Our second Flashback game this week is the return leg of Sparta Prague and SC Bern’s duel from the 2016/17 Champions Hockey League Quarter-Finals. After an indecisive result from their first meeting in Switzerland the week prior, it was all to play for in Prague. One team ended up stealing the show and advancing all the way to the Final, remember who?
SC Bern, a traditional Swiss powerhouse, had gone from being saved in the play-out of the Swiss NLA in 2013/14 to being crowned Champions in 2015/16. They were a team on the rise and a force to be reckoned with on the international stage. They comfortably won all four of their Group Stage games to advance to the Playoffs and were one of only two teams to secure 12 out of 12 points.
Sparta, on the other hand, weren’t as prolific as their Swiss QF rivals. Despite beating Poles Comarch Cracovia twice, they lost to Färjestad Karlstad at home and only managed to beat them in Overtime in the return leg in Sweden. This left them in second place of their three-team group but secured them a place in the Playoffs where they faced 2015/16 Finalists Kärpät Oulu. The first game ended 1-1 and 60 minutes into the return leg the tie was still undecided. The game went to OT and up stepped Sparta’s second line forward, Miroslav Forman, who’s goal propelled his team into the next round. There they faced Swedish club HV71 Jönköping. After a 2-4 loss at home, Sparta looked out of their game but a surprise 5-0 win in the return leg in Sweden got them into the Quarter-Finals for the first time ever.
Whereas Sparta fought for their season, Bern further extended their unbeaten run and breezed past Red Bull Salzburg into the Round of 16 to face JYP Jyväskylä. One win and one draw later, they were lining up in front of over 13,000 fans against Sparta in their fortress, the PostFinance Arena, for the first leg of their Quarter-Finals duel.
The game started slowly, as both teams played carefully, minimising mistakes. There were Powerplay opportunities on both sides, but no team utilised them fully. The first goal of the game came in the second period when Sparta’s captain Jaroslav Hlinka broke the deadlock. But the home side was quick to retaliate, tying the game 1-1 just 2 minutes later. The remainder of the game offered lots of drama, but it ended with an indecisive score of 1-1 meaning the Semi-Finalist would be decided in the thrilling all or nothing return leg in Prague the following week.
Itching to find out who ended up advancing? Tune in tonight at 19:00 CET to catch the action live!