Throughout this season of the Champions Hockey League we will be taking a closer look at what players have to say after their games - wins or losses, there is always something to take for next time. Last night played host to a spectacular blend of blowouts and close calls, and we got together with some of the skaters to discuss their thoughts on their teams' successes and failures.
Matthew Mackenzie
In their Game Day 2 match-up against Red Bull Munich, the Slovakian champions seemed to have things figured out – until they didn’t.
After suffering a loss in their first contest, Slovan Bratislava were aware they needed a better start if they were going to be competitive. Second-year defenceman Matthew Mackenzie reiterated this saying, “It’s a tough tournament against really good teams so we need to come out and play our best.”
The hosts looked ready for some redemption, compiling more shots on net than their opponents in the opening moments.
“As a team I thought we played pretty well, it was a close game," Mackenzie explained, before lamenting his team’s inability to muster a complete effort, "for parts of the game we played well but just not enough for the game."
Though the outcome wasn’t there, the outpouring of support from their fans was something special for Mackenzie, as he noted, “the fans were great just like they were last year and they brought it this year into the Champions Hockey League and so yeah they’re big for us for sure.”
Matias Lehtonen
While Slovan met another unfortunate end, their neighbouring club in Poland, GKS Katowice, improved in their tilt against ZSC Lions Zurich.
Grzegorz Pasiut was the man of the hour as he scored the game-winner in OT to garner his club’s first three points. This was the Polish side’s first-ever CHL win and for Matias Lehtonen the result was unexpectedly expected.
“I don’t know, I think we didn’t expect anything we just knew that we played a great game on Thursday so we just knew that we had to continue that and today we did all that we could,” he relayed.
This match-up was a particularly special one for the Finnish forward as it was the first time that he had lined up against his brother, Mikko Lehtonen who playes for Zurich.
When asked if there were any emotions surrounding this, he admitted that, “there were some extra emotions for sure.”
Ryan Lasch
Emotions were high in Berlin, as well, where CHL heavyweights Frölunda Gothenburg dismantled German side Eisbären Berlin by a 7-1 final.
The team’s centerpiece and CHL points leader Ryan Lasch praised his club’s ability to play together and work for each other, saying, “I thought we looked really strong and we were all on the same page fighting for each other.”
He went on to highlight how the difference in chemistry from this year compared to last year is night and day, “I think that it’s better than last year, totally. You can already tell that in the atmosphere and the guys that we got together so far this year,” he said, before continuing, “everyone likes each other and everyone wants to fight for each other it is a lot of fun out there.”
With the chemistry only continuing to build as the season moves forward, it would seem Lasch and company are primed to go for another run this season. But the veteran prefers to keep his mind on the present.
“It’s still early, I don’t want to talk about that but we’re still happy with the start for sure.”