Latvia´s Lekrings was no match for tournament favourite IBF Falun — 01.10.2014

The first game of the Men´s Champions Cup between title holder IBF Falun from Sweden and Lekrings from Latvia started with a big bang. After 55 seconds Falun had the chance to open the score with a penalty shot.

Jonas Adriansson, centre of Falun´s strong first line, missed the chance, but in the following powerplay it took Falun only 17 seconds to bring defender Emil Johansson into a perfect position to open the score. From then on the defending champions from 2013 showed their superiority, controlling their opponent and the game. After only four minutes the scoreboard showed a comfortable 3:0 lead. Lekrings managed to score their first goal after six minutes, through Gints Bertulis, but apart from this, it was Falun who showed its outstanding control of the ball. They scored two more times in the first period and went to the first break with a 5:1 lead.

Johansson with a phenomenal performance

After an early goal in the second period, it was obvious that Falun started to save themselves, nevertheless, they didn´t lose control of the game for one moment. Lekrings was fighting bravely and managed to play some counter-attacks but failed to score. It was only during the last five minutes of the second period when the Swedish champions added two more goals to the sheet. It was twice defender Johansson who crowned his great performance, both times assisted by Alexander Galante-Carlström. The scoreboard showed a 9:1 lead for Falun during the second break.

Enström show in the last period

The last period was very similar to the second: Falun scored in the fifth minute of the period and had almost absolute control of the game. Lekrings tried hard to score at least one more goal, which only proved to give Falun goalkeeper, Johan Rehn, the opportunity to show some pretty nice catches, and he didn´t concede any more goals. Whereas the second period had belonged to Johansson, in the third period it was team captain Rasmus Enström who gave some examples not only of his cold-bloodedness in front of the goal but also of his technical abilities. The final score was a more then deserved 14:1 victory for Thomas Brottman´s team.

Best Players:
Lekrings: Nr. 4 Gints Bertulis
Falun: Nr. 22 Emil Johansson

(Photos: Michael Peter/André Burri)

More photos from the match by Michael Peter and André Burri can be found on IFF Flickr.