It’s not unfamiliar territory for the Frölunda Indians as they prepare for their fifth Champions Hockey League Final, as they take on first-time finalists Mountfield HK from the Czech Republic.
Frölunda are the most successful team in CHL history, with three titles to their name, looking to make it a fourth on Tuesday night. But this year, their journey to the title game hasn’t been as straight forward as you might have imagined.
Things got off to a very rocky start for the defending champions in Group H as they look on Mountfield, as well as the Cardiff Devils of Wales and Graz99ers of Austria.
Opening their campaign on home ice, Frölunda dropped their opening two games.
Firstly, they had to come from behind against Graz to force overtime, trailing 5-3 in the final 10 minutes of regulation, with Ryan Lasch and Patrik Carlsson scoring twice to secure at least a point for Frölunda, but they couldn’t get the extra point as Graz secured victory in a lengthy shootout.
This was followed up by another rocky game, a regulation loss to their Final opponents Mountfield with a pair of powerplay goals by Rhett Rakshani being the only thing the reigning champions could muster in a 3-2 loss.
After a difficult start on home ice, they managed to turn things around as they travelled to Austria and the Czech Republic for the return legs, with a 5-1 win over Graz and narrow 4-3 win over Mountfield, before they finished up their Group Stage in style with back-to-back 9-2 victories over Cardiff.
With the playoff matchups determined, much like the start of their Group Stage campaign, things got off to a less than ideal start for Frölunda, with a 6-3 loss against Färjestad Karlstad in a game they trailed right from the off after surrendering three goals in the first period, but that was followed up with a fantastic display in the second leg, as Frölunda showed their championship mentality with a huge 8-2 victory to secure their spot in the next round.
A common theme was developing for Frölunda, who once again trailed after the opening leg against EHC Biel-Bienne in a 3-2 loss, but that just set the stage for a dramatic second leg, one which nearly saw the side knocked out of the competition.
The teams traded chances throughout the game, and a goal with less than five minutes remaining from Peter Schneider of Biel-Bienne looked to secure Frölunda’s fate and crash them out of the CHL for this year. However, a remarkable comeback was made with two goals in just 19 seconds, giving them a 4-3 victory in regulation, and enough to force overtime. That's where Patrik Carlsson, who had sparked the late comeback with the first goal, was the overtime hero, sending Frölunda through to the Semi-Finals for a rematch of the 2014/15 Final, where they would take on Luleå Hockey.
Once again trailing after the first leg, Frölunda responded away from home with another comeback with two third period goals from captain Joel Lundqvist and CHL All-Time top scorer Ryan Lasch securing a 5-4 aggregate victory and a fifth appearance in the Final for the Swedish giants.
It’s sure to be a dramatic Final, with the two teams already facing off against each other in Group H action earlier this season, and with each team picking up a win each against the other, both Frölunda and Mountfield will have confidence that they can be crowned the winners of the 2019/20 Champions Hockey League.