November 6th 2018, Champions Hockey League – round of 16 – game 1 of 2
Storhamar vs Skellefteå 4-4 FINAL
(0-0, 3-4, 1-0)
The first period was an evenly played affair that ended scoreless. Both teams had their fair share of opportunities but neither managed to break the deadlock. The goalies didn’t break too much sweat to keep the nets clean though, it was more of a scrappy battle. It felt like the teams felt each other out during the frame.
If the first period was a scrappy affair, the second was far from it. Seven goals came out of it seeing Skellefteå on top by one before the third. The visitors were the better team and built up a solid three goal cushion when they went from 1-1 to 1-4 during a two minute spell half way into the stanza. But Storhamar managed to strike back twice during the final minutes to make it back to a one goal game before the third.
Norwegian native Mathis Olimb opened up the scoring when he found an open net in the first shift of the period only to see Steffen Thoresen tying it at the 25.31 mark beating the goalie five-hole. Then the three straight goals came, the first from a high circle shot tip-in and the 2nd and 3rd top corner shots from the slot, in order by Edwin Hedberg, Emil Djuse and Patrik Norén. The home crowd managed to push the hosts to an offensive raid, and in a powerplay Victor Svensson was fed on the back door by Patrick Thoresen’s cross ice pass. The Swedish native found nothing but net and gave his team life. And in the momentum after the goal Storhamar racked up a beautiful tic-tac-toe play that saw Christian Larrivée at the end of it tipping in the third. It was pure ice hockey porn and the crowd was on fire. So it was everything to play for in the final period.
The third act contained end-to-end stuff and was a rollercoaster for the fans. Both goalies had to be sharp since the chances were racked up in every other shift, and Storhamar managed to light the lamp once when Jens Jakobs tied the game in a powerplay. Patrick Thoresen waited and waited and waited… and found Jakobs in the low slot for a onetimer that beat the goalie low. Storhamar pushed on after the goal but without capitalizing. Then Skellefteå took the game to the hosts and created lots of fuzz during the last part, but Oskar Östlund held them off all the way to the final buzzer.
Since this was the first game of a two-game round, the result 4-4 stood without any form of overtime or penalty shootout. The result also means that the winner of the second game takes it all.