Gothenburg. Arch-rivals Färjestad and Frölunda meet in a best-of-seven match in the SC quarter-finals.
After they met in the final round of the regular season, pucks from both sides began to splatter.
– Oh-oh-oh. Are they attracting a crowded yard? Says Frölunda defender Christian Follen.
Färjestad beat Frölunda 2-0 to a sold-out Scandinavian countries in the final round of the SHL.
Afterwards, some of Färjestad’s players and managers went to a nearby pizzeria to treat themselves to something extra in the form of takeaway pizza for the bus trip to Karlstad.
The symbolism was great when they carried stacks of pizza boxes onto the bus as the Frölunda players passed by.
– There is nothing better than this. Now let’s recline the seats and have a good time. It’s a week until we play again. Now we take the weekend. We will enjoy the evening and the weekend, says Victor Edsel, Färjestad Centre.
“Fans vs. Fans”
Third in the table, Färjestad will face sixth place in the table Frölunda in the quarter-finals.
This could be the first of a total of eight consecutive matches between the two top rivals.
– There is a lot of history between clubs. There is always good pressure. It’s the funniest meeting we could have had. There will be a lot of speed and passion, and that’s exactly what you want in a playoff game. There will be fans against fans, says Victor Eggel, too.
“Looking forward to more”
Both coaches were also aware that it was going to be a special game series.
– We wanted to finish sixth and end up in the winner’s hole, just like Färjestad last season. It will be an incredibly exciting quarter-final match. It’s something I’m looking forward to more of, says Roger Runeberg in Froland.
We put ourselves in a good position with a third place in the regular season, after a lot of injury concerns all year. Now it was about Frölunda and we don’t go into the quarter-finals thinking we’re going to lose, but rather we go for the win,” says Thomas Mittel in Färjestad.
Thanks HV71
Before the final round, Frölunda could finish anywhere from fourth to seventh.
– There’s 52 rounds and then only a few separate targets where we’ll end up, we’re talking about small margins. We have the HV71 to thank for the quarter-final spot. The win away to Oskarshamn was solid, says Frolunda center Niklas Laso.
If Frölunda beat Färjestad, it would have had Örebro in the quarter.
– The door was open for us to face Orebro instead. Those of us who have been around for a long time know that it doesn’t matter who you meet, the times I’ve won, I would say the quarter-finals have sometimes been tougher than the final. All teams must be defeated, says Niklas Laso.
For him, facing Färjestad will be a new experience at this stage of the season.
– For my part, it would be very interesting to face Färjestad. It will be tough. I’ve been around for a long time and haven’t played them in the qualifiers. That’ll be fine and we’ll re-upload. Färjestad is a special team for us, given the history, there have been great matches. I’ve learned that first, second, and third field advantage doesn’t matter that much. We’ll have a fun trip. I see before me old pictures of resolutions in Scandinavia, says Niklas Laso.
I didn’t think about resistance
Frolland defender Christian Follen became even more clueless when, half an hour into the match, Sportbladet asked him what it would be like to face Färjestad in the quarter-finals.
– Huh? Should we? Will it be like this?
Yes.
– I didn’t even know that.
Didn’t you know?
– no. funny. amazing. Then we have a little bit to improve. here we are.
How do you feel about that?
– This is how a qualifying series between two good teams should be. Then we’ll see which one is the best. Now it’s seven games and he showed our quality for ten minutes today. When does it begin?
Next Friday in Karlstad.
– Oh-oh-oh. Do they attract crowded yards?
You don’t have to worry about that.