He may not be a household name in Europe or even in his native United States, but John Laliberte has been a scoring machine in Europe in recent years and, following the group stage, is currently the leading scorer in the CHL. He spoke on the eve of ERC Ingolstadt's Round of 32 home game against Frolunda Gothenburg.

by Stefan Ried

INGOLSTADT – After six seasons in the German DEL, he has already scored 312 points in 361 games and furthermore, his amazing plus-minus rating of +104 shows that John Laliberte is not just a scorer, but also a hard worker and a team player. With him in their lineup the last three seasons, ERC Ingolstadt have had success – they won the league championship in 2014 and nearly repeated last season, reaching the finals for a second-straight year before falling to Adler Mannheim.

With four goals and six assists in the group stage, the 32-year-old American left winger is the current CRAMO Top Scorer in the Champions Hockey League. Together with his linemate Petr Taticek, who has nine points and is ranked second in points, they are two of the biggest reasons why Ingolstadt is one of the top-scoring teams in the CHL. On Tuesday, Laliberte and his Ingolstadt team will host another great offensive team, Frolunda Gothenburg, in the first leg of the Round of 32.

There is a funny story about your first arrival in Europe, can you tell us?

“Yes, that was a strange day. I arrived in Europe for the first time and my first team was Odense in the Danish league. I showed up in Copenhagen and nobody was there to pick me up. So I was sitting at Burger King for the whole day. It was a really weird welcome, but at that time I didn't know how long I would stay in Europe. It was a crazy start, but that's seven years ago now.”

Now, seven years later, you're the CRAMO Top Scorer of the Champions Hockey League. What does this mean to you?

“The puck was going in for us pretty well and I play with a couple good players. We had a few good wins in group stage and we look to continue.”

You play on a line with Petr Taticek. How does the cooperation with him work out?

“Very good. Petr is a good player, a fast guy and he can make very good plays. I look to read of him and make plays with him, because he's a really good disher.”

What does the team have to do to play a good game or even win against Frolunda Gothenburg?

“They obviously are a top team in Europe. We just try to keep our game simple, we can do this a little better. So our goal is to play nothing else but the way we like to play.”

In your opinion, how big are the chances for Ingolstadt to reach the next round?

“Who knows? We want to play some good games and want to grow as a team. There's no better way to do that but to play against such top teams. It's tough to tell who will reach the next round.”

Read more about the Round of 32 series between Frolunda Gothenburg and ERC Ingolstadt HERE.