Skip to content
Matchup Preview: Luleå and Frölunda clash in all-Swedish matchup of previous CHL Champions

It’s an all-Swedish matchup in the Champions Hockey League Semi-Finals, meaning we can be certain that one of the teams that will play in the all-or-nothing CHL Final on 18 February will be from the country that brought the world IKEA. But which will it be – four-time CHL Champions Frölunda Gothenburg or 2014/15 CHL Champions Luleå Hockey?

  • Both Frölunda and Luleå have won the CHL before
  • Luleå remain unbeaten this season
  • Frölunda highest-scoring team of the season with an average of 4.5 goals/game

Luleå enter this duel as the team to beat this season. The five-time qualifiers aren't the only team that haven’t lost a game this season but their 10-0 record indicates that they have are the only team that have won all ten games.

After a near-flawless Group Stage run that saw the Swedes beat established European clubs from Finland, Czechia and Denmark, Luleå dealt DEL side Grizzlys Wolfsburg two back-to-back defeats to move on to the Quarter-Finals with relative ease. Konstantin Komarek scored in both games as the one-time SHL champions won 5-3 on aggregate.

Komarek & co had no issue with Jukurit in the Quarter-Finals (Photo: Fredrik Sundvall)

In the Quarter-Finals, Luleå went up against Finnish dark horses Jukurit Mikkeli who they knew all too well from the first phase of the season. A 5-1 home ice win against a tired Finnish side all but secured their place in the Top 4, but a follow-up 3-1 game on the road sealed the deal, this time Brendan Shinnimin being the star of the two games with his three goals.

What’s been the key to their dominant form? For starters, the SHL side have scored 35 goals whilst letting only 16 in for a goal difference of +19. Luleå’s forwards have been pretty deadly up front with an average of 3.5 goals per game. Furthermore, the Swedes have scored 2+ goals in every game so far this season. A key statistic that is often overlooked is face-off win percentage and that is an area Luleå have perfected, with over 56% of pucks ending up in their possession after hitting the ice, a league-high.

Alongside Komarek and Shinnimin, who lead the team in goals scored with five each, 24-year-old Isac Brännström has also found twine five times. However, the team’s points leader is neither of them, with 32-year-old Juhani Tyrväinen stealing the crown with his 10 points (4G, 6A) in eight games.

Defensively, Luleå have also been really tight, but the team’s defencemen have also been immensely valuable on the attack with most of them recording three or more points. Equally, Matteus Ward has been impressive in net racking up a 92.81 save percentage over the course of nine games, especially considering this is the 21-year-old’s first season with the Swedish outlet.

Is there a catch to their game? If there is, no one’s found it yet. But one could be their special unit play. When comparing penalty kill and powerplay efficiency, Luleå rank lowest of the four Semi-Finalists in both with a powerplay efficiency of a mere 17.07% and a penalty kill of 87%. Frölunda, who are the highest-scoring team of the season, could hit them where it hurts on the man advantage, so this is an area Luleå will surely strengthen ahead of their first meeting.

Moving on to the Semi-Finals means a lot for this team (Photo: TOMMY HOLL)

Four-time CHL Champions Frölunda are a team that need no introduction. The Swedish powerhouse club are without doubt one of the biggest names of the CHL and top most of the CHL all-time statistics charts.

They are the most successful team to ever grace the pan-European competition, having lifted the coveted European Trophy four times while making it all the way to the Final five times. They are also yet to miss a season of the competition since 2014/15, proving just how consistent their performances have been both domestically and on Europe's elite club ice hockey stage.

Frölunda enter the 2022/23 Semi-Finals in usual form - on top. They've scored the most goals over the ten games played so far this season (45, which is over four a game), have some of the highest-scoring players among their ranks and boast an eye-watering +24 goal difference which is topped only by EV Zug of Switzerland.

