EFC 2008 match news Day 1 & 2

9th October

UHC Dietlikon secured the 1st place in group A

321 spectators followed the home team´s performance in Eulachhallen and Dietlikon gave the home crowd what they were looking for.

HFK Dekanka scored the first goal, but Dietlikon controlled the match, not giving Dekanka the opportunity to win.

Five different scorers secured the 5-2 victory and 1st spot in the group A for Dietlikon.

The other semi-final spot from Women´s group A will be settled between Dekanka and Holmlia in tomorrow´s match starting at 13:00 CET.

Photo: Wilfried Hinz

Wiler Ersigon victory confirmed AIK´s 1st place in Men´s group A

Wiler Ersigen, took their first victory in the Men´s tournament as they defeated Latvijas Avize with clear numbers 13-2. Especially Lassi Vänttinen (4+3) and Roger Gerber (3+4) were effective tonight.

The Wiler Ersigen victory over Latvijas Avize secured the 1st place in group A for AIK.

The second semi-final spot will be decided in tomorrow´s late match between Tatran Stresovice and Wiler Ersigen starting at 19:30 CET.

Photo: Wilfried Hinz

Warberg IC-85 into the EFC semi-finals

Tapanilan Erä started spirited in the match versus Warberg IC and led with two goals before Magnus Svensson started his show and secured a semi-final spot for Warberg. Also SSV from group B, will play in the semis.

Lauri Kapanen and Rein Kivi scored two goals each within 20 seconds after 17 minutes of play. In the second period Warberg was pressuring, but Erä did a good job in blocking the shots.

Magnus Svensson´s show begun in 44.56 and continued in 52.30 and 52.59, as he did what he knows best, positioning himself in front of the opponents goal and putting the balls accurately into the net. Despite the fact that Svensson´s skills are well known for the Finnish teams, Erä did not manage to cover him in front of the goal. Svensson scored three identical goals in a row taking Warberg IC-85 into a 3-2 lead.

As Erä was pressuring, Martin Emanuelsson utilized his quickness and could break free, increasing Warberg´s lead to 4-2. During Warberg´s penalty in 59.13 Jani Helenius scored, giving new hope for Erä, but the shots did not find the net and Erä is out from the semi-finals.

Warberg and SSV will play for the 1st place in group B tomorrow at 16:30

The reigning Swedish Women´s champion defeated the Finnish champion

Katriina Saarinen could celebrate Classic´s 1-0 early lead for 12 minutes, then Classic´s black moment started in the 2nd period as IKSU scored three goals within two minutes. The Swedish champion IKSU outplayed the Finnish champion with 5-1. Go to the game statistics.

Photo: Wilfried Hinz

Tatran Stresovice almost surprised AIK IBF

AIK continues without any loss of points although the Czech champion, Tatran Stresovice, nearly surpried the reigning champion. Also Balrog remains undefeated in the Women´s EFC as they won with 8-3 over team Rubene.

Team Tatran played well against the reigning EFC champion AIK; AIK still leading 1-0 after 20 minutes. Tatran received some help in scoring after AIK´s own goal in 21.55, but only five minutes later Niklas Jihde and Alexander Egebrant took the favourites into a two goal lead.

Tatran managed to equalise the score once more, but in 56.50 Kim Nilsson scored the match winning 3-2 goal for AIK.

Balrog´s Emelie Lindström (5+3) and Hermine Dahlerus (4+3) are the current scoring leaders of the women´s tournament as both increased their points with three in today´s match versus Rubene. Balrog´s last group match is going to be exciting, as they will play against the Finnish champion SC Classic tomorrow at 16:00 CET.

Photo: Wilfried Hinz

Sarpsborg IBK challenged SSV Helsinki for 40 minutes

The Norwegian champion, Sarpsborg IBK, played versus SSV in the Men´s morning match. The score was 2-2 after 40 minutes, but SSV increased their game speed during the last period and secured their second EFC victory with 7-2.

Sarpsborg was leading the match 1-0 after the 1st period after a goal scored by Klas Nordin, but Peik Salminen and Mikael Järvi took SSV to the lead for the first time in the second period. Then the SSV mistakes in the own zone and bad passing game, gave Sarpsborg the opportunity to equal the score; 3-3 after two periods.

The line-up changes and the fresh SSV players lifted the tempo of the Finnish team in the final period and Juho Järvinen settled the match by scoring a hat trick for SSV during the last seven minutes. SSV will play their last group match tomorrow at 16:30 CET against one of the favourite teams, Warberg IC.

Record amount of goals in the Holmlia – Outlaws match

Holmlia seemed to have settled the match already in the beginning of the second period as they led the match with 6-3 already.

Outlaws still came back into the game during the final period as they evened the score to 6-6. The Norwegian team, especially Lina Collberg (5+0), proved to be slightly stronger than the Danish team today and took the first victory in the tournament with 10-8.

8th October

SSV and AIK victorious in the Men´s top matches

Wiler Ersigen proved to be a tough opponent for the reigning champion, AIK, in today´s evening match. AIK could however settle the match in the last period to 6-3, the last goal being an empty net goal. There were 1078 spectators following the match in Eulachhallen.

The reigning Finnish champion, SSV Helsinki, played versus their home town opponents, Tapanilan Erä, in their first EFC match. SSV won the match with clear numbers 8-2.

Team SSV´s counter attacks were successful today and took them to a 2-0 lead in the first period. The two goal difference (3-1 and 4-2) was as close as Erä could get, and SSV won the match with 8-2. The match report is found here.

Patrick Mendelin was a hot player in the start for Wiler, as he pleased the home crowd by scoring two goals of Wiler´s three during the first 20 minutes. Wiler was still leading with 3-2 when going into the 2nd period, but then Niklas Jihde, who was awarded as AIK´s best player, scored the 3-3 equaliser and AIK took the command.

AIK utilized their opportunities much better during the last minutes and after two goals scored by Kristoffer Kranberg, the last one being an empty net goal, the final score was 6-3 for AIK. The match report is found here.

Here are the other first day results:

Sarpsborg IBK – Warberg IC 5-14
Latvijas Avize – Tatran Stresovice 0-8

Photo: Markus Jauss

Balrog won the top match in the Women´s EFC

Emelie Lindström secured the first victory for her team, Balrog, in the all Swedish top match where Balrog played versus IKSU.

Hermine Dahlerus played strong in the first period and took Balrog to a 2-0 lead. Then Emelie Lindström´s show begun as she scored four goals in a row for and was crowned as the best player in the match, which Balrog won with 6-2.