Tappara lost the CHL final in Sweden to Rögle with 1-2 goals.
Dennis Everberg of Röglen celebrates a 2-0 goal shot outside Daniel Zaar’s picture. EPA / AOP
During the match, Tappara said on his website that the CHL (Champions Hockey League) final was the most important match in club history.
It ended in a meager loss at Rögle BK’s home field in Sweden.
At the same time, the biggest jackpot remained for Tappara. Its prize money, including previous rounds, is approximately € 320,000. Rögle, who won the championship, will receive a total of about half a million euros.
Tappara met his former player in the finals when he represented the club in 2016–2021 Valtteri Kemiläinen played in Rögle’s No. 1 field. A couple of the recent Olympic winners were also defended by a Finn Tony Sund.
New star reinforcements, moved from KHL Jokers Veli-Matti Savinainen and Otto Leskinen were already in Tappara’s lineup.
Tappara pressed
Ängelholm’s hosts were lucky enough to hit the early lead. Anton Bengtsson the shot bounced straight through Tappara-Pak Daniel Zaarillewhich had an easy job squeezing the puck Christian Heljangon guard the finish.
Gamingly, Tappara had no worries – it won the opening round shots towards goal 11-5 – but there was no result. At the end of the batch Anton Levtchi did not hit the back post in front of an empty goal feed.
In the second set, Zaar fired with force directly from the cross pass to Rögle’s 2-0 lead.
In the third installment, Tappara narrowed Waltteri Merelän with an accurate shot that sank into the backpack at the end of a direct attack. It silenced for a moment the audience that had wildly encouraged the sold-out Catena Arena. Levtchi and Tyler Morley.
Midway through the lot Dennis Everberg got straight through the ice rink alone, but the squeak of the pole saved Tappara from a setback.
In the last minutes, Tappara pressed over furiously, and Rögle’s goal was seen with considerable grunts, but there was no leveling.
JYP only
The current league of hockey champions (CHL) has been played since the 2014-2015 season. So far, JYP has brought the only jug to Finland in the 2017–2018 season.
For Rögle, the CHL championship is the first – it was only playing in the CHL for the first time – but for the SHL clubs already the sixth. Frölunda has won the most titles, four.
– You can be proud of the Finnish team, C Morella commented on the match Sami Kapanen praised Tappara’s strong performance and fierce fighting.
Corrected at 10.27 pm: JYP won in 2017-18 and not 2016-17 as first mentioned in the text.