Kärpät Oulu and Frölunda Gothenburg battle in one of the two CHL semi-finals, starting Tuesday. For Kärpät forward Mika Pyörälä, the first game will be a homecoming of sorts. 

by Pekka Mankila

OULU - Mika Pyörälä and Kärpät Oulu travel to Gothenburg to battle for a place in the Champions Hockey League final. Pyörälä faces his old team and knows that the upcoming challenge will not be a simple one.

“It's going to be a big challenge for us,” the 33-year-old forward said of winning the upcoming semi-final. “I think we need to play our best games of the season in order to proceed to the final. Frölunda is a great team, no doubt about that.”

Kärpät have played 10 games so far in CHL and have done well in the new competition. The only loss came against Kölner Haie in the group stage in Cologne. To get to the semi-finals, first Kärpät beat the Vienna Capitals and then, in the quarter-finals, knocked out a familiar team from the Finnish Liiga, SaiPa Lappeenranta. 

“The CHL has been a positive experience. It has been nice to see places and play against new teams. CHL games were much nicer than the normal pre-season games against the same old usual teams.” 

After playing 36 games for the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2009-10 season, Pyörälä played for Frölunda Gothenburg for two seasons from 2010 to 2012. In 101 games he recorded 63 points with the Swedish club known as the Indians, but those are not the only memories Pyörälä has from Gothenburg. 

“I have great memories from Gothenburg. The organization was top-notch and the city was a very nice place to live. The first year playing for Frölunda was a bit challenging for me but the second season was much better,” he reminisced.

“It's always nice to face your previous teams and the desire to win is very high. There are still about five or six players from the time I used to play there.” 

Pyörälä is no stranger to winning. He was a member of the Finnish national team that won the IIHF World Championship in 2011 and has won the Finnish domestic championship four times. Winning the European club championship is still something he is missing from his accomplishments. 

“Winning is always the thing and that's also what we're aiming for in the CHL. This is a high-class league and I would value the championship as much as my other trophies. All championships mean a lot to me.” 

The all-round forward has twice come very close to winning the European club championship. Pyörälä and Kärpät played in the European Champions Cup in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2005 and 2006, losing in the final both times. This time around, they have a chance to finally put things right.

“Yes, for sure,” he agrees. “The 'Super Six' tournaments were always great events. It was a little different because it was organized as a weekend tournament. We came so close to the trophy twice but we didn't get it. Those losses really helped us grow as a whole team, what was great experience for the playoffs in our national league

“I hope that playing in this league brings the same effect to rest of the season. Let´s hope that we can turn those silver memories into gold.”

In the 2005 Super Six final, Kärpät lost to Avangard Omsk, with Jaromír Jágr scoring the winning goal in overtime against Niklas Bäckström to win the European title. Does the memory of the Czech legend's sneaky smile still haunt him?

“Well, I don't lose any sleep at night because of that,” Pyörälä laughed.