It’s not exactly new ground for the Frölunda Indians as they gear up for another Semi-Final matchup in the Champions Hockey League. Frölunda have been here many times before in their previous CHL journeys that has seen them pick up three titles, and they’ve made four out of five finals.
This time, they’ll be looking to make it a fifth finals appearance, and a chance to defend their third title that they secured in a victory over Red Bull Munich last year.
Things didn’t really start on the right foot for the reigning champions however, they suffered two straight losses on home ice to start their campaign.
First up was a shootout loss at the hands of CHL debutants the Graz99ers of Austria, in what was a high scoring game that saw Graz edge Frölunda in a 6-5 final score, and then just days later it was another home defeat this time against Mountfield HK of the Czech Republic who held on for a 3-2 win despite some late pressure by Frölunda that saw them pull back to within one inside the last five minutes.
From there though, it’s more or less been business as usual for the team.
They turned home defeat into road success, beating both Graz and Mountfield in the return legs in 5-1 and 4-3 score lines, and then after a break to start their domestic campaign, they enjoyed themselves against the Cardiff Devils, posting back-to-back 9-2 victories against the Welsh club to secure their place in the 2019/20 Champions Hockey League Playoffs.
Much like the start of the Group Stage, it was a worrying start to the playoffs for the reigning champions. As they were drawn against Färjestad Karlstad, they suffered a tough defeat in the first leg away from home as Färjestad took a commanding 6-3 lead into the second leg, but as the tie shifted back to Gothenburg, where Frölunda had struggled early in the Group Stage, they managed to pull out just the type of performance they needed.
Trailing by three, Frölunda’s championship mentality shone through scoring early and often as Nicklas Lasu scored a hat trick, and five of his teammates also getting on the score sheet in a big 8-2 victory to send them through to the next round and surviving an initial scare.
From there, it was a meeting with EHC Biel-Bienne from Switzerland, who had proven to be one of the most difficult teams to score against in the competition, and they stayed true in the first leg, surrendering just two goals on a staggered 52 shots overall, and scoring three of their own to take a one goal lead into the second leg, but again, despite being down, Frölunda found a way.
Biel continued to impress in the second leg, where the teams traded chances and goals, and with time winding down it looked more and more like that Frölunda were about to bow out, but two goals in 19 seconds late in the third period to give them a 4-3 lead on the night, tying things up on aggregate was enough to force overtime, where Patrik Carlsson was the hero, scoring on the powerplay in the extra session to book Frölunda’s spot in another CHL Semi-Final, where it’s a meeting between two former champions as they take on Luleå Hockey.