In the fastest-paced game of the 92nd Spengler Cup tournament, HC Davos fell short in the semi-final game against KalPa Kuopio on Saturday evening. Yannick Frehner was able to equalize the game for the home team in the 46th minute, but just 5 minutes later Jaakko Rissanen re-took the lead for the Finns 2-1. They will play in the finals for the first time on Monday at noon against the defending champion Team Canada.

The Finns started the game like a display of fireworks. Thanks to the exceptional skating skills of all their players, KalPa put so much pressure on the home team that they barely got the puck out of their own zone. The logical result was KalPa’s go-ahead goal after only 131 seconds resulting from a long shot by Kim Nousianen. The Davos team needed quite a bit of time to adjust to the relentless assault by the guests. This was confirmed by the statistic: in the first 11 minutes HCD goaltender Gilles Senn had 11 shots-on-goal to deflect, during the rest of the period only once more.

The intermediate result after 40 minutes was 1-0 for KalPa Kuopio. However, the spectators had absolutely no cause to complain that it was a boring game. Both teams delivered an enthralling, offensive slugfest with many scoring opportunities. The shots-on-goal ratio was 8-8 in the second period, the puck narrowly missing the goal posts often while the players made daredevil shots.

The host team finally made it work in the 46th minute. The 20-year old Yannick Frehner, member of the young 4th block, sunk the puck to make it 1-1. Shortly thereafter the Davos team missed several chances to take the lead during the only power play situation. The opponents did it better. Jaakko Rissanen completed a counterattack after receiving an ideal cross pass from Alexandre Texier 2-1 and secured the final ticket for the Finns.

Davos – KalPa Kuopio 1-2 (0-1, 0-0, 1-1)

Vaillant Arena, Davos – 6,300 spectators (sold-out) – REF Gofman/Watson (RUS/CAN), Fuchs/Wüst.

Scoring: 3. Nousiainen (Mäkinen) 1-0. 46. Frehner (Egli, Aeschlimann) 1-1. 51. Rissanen (Texier, Ruuttu) 2-1.

Penalties: 1 time 2 minutes against KalPa Kuopio, 1 time 2 minutes against Davos.

KalPa Kuopio: Manzato; Wilson, Leskinen; Fairchild, Seppälä; Mäkinen, Gröndahl; Lappalainen, Nousiainen; Ruuttu, Rissanen, Texier; Kantola, Luostarinen, Klemetti; Jokinen, Nuutinen, Sebok; Kononen, Knuutinen, Vainiola.

Davos: Senn; Jung, Sanguinetti; Kparghai, Heldner; Stoop, Payr; Buchli; Klasen, Simion, Lindgren; Meyer, Bader, Pestoni; Corvi, Marc Wieser, Dino Wieser; Frehner, Aeschlimann, Kessler; Egli.