Luleå Hockey secured their place in the Champions Hockey League Final last night in spectacular fashion, beating SHL rivals and four-time CHL Champions Frölunda Gothenburg 4-3 in a back-and-forth game that had to be decided by an eight-round shootout.
A five-goal second period left the score 3-2 in Luleå's favour as the two teams headed for the locker rooms for a second time, but a third-period equaliser from Frölunda was enough to send this game to overtime and with neither side scoring during 3-on-3 play, a shootout was in order.
LGT MVP Award Nominee Matteus Ward shined in net for Luleå throughout the entire game, making save after save and held his team in net during the shootout.
"We still haven't lost a game in the CHL!"Luleå Hockey's Matteus Ward
"It's huge for me and the team," said Ward, "it feels really good to win the game in a shootout. We've been struggling to win games lately, so to bounce back like this was great."
"We still haven't lost a game in the CHL!" reminded the goaltender who has played in all but one of Luleå's games this season in the pan-European competition.
Ward made a total of 34 saves, letting in three goals in regulation and recording a total save percentage of nearly 92%.
"I got into the game really fast - they had a breakaway within the first five minutes, but then we exchanged some play in front of the net," said Ward about the game.
"We were extremely good defensively, blocking pucks and holding our own to make it to the shootout."
As the tension grew, Luleå's defenders went to the extreme while blocking, with a player even sliding into net to block a puck from going in in overtime
"It just shows how committed we were," commented Ward, "everyone did all they could to keep the puck out of the net!"
"We will take this with us to the Final!"Luleå Hockey's Matteus Ward
The dramatic shootout had to be decided in the eighth round, with Brendan Shinnimin eventually scoring the game-winner.
"We've struggled with shootouts in the past, it's not an area where we excel," admitted 21-year-old Ward, "but that makes this even more special - to win it now makes it so good!"
Luleå now move on to the one-game CHL Final where they will face Tappara Tampere in the Coop Norrbotten Arena, their home arena. What does making the Final again for the first time since 2014/15 mean for them?
"We will go in with a good feeling, keeping our eyes on the prize, knowing we can beat anyone," ended Ward.