Reigning Norwegian champions the Stavanger Oilers suffered a 5-1 loss to Dynamo Pardubice in their first away game of the season. The one-sided game was controlled by hosts Pardubice from start to finish with only Sondre Bjerke making it onto the scoresheet for the visitors as Stavanger lost their third game of 2023/24 in a row.
This score might be pretty straightforward, but that wasn't the case in their two previous games of the season where Stavanger were just one goal away from tying their game against Färjestad Karlstad 3-3 on Game Day 1 and missed out on the win against reigning SHL champions Växjö Lakers in a shootout on Game Day 2.
"We had chances to win and we'll continue searching"Dan Kissel, Stavanger Oilers
"It's been close, at least in the first two games, but the simple fact is we're the underdogs and we've been playing some great teams," commented club veteran Dan Kissel, "we had chances to win and we'll continue searching for more - the good thing is we have three more games to do so."
What will need to change if Stavanger are to turn their luck around in the CHL
"We're going to put these three games behind us," he started, "tonight we had chances and we had good opportunities so we're going to focus on them while tightening up our defence."
How does Kissel, a veteran of five CHL seasons, view the new CHL format that features six different opponents instead of just three now that we're midway through the Regular Season? Ahead of the season start, it looked like the change will offer underdogs the chance to catch bigger teams out. While that has been the case across the board, Stavanger haven't managed to pick up any wins - despite being very close.
"We're not giving up"Dan Kissel, Stavanger Oilers
"It's kind of tough facing so many new teams, it's a little extra homework," he said with a smile, "but it makes it different than in the domestic league."
"We're not giving up," commented Kissel when asked what he would say to all the Stavanger fans reading, "we're going to give it our all in every last game!"
Stavanger's next game in the CHL is against Red Bull Salzburg on Saturday 9 September at 20:20 CEST.