Tappara Tampere earned a narrow 2-1 win over Adler Mannheim to earn a spot in the CHL's Round of 32. Read more in Gamecentre.

Needing a regulation win, Tappara got off to a blazing start on home ice, scoring just 31 seconds in as  Aleksi Elorinne's shot from the point was stopped by Dennis Endras, but Henrik Haapala was there to put in the rebound. Then two minutes in Teemu Nurmi  was tripped from behind and was awarded a penalty shot and hit the goal post. 

As the period wore on, Mannheim got a couple of power plays and threatened to tie the score, but in the last minute of the opening period it was Veli-Matti Savinainen who fired a low wrister from the face-off dot that beat Endras, and send Tappara to the intermission with a two-goal lead. 

Now in a bit of a hole, Mannheim owned the second period, out-shooting Tappara 13-2; however, Dominik Hrachovna was brilliant in Tappara's net. The only shot to beat him came in the 2 6th minute, when Marcus Kink backhanded in a loose puck right in front. 

The third period was a bit of a different story, as Tappara locked the game down. A goal to send it to overtime would have finished them, but Mannheim really didn't get a sniff, as each team had 7 apiece.

A regulation win was what they needed, and it was exactly what Tappara got to see themselves through to the Round of 32. Head coach Jussi Tapola was pleased with the job of his team.

“We responded to their physical style of play well," the Tappara coach said after. "We were clearly better in the first period. The second period was messed up a little by the penalties. The third period was mainly good but our own attacking was sometimes such that it created chances for the opponent. Most of our players played an excellent game today. Our power play was quite good today. We had good foundations there but lacked results. The penalties were partly justifiable and some were interpretations but that is what this is going to be.”

“We are of course disappointed that we lost. Tappara played a good and disciplined game. They had a better first period than we did tonight and they deserved to win,” said Mannheim head coach Sean Simpson. “I think that our penalty killing was very good. It was a hard-fought game, like a playoff game. In the physical game we had no difficulties.” 

“The CHL is a good tournament," Simpson continued. "I am a believer in the CHL and I'm positive about it. I think that it's a good thing that club teams play against each other all over Europe. It's a good variable and a good advertisement for club ice hockey. I'll very happily come back next year if possible.”  

"Of course we keep CHL in high esteem," Tapola responded. “We had a tough group – both Lugano and Mannheim are surely top teams in their own leagues. Getting to the playoffs especially from this group was a good performance."