CHL legend Ryan Lasch leads the team, and the entire CHL for that matter, with 22 points (7G, 15A), which is nearly 2.5 points per game. His lion’s share of the goals and assists means that only Max Friberg (4G,7A) has scored over a point per game in 2022/23, but many teammates come close with nine or eight points, including Jere Innala, Nicklas Lasu and 22-year-old defenceman Filip Johansson, who is on loan to Frölunda from the Vancouver Cannucks for who he signed last year.

Their aggressive, high-scoring and attack-focused game style could be just what’s needed to break domestic rivals Luleå, but when two teams know each other as well as these two do, outcomes can be hard to predict, which is exactly what Frölunda learnt in the Quarter-Finals against Skellefteå AIK.

A 1-0 First Game loss in which Skellefteå’s netminder saved 24 shots on goal meant Frölunda needed to make up lost ground in the Return Game the following week. They struggled but ultimately managed to take the game to overtime and a subsequent shootout with the score locked at 3-3 on aggregate.

All in all, it’s clear that this is going to be one close two-game series with two dominant teams battling each other to still be in contention of lifting the European Trophy, a feeling both teams know what feels like.

 
Vector Smart Object Icons/Arrow/1000 45E49ECC-5769-44F4-97EA-EDE23E5CB428 Created with sketchtool. CC731668-0119-48B2-B401-BACA731EA471 Created with sketchtool. Vector Smart Object icon-stadium CB_Linked_Icon_Arrow CB_Linked_Icon_Arrow CB_Linked_Icon_Arrow 763B01E1-3D00-402A-B0C3-1DD729BBA531 Created with sketchtool. Vector Smart Object Group 18 Copy Created with Sketch. 53079FE7-D159-40A0-8A83-26281B0D3D33 Created with sketchtool. 976DC860-943B-432F-9E9C-CB9AC395B97F Created with sketchtool. 172C4F03-2B22-49FE-A880-A4C1985B19F7 Created with sketchtool. 53079FE7-D159-40A0-8A83-26281B0D3D33 Created with sketchtool. 976DC860-943B-432F-9E9C-CB9AC395B97F Created with sketchtool. 172C4F03-2B22-49FE-A880-A4C1985B19F7 Created with sketchtool. 45E49ECC-5769-44F4-97EA-EDE23E5CB428 Created with sketchtool. CC731668-0119-48B2-B401-BACA731EA471 Created with sketchtool. 0CCDF29C-1F7C-4F46-921A-EC230ACEE372 Created with sketchtool. 9EE80E93-DA55-44A3-BB86-719DDC115D67 Created with sketchtool. 86A6C4DD-D877-4C22-A527-8B9666AA9DD0 Created with sketchtool. 9EE80E93-DA55-44A3-BB86-719DDC115D67 Created with sketchtool. 42E886A7-7224-4FDC-BBEB-01976002C351 Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. 40C8A19E-A06F-4836-ABD8-C5AE68BC33DB Created with sketchtool. 763B01E1-3D00-402A-B0C3-1DD729BBA531 Created with sketchtool. 644E21E0-3CB1-4F6B-B321-22391C0CD429 Created with sketchtool. team-logo / WIN Created with Sketch. team-logo / PW Created with Sketch. team-logo / LOST Created with Sketch. team-logo / PL Created with Sketch. 0CCDF29C-1F7C-4F46-921A-EC230ACEE372 Created with sketchtool. 033561FA-5AC5-424E-BFCB-752595AE0B20 Created with sketchtool. 45E49ECC-5769-44F4-97EA-EDE23E5CB428 Created with sketchtool. CC731668-0119-48B2-B401-BACA731EA471 Created with sketchtool. 