Angelholm. Check out Leksand’s horror stats at the SM Qualifiers.
Dalala’s team has not won a playoff series in the 26 years since 1997.
– It is what it is, we try not to think too much about the future, says Captain Patrick Zacharison.
Leksand won the first round of 16 in a best of three against Rögle.
With an away win, he gives two balls for the match before the home game on Monday and possibly on Tuesday.
At the same time, there are some very heavy trends for Leksand to reverse in the context of qualifying.
In the two previous seasons with Bjorn Hellqvist as coach, there was a loss of 4-0 in the matches against Örebro in the quarter-finals and 2-1 in the matches against Oskarshamn in the round of 16.
twice since 1975
Since receiving the SM Gold Medal in 1975, Leksand has gone to the playoffs 18 times, and been straight out in the first round 16 times.
The last time they advanced from a play-off series was in 1997 when they beat Malmö in the quarter-finals as series winners but were eliminated by Färjestad in the semi-finals.
The second time was in 1989 when they were in the SC final against Djurgården, who became champions of Sweden.
There is no reason to look so far back or forward in time. We take it from here on this case and terms that apply now, says Patrick Zacharison.
Funny statistic
The dream statistic is that no team has taken the lead in matches in the round of 16 since losing the series.
– It’s the first two wins and after that it’s good to get 1-0. We are off to a good start. Playing at home is better than playing outside. We want as many supporters on the site as possible, says Patrick Zacharison.
After a difficult period with Leixand with four losing streak and six losses in seven games, they sparked a 5-2 win in their last regular season game away to Linköping on Thursday night.
Transformation after the crisis meeting
After losing 4-1 away to Malmö on Tuesday night, the team locked themselves in for almost an hour for a crisis meeting.
– Obviously, what we talked about behind closed doors stops there. We’ve pushed to play simpler and smarter, rather than just force things. We wanted to work more intensely, be connected and be more humble,” says Patrick Zacharison.
Leksand has been on a wild ride since Monday with away matches in Malmö, Linköping and Angelholm.
After the game on Saturday afternoon, the team had to go home to Dalarna.
– We had time to meet before the playoffs. At the same time, you live very much off each other on buses and hotels. Now it would be nice to go home, says Patrick Zacharison.
Liam Bichil became the hero of the match with the decisive goal after 14.21 of the first extra period.
Leksand now also has four straight Rogl victories.
Look over there, another dream suite.