This year’s Champions Hockey League Final features the perennial heavyweight-contending Frölunda Indians and upstart challengers Red Bull Munich.
While the two clubs on the surface seem very different, one thing they have in common – other than their places in this year’s CHL Final – is their youth development programs that attract young talent from far and wide, helping to feed players to the parent teams. In Tuesday’s European club championship game, both teams will have homegrown talent in their respective lineups.
Frölunda: Hockey's La Masia
It has been said that Frölunda’s Youth Academy is to hockey what FC Barcelona’s La Masia is to football, and the proof of that is the names of the players the club has developed – in terms of quality and quantity. They include Calle Johansson, Erik Karlsson, Daniel Alfredsson, John Klingberg, Loui Eriksson, PJ Axelsson, Lars Eller and the top pick in last year’s NHL Entry Draft, Rasmus Dahlin.
The most obvious example in this year’s team is captain Joel Lundqvist. Both he and famous twin brother goalie Henrik joined Vastra Frölunda, as the club was then called, in 1998 at the age of 16. Other than a three-year stint in North America, Joel has remained in Gothenburg ever since and has reached legendary status.
Other veteran members of the current team who played in Frölunda’s youth system, left, and returned later include Patrik Carlsson, who hails from nearby Kungälv, Simon Hjalmarsson and Sebastian Stålberg.
A trio of teenagers have spent time in the Frölunda lineup this season, including Gothenburg-born Lucas Raymond and Samuel Fagemo. At 16, Raymond is unlikely to play in the Final although he has suited up for four CHL games this season, but Fagemo sure will. The 18-year-old is a regular on the team, has nine points in 10 CHL games, and is projected to be drafted in this year’s NHL Entry Draft. As well, 19-year-old Oliwer Fjellström has seen action in six CHL games.
Red Bull Academy building a foundation
Red Bull Munich’s history is a lot shorter than Frölunda’s – the club was established in 1998 and became part of the Red Bull sports department in 2013. At first, the corporation’s deep pockets were needed to stock the roster but the team is now starting to reap the benefits of homegrown talent of the Red Bull Academy, which is shared with the Salzburg club that they beat in the Semi-Finals.
Dominik Kahun is in his first NHL season with the Chicago Blackhawks and is acquitting himself well as a rookie. It looks like more will be coming in the future, with a young core of homegrown talent. Red Bull youth products on the current roster include defenceman Emil Qaas, forwards Jakob Mayenschein, Dennis Lobach, brothers Andreas and Tobias Eder and backup goalie Kevin Reich. At 23, Reich is the oldest of that group.
All of the above-mentioned players have spent at least some portion of their development with SC Riessersee, a third-division club based in the Alpine ski town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which is 90 kilometres south of Munich. A player developed entirely within that club is local boy Maximilian Kastner. At 26 years of age, Kastner is having a fine season in Munich with 30 points in 40 DEL games and seven points in 12 CHL contests. Unfortunately, Kastner is out of the lineup with a leg injury and will miss the CHL Final.
Regardless of who wins on Tuesday, Frölunda's long tradition of developing talent has cemented them among Europe's elite hockey clubs. Is Munich arrival on the scene just the start of great things to come? Time will tell.