0CCDF29C-1F7C-4F46-921A-EC230ACEE372 Created with sketchtool. 9EE80E93-DA55-44A3-BB86-719DDC115D67 Created with sketchtool. 86A6C4DD-D877-4C22-A527-8B9666AA9DD0 Created with sketchtool. 9EE80E93-DA55-44A3-BB86-719DDC115D67 Created with sketchtool. 53079FE7-D159-40A0-8A83-26281B0D3D33 Created with sketchtool. 976DC860-943B-432F-9E9C-CB9AC395B97F Created with sketchtool. 172C4F03-2B22-49FE-A880-A4C1985B19F7 Created with sketchtool. 45E49ECC-5769-44F4-97EA-EDE23E5CB428 Created with sketchtool. CC731668-0119-48B2-B401-BACA731EA471 Created with sketchtool. 9EE80E93-DA55-44A3-BB86-719DDC115D67 Created with sketchtool. 86A6C4DD-D877-4C22-A527-8B9666AA9DD0 Created with sketchtool. 9EE80E93-DA55-44A3-BB86-719DDC115D67 Created with sketchtool. 42E886A7-7224-4FDC-BBEB-01976002C351 Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. 40C8A19E-A06F-4836-ABD8-C5AE68BC33DB Created with sketchtool. 763B01E1-3D00-402A-B0C3-1DD729BBA531 Created with sketchtool. 644E21E0-3CB1-4F6B-B321-22391C0CD429 Created with sketchtool. 033561FA-5AC5-424E-BFCB-752595AE0B20 Created with sketchtool. 45E49ECC-5769-44F4-97EA-EDE23E5CB428 Created with sketchtool. CC731668-0119-48B2-B401-BACA731EA471 Created with sketchtool. 763B01E1-3D00-402A-B0C3-1DD729BBA531 Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. 40C8A19E-A06F-4836-ABD8-C5AE68BC33DB Created with sketchtool. 763B01E1-3D00-402A-B0C3-1DD729BBA531 Created with sketchtool. 644E21E0-3CB1-4F6B-B321-22391C0CD429 Created with sketchtool. 7CB4E955-9512-49F4-B03B-933CF03CA2FD Created with sketchtool. 53079FE7-D159-40A0-8A83-26281B0D3D33 Created with sketchtool. 976DC860-943B-432F-9E9C-CB9AC395B97F Created with sketchtool. 172C4F03-2B22-49FE-A880-A4C1985B19F7 Created with sketchtool. 45E49ECC-5769-44F4-97EA-EDE23E5CB428 Created with sketchtool. CC731668-0119-48B2-B401-BACA731EA471 Created with sketchtool. 0CCDF29C-1F7C-4F46-921A-EC230ACEE372 Created with sketchtool. 9EE80E93-DA55-44A3-BB86-719DDC115D67 Created with sketchtool. 86A6C4DD-D877-4C22-A527-8B9666AA9DD0 Created with sketchtool. 9EE80E93-DA55-44A3-BB86-719DDC115D67 Created with sketchtool. 42E886A7-7224-4FDC-BBEB-01976002C351 Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. C38CE427-9814-4B47-91C9-66896A6EB2BE Created with sketchtool. 40C8A19E-A06F-4836-ABD8-C5AE68BC33DB Created with sketchtool. 763B01E1-3D00-402A-B0C3-1DD729BBA531 Created with sketchtool. 644E21E0-3CB1-4F6B-B321-22391C0CD429 Created with sketchtool. 033561FA-5AC5-424E-BFCB-752595AE0B20 Created with sketchtool. 033561FA-5AC5-424E-BFCB-752595AE0B20 Created with sketchtool. Icons/Search/1000 F3916FC0-768E-4027-A1D5-CC66110459CF Created with sketchtool. Play Artboard 1 Icon / Social / Android@3x Created with Sketch. icon-dropdown icon-dropdown Created with Sketch. CB_Linked_Icon_Close CB_Linked_Icon_Close Check Check F896540F-C96F-4488-888D-5ECB022F43CE Created with sketchtool. Icons/Attachment/1000 Created with Sketch. CB_Linked_Icon_Arrow Icon / Social / iOS@3x Created with Sketch.