Vítkovice Ostrava, Tappara Tampere and Ocelari Trinec all won decisively on home ice in early CHL action. Meanwhile it Josh Soares of the Stavanger Oilers who scored the league's first goal in Tampere, and Sparta Prague won the first shootout game in Kuopio.
Staff Writers
They were the first four games in the Champions Hockey League, so we saw a lot of firsts. Vitkovice Ostrava-ERC Ingolstadt as the first game to start and finish, and therefore Vitkovice got the first win. Josh Soares of the Stavanger Oilers scored the first goal but his team fell 7-3 to Tappara Tampere. Ocelari Trinec beat SC Bern 7-0 on home ice and Simon Hrubec recorded the first shutout. And Sparta Prague and KalPa Kuopio played the first overtime and shootout. Sparta won, to earn the CHL's first road victory.
KalPa Kuopio 4-5 Sparta Prague (SO)
The Champions Hockey League had its first overtime and shootout after a game where KalPa took a 2-0 lead in the second period, then two more one-goal leads in the third, but Sparta came back to tie the score three times. Juuso Riikola had a goal and an assist for KalPa and Robert Sabolic did likewise for Sparta during regulation time, then scored the shootout winner.
"In first period we played really bad, but in second we improved our skating and played a lot better," said Sparta coach Josef Jandac. "I think that 4-4 was right result after 60 minutes and in the shootout we were a bit luckier. We have some problems with injuries and some guys played their first game. It was really hard game for them."
"Sparta's first goal was a big turning point for this game," said KalPa coach Pekka Virta, speaking about Sabolic's goal that came seven seconds into the second period. "We had good first period, but in the second period we were frozen after Sparta's quick goal. There were a lot of good things in our game, but I'm not happy with the result. We let too many soft goals in our end."
Ocelari Trinec 7-0 SC Bern
Zbynek Irgl and Jiri Polansky both figured in on Ocelari Trinec's first three goals, as they crushed SC Bern 7-0 on home ice in their brand-new Werk Arena. Hrubec made 35 saves to record the CHL's first shutout.
"We didn't expect this result. It was a first game in Champions Hockey League and I don't think that the next game will be the same as this one," said Polansky, who was Trinec's player of the game. "We had a lot of chances, I even didn't expect there would be so many. On the other hand, I have to compliment Simon Hrubec for his performance. He stopped a lot of goals and if Bern managed to score one or two times, then the game would have looked different."
"We didn't play well, they were very fast on the transition," said Bern coach Guy Boucher. "I am surprised by seven goals and by how we showed up. But I'm not surprised that Trinec is a good team. We knew it. We need to be better in the next games, that's for sure.“
Tappara Tampere 7-3 Stavanger Oilers
Josh Soares scored the first Champions Hockey League goal at 4:51 of the first period, and when his second goal of the game put the upstarts from Norway up 3-0 before the eight-minute mark, it looked like it might be an upset. But Tappara Tampere got one back in the first, then exploded for four goals in the second and two more in the third to win 7-3. Jan-Mikael Jarvinen and defenceman David Kolomatis had 3 points each for the winners.
"In the beginning it might have been so that the opponent was a bit fresher as we just had a rough training period," said Tappara coach Jussi Tapola, explaining his team's slow start. "It helped us though to be able to play until the end. There was also some nervousness in the beginning but I had sensed a good charge in the team in the morning ice and during the day. When we got that out with our energy, we were able to get the elements to our game that we want to."
"We played against a good team but it isn’t good to give up seven goals to your opponent," said Stavanger coach Petter Thoresen. "We of course didn’t like what we did in the last two periods. We used the stick too much and took too many penalties. Tappara is too good a team to be shorthanded against."
Vítkovice Ostrava 5-1 ERC Ingolstadt
In the first CHL game to start, as well as the first one to end, Vitkovice Ostrava defeated German champion ERC Ingolstadt 5-1. After a scoreless first period, Vitkovice outscored Ingolstadt 2-1 in the second period, then added three more goals in the third to cruise to victory on home ice. Patrik Zdrahal led the offence with 2 goals and 1 assist.