It was a tough night for Lukko Rauma who fell 2-1 to Swiss team Genève-Servette and dropped out of the race for the European Trophy just one step away from the Champions Hockey League Final.
The Finns had a perfect start to the game, scoring two within the first 12 minutes, but two second-period goals from Genève levelled the series and a third-period game-winner from Valtteri Filppula saw the game slip away.
Lukko pushed right down to the final buzzer but failed to find the back of the Genève net in regulation, ultimately losing 5-4 on aggregate.
"Maybe our goals were a bit easy?"Henri Ikonen, Lukko Rauma
"It was a tough night," started Lukko's Henri Ikonen after the game, "it's hockey - you can't always win but we're proud of how we played."
The game was a special one for the Finnish team as Genève's roster features a whole bunch of Finnish players, including some big hitters: triple Gold Club member Valtteri Filppula, Olympic gold medalists and World Champions Sakari Manninen, Teemu Hartikainen and Sami Vatanen. How is it facing a team of this calibre?
"Oh it's nice, I've been watching these guys since I was little!" smiled Ikonen, "but of course once you're on the ice they're players, opponents. You can't think of anything else."
Coming back to the 2-0 lead that Lukko dropped, how did that happen in Ikonen's view?
"It's hard to say. Maybe our goals were a bit easy? Maybe they weren't playing their best in the first? I really don't know. We knew they have a great team and that they would come but it just didn't go our way tonight."
It was a near-sold-out game in Rauma. What did the 29-year-old think of the atmosphere and support?
"We're thankful for them showing up, we really have great fans," said the forward, "it's just a shame about the result and the fact they won't get to see us in the Final."
"Good luck to Genève in the Finals!" ended the Lukko player.