Just one game in the Champions Hockey League on Wednesday night and it's an all-Nordic affair, as TPS Turku of Finland hosts Lorenskog IK of Norway. Follow it in Gamecentre at 18:00 CET, 19:00 EET.
Lorenskog's Champions Hockey League debut saw a real gusty effort in Liberec – the team trailed twice to the Czech side with the final tying goal coming with just seconds left on the clock. Despite the overtime loss it was more case of a point gained for the Norwegians, who play their final road game in Turku tonight.
TPS, on the other hand, only begin their CHL schedule tonight – one of only three teams yet to hit the ice. Having made the Round of 16 in their first season, then the Quarter-Finals last time around, the Turku-based squad has their eyes on going one, if not two, steps further this season.
“We have pretty clear in our minds that we are going all in. We want to win this thing," said Henrik Tallinder before the season began. "Some other teams might not take this as seriously as we do but we gonna try to win this." Ahead of the visit from Lorenskog, head coach Ari-Pekka Selin added, "The CHL has shown the increased quality of hockey across Europe. We want to get a good start and play a good game in front of our home crowd."
"We had a fantastic start and are very happy to have earned a point in a tough game against Liberec. The boys battled hard, and we know we will have to do the same in Turku tonight," commented Lorenskog head coach Kenneth Larsen. "It will be a new big test for our team, but if we play smart and work our asses off, I think we can surprise again."
His side will add ex-NHLer Jason Krog to its lineup tonight.