The goaltending of Miroslav Kopriva kept this game close for two periods, but Fribourg-Gotteron pulled away in the third and they're off to the next round. Read more in Gamecentre. 

by Derek O'Brien, with contribution from Alain Hauert

In the first game, HC Kosice might have thought themselves unlucky not to have won at home. In the return game, however, Fribourg were clearly the better team on their home ice, although it took them a while to assert themselves. Eventually they did, however, and booked their place in the Round of 16.

Fribourg came flying out of the gate and Miroslav Kopriva was tested early and often, and he didn't get a lot of help in front of him. In the ninth minute, a turnover led to Chris Rivera skating right into the slot with the puck and beating Kopriva with a shot just inside the post – the only goal of the first period. 

Fribourg had a string of three straight power plays on which they were unable to add to their lead, and then Kosice caught a break midway through the second period. A bad line change led to a breakaway for Juraj Mily, and he made no mistake, beating Benjamin Conz high to the glove side. It was now again tied on aggregate with half a game to go.

However, less than two minutes after the goal, Fribourg got a fourth-straight power play, and they didn't pass this one up – Lorenz Kienzle blasting a one-timer from the point through traffic that hit the stick of Kosice veteran forward Ladislav Nagy and beat Kopriva up high. 

After the game, Nagy sighed, "The first two periods we played really well, we did not give Fribourg a lot of chances and were good defensively. But they scored a lucky goal on a power play for the 2-1 goal when I deflected the puck and it went in. But these things happen."

"We know that we have the talent to be successful, sometimes it is just a question of timing or little details that we have to improve to make us win," Kienzle said after the game. "Our CHL campaign is perfectly working so far. Now we take it game by game, period by period, and we're trying to go as far as possible."

Entering the final period the difference was still just one – in the game and on aggregate – but in the first two minutes that changed dramatically. Fribourg scored twice, with top scorer Roman Cervenka figuring in on both. First he made a nice pass to Yannick Rathgeb, whose shot beat Kopriva up high, and then on the same shift he scored from in close when the puck came to him at the side of the net.

“We don't feel good, although we played two good periods against a very good hockey team,” said Kosice coach Rostislav Cada. “We made two mistakes at the start of the third period, and we didn't have enough power or strength to come back.”

"Looking back at the whole campaign, I must say that the CHL is a good experience, especially for the young players on our team," Nagy summed up. "They can challenge top players from international leagues, which makes them improve their games and gives them the possibility to move forward."