Swedish teams Luleå Hockey and Frölunda Gothenburg know each other all too well from the SHL, but the two also have shared history in the Champions Hockey League that dates all the way back to the very first CHL Final.
Yes, that's right, the very first CHL Final was the first time these two arch-enemies clashed on Europe's biggest club ice hockey stage and with major silverware up for grabs, it was a massive game for both of them. The game, which is often regarded as one of the best Finals to have ever been played, saw Frölunda captain Joel Lundqvist score just 17 seconds in to break the deadlock.
Norwegian sharp-shooter Mathis Olimb, who to this day holds the record for most points scored in a CHL season (26 points - 8G, 18A), would also score in the opening period to give Frölunda a nice 2-0 lead that lasted them all the way to the third period until Luleå opened the floodgates, scoring four goals in 11 minutes to become the very first team to lift the European Trophy as Champions of Europe.
Apart from Lundqvist, who is the CHL's most-capped player having played an astonishing 86 games in the competition, two more of Frölunda's current players also played for them seven years ago - Mats Rosseli-Olsen and Nicklas Lasu.
For Luleå, twin brothers Cam and Chris Abbott featured in their first line, both of them have since hung up their skates and gone on to pursue managing careers, with Chris acting as Rögle Ängelholm's Sports Director, whilst Cam lead the very same team to Champions Hockey League glory last season. The two of them are the only two people to have won the CHL both as players and as coaches.
The Luleå roster also features a player that is still on their roster after all those years - goaltender Joel Lassinantti who has played two games in net for the Swedes in 2022/23. Apart from him, Dean Kukan, who now plays for Swiss side ZSC Lions Zurich, and Peter Cehlárik, who is also fighting for his place in the 2022/23 CHL Final with new club EV Zug, played in the game, both of them actually scored in the Final as well.
The second time these two teams met was in the Quarter-Finals the following season where Frölunda had to take Luleå all the way to a shootout in the Return Game to secure their spot in the Semi-Finals in a season where the now four-time CHL Champions got their hands on the European Trophy for the very first time.
The third, and most recent, meeting of these two came in 2019/20 when Frölunda ended Luleå's promising season in, you guessed it, the Semi-Finals!
Luleå topped Group C and dealt four back-to-back Playoff blows to Swiss clubs SC Bern and Lausanne HC to secure their place in the Semi-Finals, but fate brought them Frölunda.
The game, played on Frölunda's home ice, would end in a slim one-goal win for Luleå, but a 3-1 loss at home would send Frölunda through to the Final where they would pick up their fourth CHL title.
So to sum up, here are some quick-fire stats!
- Luleå and Frölunda have played five games against each other in the CHL - Luleå have won three, Frölunda two
- Luleå beat Frölunda in the 2014/15 Final
- Frölunda have won every Playoffs Return Game against Luleå
- Luleå have never lost a First Game of a Playoffs series to Frölunda
- Frölunda have eliminated Luleå from the Playoffs twice
- Lundqvist, Rosseli-Olsen and Lasu all played for Frölunda in 2014/15
Frölunda will host Luleå in Gothenburg on Tuesday, 10 January at 18:05 CET for the First Game of their Semi-Finals matchup, followed by the Return Game in northern Sweden on Tuesday, 17 January at 18:05 CET.