HC Davos did what many would have thought unthinkable in the Champions Hockey League – they knocked out Skelleftea AIK in Sweden to advance to the semi-finals in the competition, and remain the last non-Nordic team standing.
HC Skelleftea 1–3 HC Davos 
DAVOS WIN ON AGGREGATE 4–2
by Luke Fisher, with contribution from Robin Lindgren
SKELLEFTEA – If last week's game in Davos was intense, then this was a frantic and bruising, yet fascinating, encounter. With the series tied at 1 goal each after the first leg, both sides knew that it would be a "winner takes all" matchup at the Skelleftea Kraft Arena.
The visitors form Davos, backed by a loud travelling support from Switzerland, made the perfect start to the game – Dick Axelsson slotting home from Marc Wieser's pass with just 4:07 played. The physical nature of the NLA side's game had the desired effect of forcing their hosts into rushed played through large parts of the game, and things for better for the visitors just over five minutes later, when Enzo Corvi netted to put Davos up by a pair.
Davos would have expected a response from the home side as period two began, and it didn't take long coming – Erik Forssell beating the impressive Leonardo Genoni with only 23 seconds elapsed, assisted by Jimmie Ericsson and Niclas Burstrom. Skelleftea kept coming in the middle period, but couldn't find a way past Genoni and headed to the locker room still a goal behind after 40 minutes.
Having out-shot their opponents 27–11 over two periods, Skelleftea skated out in the third and launched of barrage of attacks on the Davos goal. Time and time again Genoni came up big, especially with an early power play chance for the home side in the final period. And then it happened – a mistake from Sebastian Aho on the offensive blueline set Andreas Ambuehl free, and he raced in to score shorthanded at 50:32 to re-establish Davos' two-goal cushion.
With just under five minutes to goal, Skelleftea coach Hans Wallson called a timeout, and on the resulting play pulled netminder Markus Svensson as his team went in search of a way back into the tie. A string of three saves by Genoni followed, as Par Lindholm came closest to getting the hosts back to within one. Skelleftea kept trying, but they were to be ultimately undone by an empty-netter from his own one by Pettru Lindgren, which rolled into the unguarded net with 57 seconds to play.
“I think we played a really solid game far away from home. Skelleftea played really well and had most of the time with the puck but we punished them with our turnovers and breakaways,” said Swedish Davos winger Marcus Paulsson, who will now get to face another Swedish club in the next round. “We fought hard all through the game and that’s why we’re moving on.”
“I can honestly say that we lost to a better team. Hockey is all about scoring and they capitalized on every chance that they had to score and we didn’t. I think that we created enough to win tonight but our effectiveness is completely lost and we didn’t show enough skill to win this matchup,” said Skelleftea coach Hans Wallson. “We congratulate HC Davos on this victory and wish them luck in the next stage.”
A famous win for Davos, who take the tie 5–2 on aggregate, and become the first team from outside of the Nordic countries to reach the CHL Semi-Finals. The Swiss club will doubtless be indebted to one player in particular – netminder Leonardo Genoni, who faced 73 shots over the two legs, and conceded just two goals!
GOALS:
1st 04:07 - 0:1 (EQ) - Dick Axelsson (Marc Wieser)- 1st 09:52 - 0:2 (EQ) - Enzo Corvi (Dino Wieser)
2nd 20:23 - 1:2 (EQ) - Erik Forssell (Jimmie Ericsson, Niclas Burstrom)- 3rd 50:32 - 1:3 (SH1) - Andres Ambuehl
- 3rd 59:03 - 1:4 (ENG) - Perttu Lindgren (Felicien Dubois)
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