With the CHL Final in their sights, Frolunda Gothenburg and Sparta Prague are also in tight battles for positioning near the top of their domestic leagues as well. While Frolunda have seen their once large lead atop the SHL evaporate, Sparta are closing the gap between themselves and the Extraliga leaders.

by Derek O'Brien

Frolunda entered the week losers of five of their previous seven games and had been overtaken by the Vaxjo Lakers for first place in the Swedish Hockey League. With the Lakers a point up, the two teams met in a huge game in Vaxjo on Thursday night. Thanks to two goals from Casey Wellman, Frolunda led 2-1 after two periods, but the Lakers tied it in the third period and won in a shootout, which increased their lead over the Indians to two points.

On Sunday afternoon, the Indians were back home and hosting Farjestad Karlstad. In a dominant effort, they outshot Farjestad 35-18, but Stefan Steen was brilliant in goal. Thanks to Robin Figren, Frolunda took a 1-0 lead into the third period, but Johan Gustafsson was beaten three times on six third-period shots. A late power-play goal by Patrik Carlsson brought Frolunda within one, but they came no closer and lost 3-2.

“We owned this game in every category except one. Unfortunately, Farjestad won the stat that decides who wins and loses,” Frolunda coach Roger Ronnberg commented. “It was like so many of our games since Christmas. We play well and are in control, but we just can't get that goal at the key time to put teams away. On the one hand, it's obviously frustrating, but at the same time I am very calm because we have so many good players on our team and it's only a matter of time before we find ways to score again. These things go in waves.” 

But will the tide change in time for Tuesday's CHL Final?

Sparta, meanwhile, began the week having won seven of their previous nine games, and had leap-frogged a compact group of teams into third place in the Extraliga. On Tuesday, they won a big game in Hradec Kralove 2-1 over fourth-placed Mountfield, with Brian Ihnacak netting the game-winner early in the third period.

On Friday night, they hosted 12th-placed HC Olomouc at O2 Arena. Despite two points each from the top line of Jaroslav Hlinka, Petr Vrana and Michal Repik, they lost 4-2 to end their winning streak at three.

“Teams that play more of an up-and-down game we have less trouble with,” said Repik, trying to explain why his team has more success against better teams. “We’ve been playing pretty well. We just have some problems against these types of teams that sit back and play defence, and we need to find a way to beat them.”

On Sunday against Pirati Chomutov, Sparta carried a 2-0 lead into the third period, but gave up two goals and ended up winning in overtime, when Lukas Pech, the team's top scorer in the CHL, scored on a penalty shot after Chomutov goalie Jan Laco was accused of intentionally dislodging the net. 

That result puts Sparta back in the win column, as they head to Sweden on a high. Will having the better momentum of the two teams help them to victory in the CHL Final?