Just days following the death of general manager Søren Stockfisch, and just hours after his funeral, SønderjyskE Vojens took to the ice and gave a superb effort that would have made their GM proud in a 4–1 victory over Red Bull Salzburg.
by Michael Sovso
VOJENS – What an emotional day for the Danish champions SønderjyskE. Early on Thursday – after the pre-game skate – all of the players and team staff attended the funeral services of their general manager Søren Stockfisch, who passed away on Saturday, only 51 years old.
Some seven hours later the players had to regroup and be ready for the first competitive game of the season, the CHL opener against Austrian powerhouse and reigning champions Red Bull Salzburg. And the SønderjyskE players were ready. A strong defensive performance, combined with timely offence and a couple of power-play goals secured the Danish champions a surprising 4–1 victory against Salzburg.
“This has been a really emotional week for all of us. It was hard to know what to expect from our guys tonight. I would not have been upset if they were mentally drained,” a proud SønderjyskE coach Dan Ceman said after the game. “But I think the memory of Søren was in everybody's mind tonight. It was an extra reason for all the guys to give everything and pay Søren a tribute and give him this honour.”
Both teams had a lot of power-play opportunities and SønderjyskE were clearly the more effective team in that department – they were 2-for-5, while Salzburg were 0-for-6 and even gave up a shorthanded goal.
Mads Bødker and Mads Lund scored the two first goals in 5-on-4 situations, and then Salzburg goalie Luca Grajnar made a crucial mistake on his team's power play late in the second period. He tried to clear a loose puck, but shot it right into the stomach of SønderjyskE's Cory Quirk, who easily scored the Danish club's third goal to make it 3–0 after two periods.
Joni Myllykoski did a splendid job in the SønderjyskE goal but couldn't do anything when Thomas Raffl scored Red Bull's only goal with a perfect wrist shot in the third period. That gave the Austrian some short-lived hope, but they never became dangerous in the waning minutes, and instead of Salzburg-pressure, Kim Lykkeskov scored the last goal of the game with 28 seconds left.
It was a game of many open chances and both teams could have scored more.
“SønderjyskE played a good game,” acknowledged Salzburg coach Dan Ratushny. “We did not take them lightly as we know Danish hockey has a good reputation. They defended well in their slot, and they didn't give us many second and third chances. We knew they would be a tough opponent, and they proved that tonight.”
“We had some confidence after our games last year in the CHL. And our game against the Hamburg Freezers on Saturday was a confidence-builder as well,” Ceman said, referring to his club's close 4–3 defeat to the German club in a recent pre-season game. “We played a great first period and set the tone for the rest of the game. Our players were willing to do the extra things and their focus and commitment level was extremely high tonight.”
In a set-up where two out of three teams advance to the next round, SønderjyskE have now put themselves in a position where possibly one more win from their remaining three Group C games will put them through. The return meeting in Salzburg will be huge, and they'll also try to take as many points as possible in the two meetings with HV71 Jönköping.
Stockfisch expressed confidence that his team could do just that when they were drawn into Group C with those two clubs on 13 May in Prague – the last time he represented his club at a CHL meeting: “We want to win many games as possible. If we win some of them we can finish in second place.”