Yesterday we featured a player from the winning side of the 2014-15 CHL Final: Christian Jaros of Lulea Hockey. Today we have a player from the other team in that game, Mathis Olimb. The MVP and Top Scorer of the CHL's first season, Olimb is now headed to Linkoping HC, where he will play with brother Ken Andre.

by Vojtech Martinek

MOSCOW – Mathis Olimb was the Cramo Top Scorer and NordicBet MVP of the 2014–15 Champions Hockey League season. That year he had 26 points in 13 CHL contests as his Frolunda Gothenburg club reached the Final, only to fall 4–2 to Lulea Hockey. Later that season, Frolunda lost in the Swedish Hockey League Semi-Finals.

“I’m so proud for this award,” Olimb said after receiving the MVP award. “It’s the biggest individual award of my hockey career. Considering the competition of the tournament, I feel even more honoured that the jury picked me as the MVP. It must have been a tough choice.” 

Olimb split this past season between Jokerit Helsinki of the KHL and the Kloten Flyers of the Swiss NLA, but he recently agreed to a two-year contract with Linkoping HC, meaning the 30-year-old centre from Oslo is returning to Sweden and to the CHL. It also means that he will play on the same team as brother Ken Andre Olimb for the first time in their professional careers. 

The Olimb brothers are currently playing for Norway at the IIHF World Championship in Russia. For Mathis, this is his eighth World Championship. The Norwegians got off to a tough start by losing 3–0 to Scandinavian rivals Denmark in their first game, but the Olimbs sparked the offence against Switzerland, assisting on each other's goals in the first two periods. Mathis then assisted on Andreas Martinsen's overtime-winner.

Mathis spoke briefly after the win against Switzerland.

How would you rate your team’s performance so far at the tournament?

“I think we’ve been playing good hockey, but we only have two points after two games. That means we still need to win some games and we just have to keep playing the game we do.”

Your last game was against Switzerland. What were your takeaways from that one?

“We showed great team morale and effort when we got the overtime win. I think that is something we can definitely build off of.”

Speaking of Switzerland, you spent a large part of the past season playing in Kloten. Your team got eliminated by Davos in the quarter-finals. do you think you could’ve achieved much more than that?

“No, I don’t think so. We lost 4–0 and really had no chance of advancing to the semi-finals. I think making the playoffs was a success for the team in Kloten in itself.” 

Now you're going to Linkoping, where you’ll play on the same team as your brother. In the game against Switzerland, it looked like you enjoy playing together. 

“Definitely. We’ve got great chemistry and think alike, so hopefully it will be a good season in Linkoping.”

Lastly, playing in Linkoping means you’ll play again in the CHL, where you had a lot of success when you played for Frolunda. Are you looking forward to that?

“Yeah, for sure. I believe that it’s a great tournament and it’s always fun to meet teams outside of the country you’re playing in. I’m looking forward to it.”

Linkoping will compete in Group K with JYP Jyvaskyla and the Gap Rapaces.

Click HERE to read our feature on the Olimb brothers at last year's World Championship.