Switzerland are celebrating their first club triumph in the current format of the Champions Hockey League after Genève-Servette defeated Sweden’s Skellefteå 3-2 on Tuesday.
Genève-Servette had a sold-out arena behind them and the white-hot atmosphere roared them on to an energetic start. Just over five minutes in, Genève made that pressure count when Eliot Berthon collected the puck and put a back-hand shot past Linus Söderström to open the scoring.
It looked like Skellefteå would be in even more trouble two minutes later when Oskar Nilsson was sent to the penalty box on a tripping call; however, a spirited penalty kill seemed to wake the Swedish team up and they got back into the game on 11:35 when Martins Dzierkals fired a perfect shot past Jussi Olkinuora.
The good work by Skellefteå was then undone by a tripping call on Oscar Lindberg. Genève took advantage of the experimental powerplay rules in the CHL by scoring twice, first through Sakari Manninen on a cleverly designed play and then through former NHL player Daniel Winnik, who parked himself in front of the crease and tipped home a shot by Tim Berni.
The tone of the game changed in the Second Period as both teams increased their physicality. Skellefteå had an early chance to get back into it when Winnik was sent to the penalty box, but the Swedish team struggled to set up any prime scoring opportunities and that was a theme that continued throughout the period.
Genève have been strong defensively throughout their CHL campaign and they frustrated their opponents in the Final by breaking up the play and clearing a lane for experienced goalie Olkinuora to get a clear look at any shots Skellefteå were able to put on net.
The Swiss team almost shot themselves in the foot when they took a blatant ‘too-many-men’ penalty towards the end of the 2nd Period and Skellefteå did begin to put their hosts under pressure with the man advantage. They were unable to make a breakthrough, though. It summed up their luck that the one time they did get a good screen in front of Olkinuora resulted in Linus Lindström blocking teammate Max Lindholm’s shot rather than it finding a way through.
Skellefteå came out for the Third Period intent on turning the game around. Despite their best efforts, the game remained at 3-1 until Anton Heikkinen was able to break Genève’s resistance after eight minutes with an excellent wrist shot to bring them to within one goal.
With just over three minutes to go, the experienced Valtteri Filppula committed the cardinal sin of giving away a penalty for a trip deep in the offensive zone. The two minutes he spent in the penalty box must have felt more like two hours, but his teammates bailed him out with some committed blocks and Genève were able to hold on to claim the ultimate prize in European club hockey.
Skellefteå will be disappointed to narrowly fall short, particularly as their power play unit, that has been so potent in the Swedish Hockey League, continued its CHL struggles by going 0-for-3 in the Final. They will now focus on using this disappointment to fuel their tilt at the SHL championship.
As for Genève-Servette, their defence of their Swiss National League crown has not gone to plan so far, with the team sitting in 8th position; however, that hardly seemed to matter as they lifted the CHL Trophy in front of a jubilant home crowd.
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[…] not how it turned out, though, as noted in my game report from the Final. Switzerland’s Genève-Servette were worthy winners on the night in a 3-2 victory and Sweden […]