With only room for four teams following the Quarter-Finals, it set up for a dramatic second leg when Swiss side EHC Biel-Bienne hosted the reigning champions the Frölunda Indians, and it didn’t disappoint.
Biel held a one goal advantage following a great first leg that saw them go 3-0 up, only for Frölunda to pull two back in the third period, and it was another two late goals again by the Swedish set that made it very interesting.
With only minutes remaining, Biel extended their lead on aggregate to 6-4, as Peter Schneider tied the scores on the night at 3-3, but you can never count Frölunda out, as just over a minute later, Patrik Carlsson pulled one back, and just 19 seconds after that it was all tied up again through Theodor Lennström sending the game to overtime, where someone would have to be a hero, and that man was Patrik Carlsson, scoring a powerplay goal six minutes into overtime, to send Frölunda through, and signal the end of the road for Biel who were phenomenal in their debut CHL season.
“It was two good teams, and it was a really tense game,” Carlsson said following the dramatic overtime win. “We are really happy we could win it. We had to score two goals at the end there and it’s not often you can make that happen."
"We have a great spirit in this team and we never give up.”Patrik Carlsson speaks after a two goal performance helps Frölunda to the Semi-Finals
It’s the second time Frölunda have had to come from behind in the second leg, after they trailed 6-3 against Färjestad Karlstad after the first game of the Round of 16, only to come back with a massive 8-2 victory to advance.
“We’ve been building confidence throughout the year. We’ve been in similar situations before and we know a lot of things can happen, you just have to keep playing to the last second,” said the forward, whose side now face an all Swedish affair as they take on Luleå Hockey in the Semi-Finals, with there focus solely on taking the Champions Hockey League trophy back to Gothenburg. “We’re aiming to keep it of course. We know that there will be two tough games in the Semi-Final, and we’re very excited for that.”