As Game Day 3 approached, Group E was deadlocked with each club holding a 1-0-0-1 record. By the end of Game Day 4, Ocelari Trinec was left sitting atop the group with nine points, while SC Bern, Tappara Tampere and the Stavanger Oilers are all in the hunt with 5 points each.

by Kris Bligh, with contribution from Tobias Eiken

In what looked to be the most contested group in the Champions League, fans were anxiously waiting to see which club would grab the reigns and pull away. Ocelari Trinec and SC Bern would kick things off on Game Day 3. When these two clubs met on Game Day 1, Trinec scored at will against Bern on the back of a four-point performance from Jiri Polansky. Trinec would keep the ball rolling with an early goal from Jakub Orsava, then Lukas Zejdl would added two power-play markers in the first frame to put the visitors up by three. Orsava chalked up another tally in the second period and that would be all Trinec would need to lock this game up. Bern again failed to net a goal and went 0-for-6 with the man advantage against the well-rounded Czech squad.

The second match taking place in Group E would be the Stavanger Oilers playing host to Tappara Tampere. This game was played very well by both sides as they each traded early goals. The stellar goaltending of both Ruben Smith (Stavanger) and Juha Metsola (Tampere) held the score at 1-1 all the way to penalty shots. Jean-Michel Daoust put Stavanger ahead with a nice shootout move, thus putting the pressure on the visitors. Tampere’s fate rested in the hands of long-time NHL veteran Josh Green, who could not beat the 27-year-old netminder Smith.

With just one day of rest for Group E they were right back at it. In Game Day 4’s first match-up SC Bern, in search of their first home victory, hosted Finnish squad Tappara Tampere. After a scoreless first period, NHL veteran Byron Ritchie would break Bern’s goalless drought at 6:11 of the second. The hot hand Ritchie was not done there. After Atte Makinen took a hooking penalty, Ritchie made him pay with a dagger 11 seconds into the power play. Pascal Berger would add a goal midway through the third frame and it was beginning to look like Bern had this locked up. However, Tappara would add three late goals to push overtime. Bern’s Geoff Kinrade was awarded a penalty shot in overtime but could not convert. After the extra frame solved nothing, Tappara would be heading to penalties for the second straight game. The result would also be the same for the Finnish squad as Pascal Berger would end it, giving Bern their first home victory in the Champions league.

The final match of Game Day 4 would prove to be the most important one of Group E to date. The winner would have the opportunity to pull away from the log jam that is this group. Trinec was coming in with a chip on their shoulder and looking for revenge after suffering their only loss to Stavanger back on Game Day 2. It would be no easy task, as there were plenty of Stavanger supporters on hand ; the team is drawing 3332 fans on average, which is good enough for 17th in the league. Zbynek Irgl put the visitors on the board early in the first but Stavanger quickly answered back as Mathias Trettenes sniped the equaliser. The back-and-forth play would continue as Dan Kissel put the home squad ahead. However, near the end of the first, Irgl added his second on the power play. Vladimir Dravecky popped in a goal in the second period which would prove to be the winner. With this victory, Trinec picked up some valuable points and positioned themselves atop the group.

After the game, Stavanger coach Petter Thoresen did not hold back. “I am actually quite disappointed. I’m disappointed that we didn’t do the things we agreed upon. We weren’t disciplined enough and tried to outplay the Czechs and we’re just not good enough to do that. When we won on Thursday (against Tappara) and in Trinec we were cynical, trying to exploit their weaknesses, but today we were trying to stickhandle our way through impossible situations. That’s not gonna work against teams of this calibre.”

"We played a very tough game today," said Trinec coach Jiri Kalous. "Stavanger plays very organised. We played the body well and did the little things like blocking shots, forcing turnovers, unselfish play to lead us to victory. Stavanger has an excellent power play and they showed it again with those two goals. But we did it and the guys fought to the end. I think we deserved to win today."

Group E will be back at it on 23 September as Ocelari Trinec will host Tappara Tampere, while the Stavanger Oilers will travel to SC Bern.

Group E standings

Schedule and results