Storvreta too strong for Dalen in the final — 07.10.2012Two of the strongest teams in Sweden met in the men´s final of the 2012 IFF Champions Cup in a replay of the Swedish Super League final from earlier in the year. In that game Storvreta came out on top, and today the result was the same with Storvreta winning 6-3. The game got off to the expected fast start, but both teams effectively had to restart the game soon after when there was a long delay due to an injury to Dalen player Milan Tomasik that saw him taken off the court by stretcher. When play resumed it was a very unexpected way in which the first goal was scored. It will be recorded as a powerplay goal but after Dalen goalkeeper Fredrik Hörnqvist had made a save he was left lying on the ball, and as he moved to stand up, the ball appeared between his legs. Fredrik Holtz, who was standing there waiting for exactly that to happen, took the ball and put it in the net. The Dalen players protested but to no avail. Score was 1-0. The first ´real´ goal in the game came when All-Star forward Mattias Samuelsson got a breakaway during the Dalen powerplay and got the ball past Hörnqvist to give Storvreta a 2-0 lead. Dalen quickly replied with a goal to Alexander Boden and then Johan Eriksson and Adam Berglund combined to bring the game back to 2-2. When Christian Larsson scored the third Dalen goal before the period was over, the home crowd was ecstatic and Storvreta a little stunned. Dalen had to work extremely hard in defence in the second period as Storvreta pushed to try and get the game back in their favour. A second goal to Holtz at 24:34 made it 3-3 and then although both teams had chances, neither could find a way to score. Dalen would have been pleased to be heading to the second break at 3-3, but a lapse in concentration right before the buzzer let Joel Kanebjörk score. Strong 3rd period for Storvreta The last period belonged to Storvreta, Kanebjörk scored his second, Hannes Öhman got his fourth goal of the tournament, and Viktor Klinsten in the Storvreta goal was able to stop everything that Dalen threw at him. So, Storvreta improve on their 3rd place at last year´s Champions Cup, taking their second European club champions title, and maintain their dominance over Dalen in the big finals. Best players were Fredrik Holtz and Filip Stenmark. All match photos on IFF Flickr page Photos: Per Wiklund Video interview with Storvreta´s Mika Kohonen and Joel Kanebjörk |