The Tappara Tampere players celebrate a goal. The Finnish club from the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship host city will play in the Champions Hockey League final for the first time.
photo: Mika Kylmaniemi / Photomotion / Tappara Tampere / CHL
Both Champions Hockey League finalists are now known as Tappara Tampere shut out Red Bull Munich 3-0 on Tuesday at Nokia Arena in Tampere. It is the first time that the Finnish club has made the CHL final in its seventh appearance in the European club championship.
In what normally would have been a two-game, total-goal series, only one game was played in this case after the Munich team was quarantined in early January according to German health regulations, which postponed both originally-scheduled games while the second attempt was postponed when Tappara was quarantined.
With the win, Tappara joins Swedish club Rogle Angelholm, which is also appearing in the final for the first time.
In the game, Kristian Kuusela scored twice in a winning cause, while Otso Rantakari assisted on all three goals and Anton Levtchi on two of them. Christian Heljanko made 25 saves for the shutout – his second in the CHL this season and the fourth of his career in the competition. In the Munich goal, Norwegian Henrik Haukeland – recently acquired from Farjestad Karlstad and playing his first CHL game for his new team – stopped 31 of 34 Tappara shots.
Tappara dominated the early going and opened the scoring in the dying seconds of a power play just 4:13 in, when Levtchi found Kuusela for the backdoor one-timer that found the open near side before Haukeland could slide across.
Tappara outshot Munich 14-3 in the opening period but Haukeland kept his team in the game, shutting the door for the rest of the first period and all of the second, when he denied Tyler Morley on a breakaway. Munich finally started to push offensively and got a great scoring chance late in the middle frame when Filip Varejcka found defenceman Zach Redmond streaking to the net but the former NHLer just missed the top corner.
Munich pushed hard for the equalizer early in the third period but Heljanko stood tall, and with just over eight minutes to play, Rantakari sprung Joona Luoto, who made no mistake on a breakaway, beating Haukeland over the blocker. Less than two minutes later, Kuusela finished the scoring in much the same way he opened it – one-timing a feed from Rantakari on the power play.
In what normally would have been a two-game, total-goal series, only one game was played in this case after the Munich team was quarantined in early January according to German health regulations, which postponed both originally-scheduled games while the second attempt was postponed when Tappara was quarantined.
With the win, Tappara joins Swedish club Rogle Angelholm, which is also appearing in the final for the first time.
In the game, Kristian Kuusela scored twice in a winning cause, while Otso Rantakari assisted on all three goals and Anton Levtchi on two of them. Christian Heljanko made 25 saves for the shutout – his second in the CHL this season and the fourth of his career in the competition. In the Munich goal, Norwegian Henrik Haukeland – recently acquired from Farjestad Karlstad and playing his first CHL game for his new team – stopped 31 of 34 Tappara shots.
Tappara dominated the early going and opened the scoring in the dying seconds of a power play just 4:13 in, when Levtchi found Kuusela for the backdoor one-timer that found the open near side before Haukeland could slide across.
Tappara outshot Munich 14-3 in the opening period but Haukeland kept his team in the game, shutting the door for the rest of the first period and all of the second, when he denied Tyler Morley on a breakaway. Munich finally started to push offensively and got a great scoring chance late in the middle frame when Filip Varejcka found defenceman Zach Redmond streaking to the net but the former NHLer just missed the top corner.
Munich pushed hard for the equalizer early in the third period but Heljanko stood tall, and with just over eight minutes to play, Rantakari sprung Joona Luoto, who made no mistake on a breakaway, beating Haukeland over the blocker. Less than two minutes later, Kuusela finished the scoring in much the same way he opened it – one-timing a feed from Rantakari on the power play.
The final
The 2021/22 Champions Hockey League final will be played on Tuesday, 1 March at Catena Arena in Angelholm, Sweden. It will be the first appearance in the final for both Rogle and Tappara, although the Finnish club has a lot more experience in the competition.
In five previous appearances in the CHL, Tappara had never previously advanced past the round of 16. This year, the Finnish club topped Group E before knocking off the Vaxjo Lakers and Rouen Dragons before facing Munich. Meanwhile, this is Rogle’s first time in the CHL. After topping Group D, the Swedish club beat the ZSC Lions Zurich and Sparta Prague before slaying four-time champion Frolunda Gothenburg in the semis.
Five of six previous finals have been won by Swedish clubs and the other was from Finland. Besides Frolunda’s four titles, Lulea Hockey (Sweden) and JYP Jyvaskyla (Finland) have each won once. Other teams to reach the final since the relaunch of the CHL in 2014/2015 include Karpat Oulu (Finland), Sparta Prague, Mountfield Hradec Kralove (both Czechia), the Vaxjo Lakers (Sweden) and Munich.
This will be the third final to feature a team each from Sweden and Finland, with the visiting team winning each of the previous two meetings. Back in 2016, Frolunda won its first title, beating Karpat 2-1 in northern Finland. Two years later in southern Sweden, JYP shut out Vaxjo 2-0.
Five of six previous finals have been won by Swedish clubs and the other was from Finland. Besides Frolunda’s four titles, Lulea Hockey (Sweden) and JYP Jyvaskyla (Finland) have each won once. Other teams to reach the final since the relaunch of the CHL in 2014/2015 include Karpat Oulu (Finland), Sparta Prague, Mountfield Hradec Kralove (both Czechia), the Vaxjo Lakers (Sweden) and Munich.
This will be the third final to feature a team each from Sweden and Finland, with the visiting team winning each of the previous two meetings. Back in 2016, Frolunda won its first title, beating Karpat 2-1 in northern Finland. Two years later in southern Sweden, JYP shut out Vaxjo 2-0.