoffs.”

Frolunda's opponent in the Round of 32 will be ERC Ingolstadt – another team that has been lighting the lamp offensively in the CHL, so many are anticipating a high-scoring two-game set, which starts next Tuesday in Bavaria before moving to western Sweden a week later. For Frolunda, who went all the way to the final last season before blowing a two-goal lead and losing in Lulea, they have unfinished business. They went through the group stage with workmanlike efficiency and see this next series with the German finalists as the next stop in what they expect to be a long road.

“We’ve said from the start that we want to win the CHL,” Tommernes said bluntly. “Last year Frolunda finished in second place and we want revenge. We aim to win every competition we play in. We had a good group stage and we’ve been playing pretty good hockey, so we will see what the playoffs have in store.”

Tommernes’s fine form has coincided with his return to Frolunda after two years spent abroad. The Vancouver Canucks draft pick spent one and a half seasons with the Utica Comets, the Canucks’ AHL affiliate, before returning to Europe mid-way through the 2014–15 season. After a successful spell with Tappara Tampere, reaching the Liiga final last year, Tommernes re-signed with Frolunda this summer, the team he had played for between 2008 and 2013.

“I played for Frolunda for four years, but now there is a new coach and there are new systems,” he explained. “However, it’s been pretty easy. I’ve been working hard trying to learn the new strategy. Playing games is going to make it easier for you, so I feel confident and good about our game.”

Not only do Frolunda feel they have unfinished business in the CHL, but also in their domestic competition, as last season’s beaten semi-finalists are desperate to bring glory to Gothenburg. Over a decade has passed since Frolunda last won the Le Mat Trophy, and Tommernes reiterated this commitment to domestic glory. The team is off to a fast start, taking eight points from their first three SHL games, but there's still a long way to go.

“We have a good group of guys, and we’ve practised hard during the summer. Hopefully, everyone will contribute and we’ll have more success than last season. It’s a tough league, but hopefully we’ll have some confidence from the group stage, and we’ll take it forward to the SHL.”