April 15th 2019, playoff final game 6 of 7
Frisk Asker vs Storhamar 3-2 FINAL OT
(1-0, 1-1, 0-1, 1-0)
Frisk Asker scored the loan goal of the first period. The goal was scored in an early powerplay when Mats Frøshaug was fed in the low crease by a Garreth Thompson dish from behind the goal. Oskar Östlund was beaten low on the glove side. The Yellows took more puck control as the period past the half way point, and a couple of chances were created. Closest to lighting the lamp came Troy Josephs who challenged Nicklas Dahlberg from close range during a powerplay, and Kurt Davis also got an open shot from the side which the Swedish goalie saved without too much fuzz. All in all it was a scrappy affair – but with high tension – and it was quite clear which team was comfortable with the way things were going and which team that was not.
The second period was almost unreal. It seemed like it was written in stone that the home team should be ahead. Storhamar produced scoring chances in every other shift, but even though the Yellows would score four-five-six on a normal day, this day they only managed one during the middle act. Troy Josephs tied the game in the sixth minute when he picked up his own garbage in a powerplay. The visitors pushed on in offence, and the rubber hit the plumbing on several occasions, and Dahlberg in net also made some monstrous saves as well. It almost became parodical at times, the puck just wouldn’t go in. And then – as almost ordered by the ice hockey Gods – Frisk scored in stead. A nonchalant pass in Storhamar’s zone was intercepted, and Hampus Gustafsson found an open Sebastian Johansen who made a nice left-right move to beat Oskar Östlund. Storhamar’s goalie had no chance, and the home crowd lifted the roof. Östlund had a great save earlier in the frame when he was challenged point blank down Broadway. A shoulder save enabled his teammates to tie the game a few minutes later. Nevertheless, this was Storhamar’s period from start to finish, but sadly our boys still found themselves down by one.
The third act was almost a copy of the middle stanza seeing Storhamar pushing on in offence. The hunt for a tying goal went on, but without the strength that we saw in the second period. Storhamar had the puck almost all of the time, but Frisk held the Yellows on the outside. So Dahlberg in net didn’t have to bring his A game. When the clock moved towards the last four minutes, Storhamar started to create more and more, and finally Dahlberg was beaten at the 16.33 mark. Lars Løkken Østli was fed on the far side by Niklas Fogström, and the D-man veteran bombed home a onetimer that beat the Swedish ghost top shelf. Neither team managed to win it towards the end, but at the buzzer Aaron Irving somehow managed to get a minor penalty for slashing. Replay showed that veteran Anders Bastiansen took a real dive to fool the referees. So the overtime period would start with a home team powerplay.
Storhamar held the home team off during the two minutes being one man short, but Frisk scored just a few seconds later when a Christian Kåsastul shot from the blueline beat Östlund who was screened on the play. So Frisk Asker could celebrate winning the Kings Cup by 4-2 in games. We congratulate the team from Asker.