Luleå Hockey -  Champions Hockey League Winners 2015 Europamästare

Team Roster

Johan Forsberg, Dean Kukan , Jan Sandström, Jonathan Granström, Marcus Fagerudd, Peter Cehlárik, Karl Fabricius, Kristian Näkyvä, Cam Abbott, Lucas Wallmark, Joel Lassinantti, Daniel Zaar, Emil Sylvegård, Daniel Larsson, Christian Jaros, Per Savilahti-Nagander, Robin Jonsson, Chris Abbott, Lennart Petrell, Per Ledin, Niklas Fogström, Lars Bryggman

Coach - Joakim Fagervall

General Manager - Lars Bergström

There were 44 teams when the tournament started, but in the end it was 2 of the best Swedish teams that would face off for the Champions Hockey League championship

Luleå Hockeyförening vs Frölunda HC.

LULEA – It was like two different games. For two periods Frolunda Gothenburg looked unbeatable and Lulea Hockey just hanging on. In the third period, though, their power play brought them to life – they scored three times a man up and won the Champions Hockey League with a 4–2 victory.

"That's been our story through the playoffs of the Champions League," captain Chris Abbott said afterward, alluding to his team's miraculous five-goal comeback in the eighth-final in Salzburg. "Down by two goals heading into the third period but we found a way to get it done. I can't say enough about the fans here in the arena."

The crowd was buzzing right from the start, but it was visiting Frolunda who exploded out of the gate, scoring after only 17 seconds when captain Joel Lundqvist converted a rebound from a weak-angle shot from Artturi Lehkonen.

"Obviously that's not the start we wanted to have, but it was a fluke goal," said Abbott, whose line started the game. "The shot went off my stick so the puck went off Joel (Lassinantti) and right out in front."

They made it 2–0 in the 13th minute when the CHL's top two scorers by a country mile teamed up again – Andreas Johnsson with the shot and Mathis Olimb with the goal on the rebound. It was the 26th point for tournament MVP Olimb and the 25th for Johnsson, but it was the last either of them would get. In fact, it was Frolunda's last goal of the tournament. 

"It was a great atmosphere in the locker room and a great harmony in the squad before the game and it felt like all of us were truly focused and pumped, and that showed in the first two periods," described Frolunda forward Erik Karlsson. 

Despite a 10–4 shots edge in the first period and a 12–8 advantage in the second period, Frolunda could not increase their lead, despite several odd-man chances. Lehkonen had two brilliant chances, getting stopped by Lassinantti on a breakaway and later hitting the goalpost on a shot through a crowd.

"They got a couple of power plays there and they were really trying to score, but we got some lucky bounces." Lassinanti remembered. "If they had scored there and made it 3–0, it could have killed the game."

But the game remained 2–0 after 40 minutes, although it didn't seem like Lulea was getting the chances. In the third period they did.

"I think everybody to a man was pissed off, but we knew we were still in it and had 20 minutes to turn it around," Abbott said confidently. "We never doubted ourselves for a minute."

"I thought that we played really well in the two first periods, especially in our defensive zone where they couldn't capitalize," said Frolunda defenceman Elias Falth. "We're really satisfied with those two periods and of course we should have been able to play just as well in the third, and I don't really think we played that bad in the 5-on-5 situations.

"Games usually go up-and-down a bit and when they got their first goal in the third period they continued to go hard offensivly and they scored a couple of goals late."

After not getting much going on their first three power plays of the game, it took just six seconds to convert on their fourth. Cam Abbott won the draw back to Kristian Nakyva, and the Finnish defenceman's blast from the point fooled Linus Fernstrom to get Lulea on the board. 

"It touched the goalie a little bit and dropped in," Nakyva described. "We were just trying to get shots through to the net."

With still 12:17 to play, they were within a goal. Then came the turning point of the game. With play in the corner, Oscar Fantenburg swung his arm and hammered Karl Fabricius in the head with an elbow. Fabricius went down and Fantenburg was sent to the showers with a major penalty and game misconduct. 

Once again, it didn't take long for Lulea to strike. This time it was Peter Cehlarik's quick shot from an the right face-off circle, which squirted through the pads of Fernstrom and across the line just 16 seconds after the faceoff.

"Our power play hadn't worked the whole game but it came alive at the right time," Cehlarik said. "It was a good cross-ice pass from our defenceman (Marcus Faggerud) and I just tried to one-time it. Luckily it went in."

The fans inside the arena went mad and we had a brand new game and 2–2. And Lulea weren't finished. 

With the major penalty to Fantenburg still in effect, Johan Forsberg deflected a shot from Jan Sandstrom into Fernstrom's pads and the puck barely had enough momentum to slide across the goal line for the go-ahead goal. 

There was still 6:54 to play but momentum was all on Lulea's side by now. Frolunda never generated much of an attack after that – they only had five shots in the whole third period to Lulea's 13, and young Swiss defenceman Dean Kukan salted the victory with an empty-net goal with 1:24 on the clock.

"That was great," Lassinantti recalled with a smile on his face. "The whole audience here was perfect and we really enjoyed it."

The fans counted away the seconds after that as Lulea became the the first winners of the brand-new European Trophy, emblematic of CHL champions. However, the season is of course not finished for either team, as they look toward the SHL playoffs.

"This loss leaves a bad taste in our mouths but I think all of us will turn this into a positive and let it motivate us – that is a thing we definitely should build upon," said Falth. "We always want to win when we play and this will just add fuel to the fire and make us more pumped for the final race of the Swedish Hockey League. We are a tight team and this will just bring us closer together."

The domestic season hasn't been a memorable one for Lulea so far, but this might give them the lift they need at a crucial time.

"This really gives us a lot of confidence heading into the last few games of the regular season," Abbott summed up. "We beat a couple of the best teams in our league to get here – first Skelleftea and now Frolunda, so we know we can beat anybody. So yeah, we've got some big games coming up, but first we're going to enjoy this one for the next couple of days."

Article by Derek O'Brien at http://www.championshockeyleague.net/

were 44 teams when the tournament started, but these two were outstanding and as expected, the final game was a thriller in the end.There were 44 teams when the tournament started, but these two were outstanding and as expected, the final game was a thriller in the end.