Ready for the finals

It will be a West Coast finals this year, with Färjestad and Frölunda squaring off. The two teams are only 3 hours away from each other so we should see lots of rival fans at each match. Färjestad went through the semis pretty easily, even though they ran into a determined team and a hot goalie. They won in four straight. Frölunda had it a little tougher, but in the end serveral things made it clear that Djurgården had no chance.

First was goaltending. Though Djurgården have a very, very good goalie, Henrik Lundquist is better. José Theodore played well, his defense played well most of the time too. But Henke stood on his head from time to time and is a tremendous goalie.

Second was conditioning. Djurgården was tired by the fifth game, they were standing around watching the play. In the third period they looked like their legs were made of stone. They also lost some players to injury in the previous match while Frölunda was fresh, had all their players, and still had some jump in their legs.

Third was defense. Sami Salo seemed a little more anonymous this round, though he scored with a rocket slap shot last night. But overall the defense was solid. Djurgården had some serious breakdowns defensively last night, and at other times they had trouble getting Frölunda out of their own zone. Frölunda can forecheck and that is a key to winning payoff games.

It will be an excellent match up this year, Färjestad is a good team. But I think Frölunda will win in six games.
The keys to the finals will be: goaltending, where Frölunda is much stronger, and physical play. If the Frölunda forwards can dish it out as well as take it, we will get some good opportunities to score. They have two excellent backs in Sheldon Souray and Zdeno Chara, and they are both tough and gritty. Frölunda have to fight through the cheap stuff and forecheck, with their talented forwards they will score goals. Pelle Presterberg is also a talented player for Färjestad so there will be some scoring on both sides.

A match for the ages

I have seen what José Theodore can do. He is an incredible goalie. He shutdown the Bruins one year when they had some pretty big stars like Jason Allison and Joe Thorton.

He was sensational last night. He was well placed, all the shots Frölunda fired his way seemed to go right into his chest, no rebounds, or few rebounds. That is a sign of a goalie who knows the game and can see the play develop. He gets in position and makes it look easy when it isn't. The goal that went in behind him was redirected in mid-air by Jonas Johnson, Theodore had no chance.

But the goalie that played against him was brilliant. He stood on his head at times, and at other times made it look like he wasn't trying. Henrik "Henke" Lundqvist was amazing especially during the five on three in the third period. Djurgården had a two man advantage for almost two minutes, finally they scored near the end of the advantage. So we went to overtime.

Frölunda has to play in their old rink during this time of the ear, only about three games though, then we are back to the bigger Scandinavium. The old rink holds about 9,000 people and 80% of the seats are not seats but standing room only. We were squeezed into this barn close to the ice, thousands of us, so many that they had to use bullhorns to tell people to move up in the stands so everyone could get in. It was a fire hazard at best and a death trap at worst. But people were very civil and the atmosphere electric. The people bellowed, pounded the drums and chanted and whistled so loud you could wake the dead. There is no way you can win as the away team in a palce like that.

We went to overtime, people still crammed in there on their feet. Tomi Kallio threw a pass cross-ice to Niklas Anderson who banged it home through Theodore's legs. The roof came off the joint.

Frölunda beats Luleå

Four straight and out, Luleå goodbye. Pretty amazing considering they had the great Thomas Holmström. He caused havoc in front of the net and was incredibly chippy. You can see why the Detroit Red Wings love him so much, he really is their kind of player. But Luleå had no defense, and no goalkeeping. Manny Fernandez did thet best he could but there were too many odd chances, and too many defensive breakdowns. Luleå put in their second goalie the last game but it didn't help, he got crushed 8-1. That was ugly.

Djurgården will be tougher, they have José Theodre in goal. But we already took the first game in Stockholm 2-1. So that is bound rattle some nerves. Should be a good tight series though I doubt that Djurgården will win more than two games and set up a final between Färjestad and Frölunda.

Playoffs!

w00t w00t!! The playoffs are here! Tonight we start the second season, a three round tournament where through the best of seven games we find out who can slog through to be the Swedish champion. This year it is especially exciting because of all the great Swedish stars we have here. Peter Forsberg, Daniel Alfredson, Markus Näslund, Brendan Morrison, José Theodore, as well as some of the stars to be born: Henrik Lundqvist, Martin Plüss, and who knows who.

The favorite is definitely Frölunda according to the coaches, media and the polls I have seen. But you never know, a hot goalie can take you all the way. (I know that is a cliché but I have sen it happen, most recently Guy Herbert at Anaheim.) This year I would look out for Mika Kiprusov and Fredrik Norrena from Timrå and Linköping respectively, they have both been very good and have good defenses that play in front of them.

Defense still play less of a role on the large ice surface here in Europe. The left wing lock tends to get nullified by the wider ice surface. If you carry the puck through the zone with speed, you often can get into the offensive zone and there is lots of back and forth because they do not use the so-called redline offsides or two line pass. This makes the game exciting, and with the infusion of Candian players and with Swedes getting chippier, we should see some good battles out there. Sheldon Souray and Zedeno Chara from Färjestad are both heavy hitters who are not afraid to mix it up. Watch out for their team as well.