Everything went right on home ice for EV Zug, who clawed back from a 3-1 loss in their Quarter-Finals First Game to win their series against Lukko Rauma, taking their fifth win of the Champions Hockey League season.

The Swiss side's Leonardo Genoni played brilliantly, securing his second shutout of the competition and helping his team to the next leg of the 2025/26 campaign. For their part, Luleå Hockey played spoiler to Ilves Tampere's otherwise perfect run as they handed the Finnish side their only two defeats of the season and confidently won the two-game series 6-2 on aggregate.

Ilves came into the series undefeated, but an all-around effort from Luleå proved to be too much for their Finnish foes as the Swedes put tremendous pressure on their opponents' netminder, peppering the backstop with 39 shots in their first meeting, with three shots eventually finding twine.

Up front, Mathias Bromé was busy for Luleå, snatching one goal and one assist in the First Game and another helper in the Return Game fixture. The 31-year-old currently leads the forward corps. in points with two goals and eight assists through ten games played. Having him manufacture chances up ice will only help the Swedes' chances of taking down a dominant defensive squad in Zug.

Zug found themselves in a two-goal hole to close out their First Game against Lukko, but a bounce-back performance in the Return Game saw them sweep three tallies into the net in a contest that was capped off by Genoni's efforts between the pipes.

The Swiss have the scoring power; they are currently tied for sixth league-wide in scoring with 3.20 Goals For per game. Having this along with a stable presence in net should give the Swiss all the confidence they need heading into this Semi-Finals series. Add to it the fact that they were victorious against Luleå on Game Day 1 and you have a team that has what it takes to go all the way.