For the second year in a row, it will be a team from Switzerland hosting a team from Sweden in the Champions Hockey League final. Farjestad BK from Karlstad, Sweden and the ZSC Lions from Zurich, Switzerland each entered the return games of their semi-finals on Tuesday with comfortable leads on aggregate and were able to close out Sparta Prague and Geneve-Servette respectively.

Farjestad Karlstad (SWE) def. Sparta Prague (CZE) 10-4 (6-2, 4-2)

  

Sparta outshot Farjestad 30-23 in the first game in Prague but ran into Canadian Maxime Lagace in net, who had a strong game. Farjestad was led offensively by Slovak Marian Studenic, who had four points, and Oskar Steen, who had three. A couple of late goals gave Farjestad a commanding four-goal lead heading home.
 
“We scored on our chances, which was good, and overall I think we played a pretty solid 60 minutes, so we’re happy with the result,” said Farjestad coach Tomas Mittel. “I don’t think it was an easy game. I think we got some timely goals and they had some chances, but ‘Laggy’ was good in the net, so I think it was a tighter game than 6-2.”
 
In the return game, Farjestad never trailed and eventually won 4-2 to take the victory by six goals on aggregate. Joel Kellman had a goal and an assist to match the two points he had last week while Studenic added another goal.

ZSC Lions Zurich (SUI) def. Geneve-Servette (SUI) 9-4 (6-1, 3-3)

In a meeting of two Swiss teams, Yannick Zehnder gave Zurich the early lead in the first game. Shortly after an apparent Geneve equalizer was negated on an offside challenge, Nicolas Baechler made it 2-0 and the Lions never looked back. Latvian Rudolfs Balcers had three points in the 6-1 win.
 
“I think we’re happy leaving here with a 6-1 score, heading back home,” Balcers said after the first game. “It was a weird game. I thought they played well at the start.”
 
In the return game, the Lions had leads of 2-0 and 3-1 but third-period goals by Alessio Bertaggia and Josh Jooris tied it for Geneve. The tie earned in the game was enough to maintain Zurich’s superior overall record over Farjestad in the competition, earning Zurich the right to host the final.

The final: ZSC Lions Zurich vs. Farjestad Karlstad

In last year’s final, Geneve-Servette beat Skelleftea AIK at 3-2 at home, becoming the first Swiss champion of the modern CHL. It’ll be interesting to see if Zurich can defeat Farjestad and continue to build the stature of Swiss clubs versus their Swedish counterparts.
 
For both teams, this is the first time they’ve made the final in this version of the Champions Hockey League but Zurich won the previous incarnation of the CHL in 2008-09 – its one and only season. Farjestad’s best finish to date in a European club championship was third place in the IIHF European Cup in 1987. 
 
These were the top two teams in the CHL’s regular season, and there is some star power on each team, so it has the potential to be a fantastic matchup.
 
Zurich has several players that have established themselves internationally. Sven Andrighetto, the CHL’s scoring leader with 20 points, is joined by past and present Swiss national team players Denis Malgin, Dean Kukan, Dennis Hollenstein, Christian Marti and Yannick Weber. Oher national teams are represented too, including Finland’s Mikko Lehtonen and Juho Lammikko, Sweden’s Jesper Froden, Austria’s Vinzenz Rohrer, Latvia’s Rudolfs Balcers, and Czech goalie Simon Hrubec, who was the 2017-18 CHL MVP.
 
Farjestad counters with Oskar Steen, who’s second in CHL scoring with 18 points, and fellow Swedes Linus Johansson and Magnus Nygren. Other national players include Czechia’s David Tomasek, Slovakia’s Marian Studenic, Norway’s Stian Solberg (just 19) and other young prospects like Joel Nystrom, Lucas Forsell and Jack Berglund. There is an impressive goaltending tandem with veteran Canadian Maxime Lagace and young Italian Damian Clara.
 
The one-game final will be played on Tuesday, 18 February.
 
For more, visit championshockeyleague.com.