Djurgården beats SB-Pro and plays in the final — 04.10.2014

SB-Pro kept the semifinal against Djurgården open until the second break. The score after 40 minutes was a 6-4 lead for the Swedish champions. Emelie Lindström decided the game early in the last period scoring the 7-4 goal. The final result was 8-4 after an empty-netter.

The Swedish champions Djurgården got almost off to a head start: after only 2:41 minutes they were two goals in front. And also in the aftermath they had the game more or less under control. Nevertheless, SB-Pro managed to score its first goal through captain Elina Kujala. This didn´t bother Djurgården at all and only half a minute later Sandra Mattsson added one goal to the 3-1 lead. From this moment on it was all Djurgården ´s game. The Finnish champions were lucky they didn´t receive any more goals throughout the first period. In the contrary, they even succeeded themselves during a powerplay. Thus, the first period ended with a 3-2 lead of the Swedish team. This was still a pretty flattering score for SB-Pro.

SB-Pro took over the game but didn´t score enough

The Finnish champions got a much better start to the second period than to the first. After four minutes they equalized the score through Marie Haggström and had way more ball possession than in the first twenty minutes. However, Djurgården felt obviously challenged and put more effort into their game. It took ten minutes but then the Swedish champions added three goals within five minutes through Emelie Lindström and Emma Dahlström. However, SB-Pro didn´t lose its grip to this period and shortened the gap to 6-4 with a fast counterattack and a cold-blooded finish. This was also the score after the second period, so still everything was possible for both teams in the last 20 minutes of this semi-final.

Emelie Lindström completed her hattrick and decided the game

In the last period it was again Djurgården who got the better start. In 3^rd minute of the period it was for the third time in this game Lindström who scored. The score of 7-4 for the Swedish champions lasted until five minutes before the end. Than the Finnish coaches took their timeout and tried to score with six against five players. But instead of scoring they received an empty-netter from Ranja Varli to the final result of 8-4.

Marie Haggström was elected best player of the Finnish team. After the game she was of course disappointed but she also admitted: “It´s always hard against Swedish teams and Djurgården ´s first line is very good. So we knew its gonna be a tough game.” The difference, in her opinion, was that Djurgården scored better and profited from the mistakes of SB-Pro. Djurgården ´s best player was Lindström who saw her team as the better one but “we let SB-Pro come into the game in the second period, but than we played at full strength and were the better team again.” About her hattrick she said: “I like this kind of games were you can win something like this one. So I hope I will again be the player for it in the final.”

With this victory, Djurgården advances to the final of the Champions Cup 2014.

Best Players:
Djurgarden: Nr. 19 Emelie Lindström
SB-Pro: Nr. 8 Marie Haggström

(Photos:Michael Peter/André Burri)
More photos from the match by MichaelPeter and André Burri can be found on IFFFlickr.