Read below for information on the Round of 32 series between Tappara Tampere and Vitkovice Ostrava. Tappara won 4–1 to advance ot the Round of 16.

Game 1

Vitkovice came out flying on home-ice, determined to win their home half of this Round of 32, and outshot Tappara 13–3. Veteran goalie Mika Noronen was ready, though, and stopped everything. In the second period, Tappara got 2 goals 1:32 apart – defenceman Teemu Aalto and then captain Jukka Peltola on a penalty shot – and that was the only scoring of the game. Noronen stopped 32 shots in all to help his team to a 2-goal lead heading home. 

“I didn’t see any difference apart from efficiency,” said Vitkovice captain Jiri Burger, who couldn’t find much fault in his team’s game. “They scored the goals they had to and we didn’t – that’s the difference. We were prepared for them from video analysis, and we played solid game apart from scoring. I had a chance in the third period as well and hit the post twice in a few seconds. I had wide open net and couldn’t capitalize on that, it’s my fault. We tried new power-play units and you saw that – we didn’t play well on the power play. But Tappara did a great job on the penalty kill. We have to score in Finland and then we have a chance to advance.”

“We knew that Vitkovice would defend hard and look for turnovers and power plays, so our plan was to play the puck deep and stay out of penalty box, but we didn’t manager the latter,” said a partly satisfied Tappara coach Jussi Tapola. “We took a lot of penalties, but our penalty kill was fantastic and our goalie was superb as well. Of course we are very satisfied with the 2–0 win, but we have a lot to improve on. We’re not there yet – we still have three periods to play.”

GAME HIGHLIGHTS | LIVE BLOG & STATS

Preview

In this match-up between Group B winners Tappara and Group I runners-up Vitkovice, it is Tappara who will be the favourites, but Vitkovice is the type of underdog that everyone hates to face – the type of team that plays a disciplined defensive game and takes its scoring chances from mistakes by the opposition. Both teams are experienced in international play – Tappara have played in numerous European Trophy tournaments as well as last yerar's CHL, where they went to the quarter-finals, and Vitkovice has competed in a couple of Spengler Cups in the last five years as well as last year's CHL – so although they have never faced each other before, nothing about the opposing styles of play should come as much of a surprise.

Closer look: Tappara Tampere

(3-0-1-0, 10 points, 16:6, 1st in Group B)

Group B was tight between Tappara and Djurgarden, with both teams winning in the opposing barn. The fact that Tappara took their home game to overtime before losing is what gave them the edge to take first place, and get home ice in the second leg of this Round of 32. They also won twice against Swiss club EV Zug. In the last couple of seasons, Tappara have been one of the top teams in the Finnish Liiga, going right down to the wire in the finals each time with eventual champions Karpat Oulu. In last year's CHL quarter-finals, they were defeated by eventual finalists Frolunda Gothenberg. The fact that it takes elite clubs like these to knock them off shows where Tappara rank in European club hockey, and they surely have their sights set on a long CHL run.

Jan-Mikael

Jarvinen

1+5, +1

 

Top Forward & CRAMO Top Scorer: A playmaking forward who can play either centre or wing, Jan Mikael Jarvinen is always trouble in the attacking zone with his passing abilities. Last season he had 6 assists for Tappara in the CHL and this season has 5 so far after 4 games. He gets a lot of his points on the power play, and one of his favourite targets at full strength are linemates Henrik Haapala and Janni Jalunen

Teemu

Aalto

0+3, +4

 

Top Defenceman: Teemu Aalto has been, once again, Tappara's leading d-man. Aalto has a huge slap-shot and he uses is biggest asset a lot, especially on the power play. But Aalto isn't just a shooter – he also has great hockey sense. He can use his experience when it comes to protecting his own end of the ice. Aalto isn't the fastest skater on the ice, but he is very careful with his stick and moves, so he makes very few mistakes. He is a trustworthy player and he can be put to the ice in any situation from shorthanded to 3-on-3 play, as he is able to adapt his game every game, every time.

 

Tomi

Karhunen

95.06 %

 

Top Goaltender: Tomi Karhunen came to Tappara for this season from last year's Finnish champions Karpat. He had a lot of pressure on his shoulders, because Tappara's last goalie Juha Metsola had been excellent for few years in a row. Now Karhunen has shown his quality to his new team. He has been solid with his work every game that he played in the CHL group stage. Over 95 % save accuracy tells the story – Karhunen is capable to win games for any team he plays for. 

Closer look: Vitkovice Ostrava

(2-0-1-1, 7 points, 7:15, 2nd in Group I)

Vitkovice put themselves behind the eight-ball in Group I by dropping their first game at home to Adler Mannheim on a late power-play goal. After that they were very solid, however, taking 7 of a possible 9 points, including two big games on back-to-back nights on Game Days 5 and 6 –a 3–1 win on home ice to eliminate Neman Grodno, and then a hard-fought battle in Mannheim for top spot in the group, which resulted in a shootout loss. While not a flashy team and definitely the underdogs against Tappara, they play a disciplined defensive style which can be very frustrating to teams that try to open it up against them, which makes them the type of team that could conceivably score an upset.

Petr

Strapac

1+3, +2

 

Top Forward & CRAMO Top Scorer: Group I was defensive-minded, so the Ostrava-based team scored only 7 goals in 4 games. Their top scorer is Petr Strapac with 3 points – he collected all of them in the home game against Neman Grodno. It was also first game he played on the top line alongside experienced teammate Rostislav Olesz and Roman Szturc. Strapac, who missed almost entire last season because of knee injury, benefited from his two linemates, who played together last year.  

Tomas

Kudelka

0+0, +3

 

Top Defenceman: Because of the low-scoring games Vitkovice played in, none of their defencemen scored more than one point. Their most important defender is probably Tomas Kudelka, who didn’t score any points but leads the team with a +3 rating. He offers all the attributes that a modern defenceman needs – he has good size which helps him in physical play, but he is also great offensive defenceman with a hard shot. He plays in all situations, on the first power-play unit and penalty kill as well.

 

Pavel

Kantor

95.71 %

 

Top Goaltender: Pavel Kantor is a new face on the Vitkovice team, but he soon took the spot in net and started the season as no. 1 goalie. He played the first three group games and notched great numbers – 1.00 goals-against average and 95.71 save percentage. In the last game, backup Daniel Dolejs got a chance, and played well in a shootout loss. Kantor was magnificent especially in both games vs Neman Grodno. In Belarus he earned a shutout and in the home game allowed only 1 goal. 

 

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