Our second Flashback game this week is also from the 2016/17 season of the Champions Hockey League and features two top teams – Swiss giants SC Bern and Finnish side JYP Jyväskylä, who faced each other in two heated games in the Round of 16. The game we will be streaming live today is the first leg played in Bern in front of over 13,000 roaring hockey fans, so soak in the atmosphere!
Bern were the de-facto team to beat coming into the Round of 16. The Swiss powerhouse had entered their third CHL stint on the back of a domestic Championship in 2015/16 and recorded four wins out of four games in the CHL Group Stage to qualify for the Playoffs from top spot. Their unbeaten run further continued in the Round of 32 as they comfortably dispatched Red Bull Salzburg 4-1 away and drew 3-3 in the return leg in Bern. Were their Round of 16 opponents JYP going to end up being just another team standing in their way or would they finally end their unbeaten run?
JYP had won two and lost two in the Group Stage to just about qualify for the Playoffs, but pulled off a mighty 4-0 win in their Round of 32 away match against Skellefteå AIK and held on in the return leg to make the Round of 16.
The first leg, today’s live match, was a dramatic showcase of two teams giving it their all on the ice. JYP scored two goals in the first five minutes and hit the home team where it hurt. It took Bern until the second period to recover, but once they got their first goal, they just kept on coming. Bern scored three goals in a span of four minutes to complete the comeback and managed to hold on to their one-goal lead right down to the final buzzer to win the first leg 3-2.
The return leg the following week was a similar story. Bern scored early into the first period to gain a lead which they held long into the third period, but with time running out and everything up for grabs, JYP tried to pull off a late comeback. In the end, the match ended 3-3 and Bern advanced to the Quarter-Finals where they faced Finalists to-be Sparta Prague.
Join us live tonight at 19:00 CET as we go back and watch the thrilling first leg match between Bern and JYP!