- No goals in the opening 40 minutes as both goalies stood strong
- Stanislav Dietz and Jan Urbas score early in the third for the hosts
- Bremerhaven mark their home CHL debut with a win
Group A of the 2021/22 Champions Hockey League season continued on Friday night, and it was Pinguins Bremerhaven of Germany making their home debut in the tournament as they hosted TPS Turku from Finland. In the Game Day 1 meeting between the sides, Bremerhaven shocked Turku with a 2-1 victory, and they were looking to continue their impressive start to life in the CHL.
Neither side could open the scoring through the opening 20 minutes, but it was the hosts Bremerhaven who enjoyed the better 20 minutes, outshooting Turku 15-6 in the first period, with Andrey Kareev the busier of the two goalies.
Again neither side could find a breakthrough in the middle frame, and again Bremerhaven seemed to have the upper hand, but were unable to find away past Kareev who stopped all 27 shots he had faced through the middle frame, setting up an action packed third period.
The game was crying out for a goal, and it didn't take long in the third for one to come, and after controlling most of the game it was no surprise that it came from hosts.
Jan Urbas tried a nice move in doubt but Kareev was equal to it, but as the clearance went straight to Stanislav Dietz, he ripped a hard slapshot from the circle to finally get one on the scoreboard less than a minute in.
The goal gave Bremerhaven the energy to keep pushing for second, and less than a minute later they almost added a second, but the puck that found it's way behind Kareev was cleared just before the line by Ruben Rafkin to deny the German side a second.
Minutes later, Urbas wouldn't be denied again. A brilliant stretch pass sent him in all alone on the right hand side, and his quick snap shot went over the glove of Kareev to open a 2-0 lead with just under 15 minutes remaining.
Bremerhaven continued to look in control, throwing more pucks towards Kareev but unable to break through again, until later on. A turnover by Turku while Kareev was on the bench for an extra attacker was picked up by Ross Mauermann who put the icing on the cake, keeping Bremerhaven in the qualification spots after three games in Group A. Brandon Maxwell came up huge for the home side with a big shutout win thanks to 19 saves in Bremerhaven's first-ever CHL game on home ice.