drama.
The final act.
The quarter-finals will be decided in a match of seven.
It doesn’t get any better.
Now that it’s time for the last show between Färjestad-Frölunda and Örebro-Timrå, I think mostly Frölunda Joel Lundqvist.
He could play the last match of his career in the packed Löfbergs Arena.
Tickets for tonight’s seventh meeting sold out in two minutes, and the 8,250 in the packed stands kept in the playoffs want nothing more than for this to be the last game for the Frölunda icon.
Save Färjestad as favourites
In this case, he could hardly have dreamed of the ending.
But I have to keep Färjestad as a slight favorite because of their stadium and in my opinion the best crowd in Sweden on the back.
They are the weapon of victory that can even decide this match, directing it to the defending champions.
Last year, they carried Färjestad through the entire playoffs without a single loss at home.
This was the SM gold key.
Now Frölunda has already broken that streak when they won 2-1 in the last meeting in Karlstad.
The additional incentive for Ger
But it speaks rather of the fact that they never do it again.
At the same time, Frölunda has a great reason to play for.
his captain.
Joel Lundqvist who turned 41 earlier in this snowy month of March announced early on that this season would be his last.
After 20 seasons, 915 SHL games, seventeen SM playoff games, and 168 playoff games.
That should give his teammates extra motivation to make sure the game against Färjestad isn’t his 169th and last.
He deserves a better ending somehow.
In Frölunda, it is the largest
Although he did not become an NHL star like his brother Henrik, he is one of the absolute greatest SHL players of all time.
In Frölunda, he is the biggest considering his four SM gold medals and fourteen consecutive seasons as team captain. Nobody can compete with that.
If you add the six seasons he played before his short trip to North America, it comes to a total of 20 seasons with the same club.
Same shirt number.
It will not happen again in an era when most players change clubs as often as ordinary people change their underwear and take every opportunity to play abroad.
No, Frölunda’s number 20 is unique.
He almost deserves more praise than he actually received.
Now that match has been given an extra flavour, as Henrik Björklund managed to avoid being flagged after hitting Frolland goalkeeper Lasse Johansson in the head in the last meeting in Scandinavia.
Roger Ronberg was almost sure of the comment.
But time ran out and no report ever came.
I think he was right.
Bjorklund has no intention of interfering, but it becomes more than an unfortunate collision when Lacey Johansson pokes his header out of his own goal area.
A clear second – but no more.
Yes, a lot has been said about Frölunda-Färjestad.
Not much about Orebro Timra.
And for a reason.
There are two clubs with more local roots and it will no longer be a matter of national interest.
It’s the best team
But it is no less interesting for that.
Orebro has made great strides since his rise in 2013 and played his first historic SM semi-final two years ago.
Timra hasn’t been there in nineteen years.
I think Örebro is the better team, but Temra has match-winners and big stars like Jonathan Dahlin, Anton Lander and Emil Pettersson who can decide matches almost single-handedly.
In Örebro, there may also be a couple of byes from some of the giants of recent years if there is a loss.
Team captain Rodrigo Apoulos was already ready for Rogel when we called in the new year, and coach Niclas Ericsson takes over as sporting director.
In this case, it would also be the end of an era – even if it was much shorter.