Skelleftea AIK had a great start to their Round of 32 game in Kosice. The Swedish club dominated the first half of the game and led 2–0. However, Kosice took advantage of their chances and came back to win, leaving captain Jimmie Ericsson to try to explain what went wrong. 

by Tomas Schugerl

KOSICE – The dressing room of Skelleftea AIK was closed for a long time after the game. The players were probably still trying to figure out what went wrong for them to lose the game 4–3. Finally, captain Jimmie Ericsson came out and evaluated Tuesday evening's game. 

“We had a lot of opportunities, so we had to take advantage of them and score more than three goals. We had more chances than Kosice, however, we didn't capitalize on our chances and this is the result,” the Skelleftea captain said bluntly after the game. 

One of the more controversial moments of the game was when Kosice tied the game on a play that Ericsson disputed to the referees at the time. After a lengthy video review, the goal stood. 

“That was a complicated situation, but it was decided and it was a goal,” Ericsson speculated. “I couldn't tell if it was a goal or not, so I guess that referee made a right decision – they had better information and views than us. That's not the reason why we lost. The reason is that we didn’t score more goals from our chances.” 

Skelleftea sent 34 shots at Kosice goalie Marcel Melichercik, and twice blew leads. Ericsson wasn't looking for any excuses. “We had 2–1 lead until the end of second period, and had 34 shots in total. As I said, the key to success is goals. Kosice scored more and that's the reason they won.” 

Of course, this series is far from decided. There is still another game to play in Skelleftea, and one goal is hardly safe over 60 minutes. In their home game, Skelleftea will definitely want to fix what went wrong in Kosice. 

“We will be 100 percent focused, concentrating on every shot and chance which we have,” Ericsson promised. “I will repeat that we need goals. In recent games in the Swedish league and also here, we haven't been scoring enough goals to win. We have to win to get to the next round of the CHL.”  

Skelleftea have had their hands full with Slovak opponents this Champions Hockey League season. In the group stage they had two close games against Nitra, needing a shootout to beat them on home ice. Now they've lost in eastern Slovakia. 

“Both teams have great fans. I really liked the atmosphere in Nitra and even in Kosice. Kosice's team plays more on counter-attacks and they were successful on odd-man rushes. They scored too many goals that way, I think.”