Norwegian Tunet IBK and Estonian SK Link/Saku played a tough match against each other in the first men’s match of the EFC 2016 tournament. Link/Saku got the important two points by playing a solid defensive game.

Tunet IBK-SK LINK/Saku 6-9 (1-3, 1-3, 4-3)

Tunet possessed the ball more in the first period. They also scored the first goal of the game by Martin Kjellemar. The Estonian team SK Link/Saku stroke back only a minute later, when Ats Tamme put the ball to Tunet’s net. Link/Saku was more effective in their scoring chances and Kristjan Puu scored twice before the end of the period. Despite good opportunities, Tunet was unable to score more in the first period.

Tunet decreased the score to 3-2 in the start of the second period on powerplay, but after that Link/Saku did their job very well. They defended low and threw long balls to their forwards. In the middle of the period it started to be effective since Mikael Toivonen scored twice after a fast long pass up. Before the end of the period Rainer Komi extended Link/Saku’s lead already to 6-2.

The third period started with Tunet scoring the first goal again. That happiness didn’t last long for the Norwegian side since Mats Tamme scored 7-3 with a nice penalty shot. Henrik Fredriksen decreased the score to 7-4, but after that Mikael Toivonen and Kristjan Puu finished their hat tricks. Link/Saku’s lead was too strong for Tunet to catch even though Martin Kjellemar and Ole Mossin Olesen gave a little hope with their goals at the end of the game. Total score was 9-6 for Link/Saku.

EFC2016 webpage: http://efc2016.de/en