Of the eight teams remaining in the 2022/23 season of the Champions Hockey League season, no team is in a better position to advance to the Semi-Finals than Luleå Hockey. While the other three Quarter-Final matchups are all either level or with a one-goal difference on aggregate score, Luleå have a four-goal lead over Jukurit Mikkeli following last week’s 5-1 home-ice win.

In that victory, Canadian forward Brendan Shinnimin scored once early in the first and again early in the second to put Luleå up by two. In the third period, they broke it open with three straight goals to take a five-goal lead before Joni Jurmo got Jukurit on the board with a late goal. Will that goal end up meaning something? If it does, Jukurit will have to come up with a huge performance on home ice.

They will have to have an answer for Luleå’s strong offence, as the team from northern Sweden didn’t just have a big advantage on the scoreboard but also in terms of possession and had a 33-15 advantage in shots on goal. They will also have to stay out of the penalty box, taking 56 minutes compared to jsut four for Luleå, largely due to two major penalties and game misconducts against Jukurit in the First Game. In fact, Luleå only scored one powerplay goal on five attempts, but all of those minutes took valuable time off the clock.

However, it’s not impossible, and nobody knows that more than Luleå, who are one of two teams to overcome a five-goal aggregate deficit – they came back to beat Red Bull Salzburg in the Round of 16 back in 2014/15, the year they won the European Trophy, the Champions Hockey League's ultimate prize.

Since last week’s First Game, both teams have split their two domestic league games. In Finland’s Liiga, Jukurit beat IFK Helsinki 2-1 and then lost 5-4 in overtime to Ilves Tampere. Meanwhile, in two Swedish Hockey League games, Luleå lost 3-1 to Leksand IK and beat the Malmö Redhawks 4-0.