Trick dog Johann Garbinloff didn’t go home.
The gritty Chihuahua Bjorkloven was the stronger and turned into a home advantage.
But this series is going to go to seven games – anything else is unbelievable.
Easter hockey was arranged in Hovet on Maundy Thursday.
The party-hungry crowd filled Hovett and with the home team heels in, it became a great sonic backdrop that embraced the match. Perhaps the best prints of the season in Hovet.
The semi-final series between Djurgården and Björklöven has also become a heated battle as there is healthy banter between the two teams and where suspensions are drawn between matches.
But that’s something you never get in these semi-finals. There is no common thread or naturalness.
Björklöven won the first semi-final in which successful young goalkeeper Karl Lindbom had to withdraw due to injury. When I saw the televised images of Lindbom it hurt every muscle link there was and many probably quickly thought that Djurgården’s chance of making it to the final was gone there.
Digging and barking and barking
But Djurgården won their second semi-final in Umeå on Tuesday and thus got home advantage in the series.
The feeling on Maundy Thursday was that the Stockholm players had put themselves in the driver’s seat, among other things because the team had been almost injury-free in the pre-season and that there was a die-hard zoo crowd waiting in the third and fourth semi-finals.
And the feeling was heightened when 18-year-old Jonathan Lecrimaki made it 1-0 after finishing a class in the first half. It’s likely that the teens, or young guns at least, will be the ones to do it for Djurgården this spring, if the team wants to rise to the SHL – again. In Djurgården’s first two series, four out of six players are under the age of 21. And in the power play, Lekkerimäki and Noah Östlund start with captain Marcus Krüger.
The start of the match went to the home team. Bjorkloven then dug, barked, barked and rubbed himself into the match. You have an older and more experienced team than Djurgården. You also have players like Frederick Weigel, Alex Hutchins, and Daniel Rahimi who absolutely love eliminations and brawling and pitting and screwing with opponents. In the tactical game, Björklöven also managed to disrupt the home team with high pressure, and the home team repeatedly had difficulty playing outside their area, a childhood illness they suffered from throughout the season.
Chihuahua won
Scott Polley scored 1-1, Insanely Beautiful, and also 1-2. On both occasions, he made the classic hand gesture to enjoy the house party gag. Teasing, but also flattering given how this series has evolved.
Bjorkloven did not have the referee on his side in the semi-final. But they still led 3-1 when the third period started and the reason is the high quality of the finish, the journalistic game and the fact that they have mastered playoff hockey and are better at frivolity, frivolity and mental warfare than Djurgården. . Weigel, who has played for both AIK and Djurgården, takes a turn during the whistle to talk to the Djurgården goalkeeper and in the booth is intensely focused on what he is shouting at Djurgården players to annoy and harass them. There is no problem with that, and in a hockey match, excitement and passion should dominate. Djurgarden coach Johann Garbenlöf is similar to Weigl in a “chihuahua barking at German shepherds” before Thursday’s game.
In the end, Chihuahuas and Björklöfen won.
Little against the odds.
But a little dog with a big heart, courage, and a lot of willpower should never be counted out. Not even against the tough, naughty, and powerful German Shepherds.