Veterans EV Zug hold off Tappara Tampere at home and advance to the Quarter-Finals in a memorable 3-1 victory against a strong Tappara side. Just like in the first leg in Finland (3-3), they once again took an early lead but were able to hold onto it this time and see out the match right to the very end.

After a slow and steady first 10 minutes of the game it was Zug who broke the deadlock and gained a one goal advantage thanks to a powerful shot from the blue line from Dominik Schlumpf that was redirected into the back of the net by teammate Dario Simion. The remainder of the first period saw some intense high-paced hockey, but both Tappara’s Michael Garteig and Zug’s Luca Hollenstein protected their net at all costs and kept their nets empty for the whole period.

The second period started just where the action in the first ended and it didn’t take long for the second goal of the night to come – eight minutes in, Tappara’s Veli-Matti Vittasmäki was awarded a two minute holding penalty and Zug were offered their first powerplay of the night. As fate would have it, just 14 seconds later Gregory Hofmann found an opening of space in front of the net and propelled a powerful shot into the top left hand corner of the Tappara net giving the goalie no chance. Six minutes later – in a near identical powerplays situation, it was once again Gregory Hofmann who scored and added to his side’s increasing lead.

It was do or die for Tappara in the third period and they were attack minded from the get-go, but they seemed to lack confidence in the final third and all of their shots were saved by an amazing Hollenstein. But with only 10 minutes of the match to go, Tappara’s Charles Bertrand won the puck high up the ice and sprinted towards the opposition net with the Zug players in pursuit. After shaking them off and protecting the puck, Tappara’s top scorer was able to slide the puck into the back of the net to finally open his side’s scoring on the night. For a moment it looked like Tappara were still in the game, but with the clock relentlessly ticking away they were unable to turn the score around and just like they have in their previous five CHL seasons, they fail to make it past the Round of 16 once again. On the other hand EV Zug celebrate their first ever venture into the CHL Quarter-Finals.