A lot of people were curioius as to what to expect from the Nottingham Panthers against Champions Hockey League opposition. As Aaron Gagnon and Lukko Rauma found out, they won't go down without a fight.
by Jon Rowson
NOTTINGHAM - Finnish Liiga bronze medallists Lukko Rauma opened their Champions Hockey League season with a hard-fought 4-2 win over the Nottingham Panthers at the National Ice Centre. The home side rallied back after Lukko took a 2-0 lead in the first period, but eventually goals by Jerry Ahtola and Aaron Gagnon sealed the three points for the Finnish side, who now travel to Germany to face the Hamburg Freezers on Sunday.
Aaron Gagnon scored the fourth Lukko goal on the power play, and the former Phoenix Coyotes draft pick who played 38 games in the NHL spoke to Championshockeyleague.net following the game.
Gagnon, now 28 years of age, switched from the North American minor circuit to Europe last season, and firmly established himself on Lukko’s top line after starting the 2013-14 with fellow CHL club HV71 Jönköping. The Canadian forward struck up a lethal partnership with forwards Ville Vahalahti and Jesper Piitulainen, which helped Gagnon score 50 points in 63 games for Lukko as they made it to the Liiga semi-finals.
Were Nottingham a tougher test than you were expecting?
We knew it was going to be different. Playing in a bigger rink and a team and style we’ve never seen before. It was good, it was a fun game and we’re glad to get the win.
Coming into the game, did you know much about your British opposition?
Well I knew a few guys that played in this league and looking at their roster I knew a few of the players who I’d played against in the AHL and in juniors. There’s some good players out there. We have to give them credit, they played well.
Lukko looked sharp in the first period but things unravelled in the second. Were there any nerves on the bench?
I think we got a little frustrated. We came out strong and we had a lot more chances to score but when they don’t go your way sometimes you let up. Give them credit, they worked hard and scored a couple of goals but that’s when you’ve got to believe in yourself and we were able to get a few more.
Was that the same on the power play? Just believing in the systems and it eventually paid off with your [Lukko’s fourth] goal . . .
I think so. No matter who you’re playing, we’re all starting the season and trying to work on our own team. We just stuck to what works and we were lucky to bang one home.
Looking at Lukko, they’ve strengthened considerably whilst keeping the top line of yourself, Ville Vahalahti and Jesper Piitulainen, how important is this for the CHL campaign?
We want to work on our game and we are using these games to find our team identity, but at the same time, you want to win games and this gives us a great opportunity to play teams that want to win. They’re far more intense games and far more useful than other exhibition games that would mean nothing.
What can Lukko take forward from the game against the Panthers?
I think there’s some things we still need to work on. We got sloppy in the middle of the game and they took control of the game. It’s tough as now we’re travelling to Germany and playing a whole new team with a whole new system, but it just comes back to us just sticking to our game and working on the things that are going to work for us.