CC 2019: Storvreta IBK - Florbal Mlada Bolesav 10-5 (2-0, 3-3, 5-2)

The semifinal day of the 2019 Floorball Champions Cup concluded with the 2nd Men Semifinal. Swedish Champion Storvreta IBK faced Czech contestant Technology Florbal Mlada Bolesav. Like in the women match before, the Swedish team just has been expected to win this one – anything but Storvreta making it to the finals would have been a massive surprise. Alexander Rudd was missing this semifinal, though. There were also some inuuries on the Czech side, though. Both teams had just had a total of 18 players on the bench. Closeby Storvreta was thereby pushed by some supporters.

There is a full size picture gallery of this match.

Storvreta vs. Florbal MB – Match Report

It was quite a close match in the first period. Mlada Bolesav really gave a huge fight against the favorites and could keep a close score: Storvreta just converted twice, with Linus Jamtdal (3rd) and Albin Sjögren (14th) doing the scoring work. The Czech had a very solid defense and showed some nice attacks on Viktor Klinsten, who even had more saves than Lukas Bauer after 20 minutes.

Spectacular 2nd Period

As a neutral spectator who might even pray for the second upset of the day, the second period was even more fun to watch. Sjögren went for his second goal from the left wing, when he nailed the ball in the net in the 23rd minute. But Jan Rehor closed up the score one minute later, running behind the goal and doing a flat shot. Quite an entertaining time now, as it took Valdemar Ahlroth just ten seconds after face off to score for Storvreta. Bauer could not block his shot from the slot.

After these turbulent first minutes, there were some nice chances, but no goals for a while. Ales Hoffer scored the second goal for the Czech after a free hit in the 33rd minute. Ahlroth had to serve a penalty right thereafter, but Viktor Klinsten saved the situations. Just being in full strength, Sjögren converted a fast break with a nice shot. Mlada Bolesav was very competetive in this period and scored the final goal of the period. In the second last minute, Tadeas Chroust hammered the ball into the long corner from the right wing 5-4 for Storvreta after 40 minutes.

… but Storvreta did it

Ahlroth scred the first goal of the third period, doing the sixth one from the slot (44th). Jan Natov closed up the score again from the right wing some two minutes later. Storvreta got the momentum thereafter. Three goals in a row paved the way to the final. Jesper Berggren took profit of a nice pass from Henrik Stenberg in the 49th minute, while Sjögren scored his fourth goal of the day 90 seconds later by a nice spin shot. Pettersson’s goal in the 53th minute raised the score to 9-4. Mlada Bolesav now even partially played without goalie, but there was only one more strike on their side by Jiri Curney, before Tobias Gustafsson did the last goal of the day in the 59th minute.

Storvreta vs. Florbal MB – My View of the Match

Florbal Mlada Bolesav gave a great performance. Especially in the second period, there was a chance of putting quite some pressure on the Swedish champion. I would have loved to see them convert their power play opportunities to close up to 4-3. Storvreta played like a real champion, though. Maybe even a bit too controlled – but strong enough to face Classic in the finals after their win against Köniz.

Storvreta vs. Florbal MB – Lineups

Storvreta IBK: 80 Viktor Klintsten, 1 Simon Olofsson, 69 Jakob Pettersson – 8 Jimmie Pettersson, 10 Fredik Lindholm, 11 Filip Stenmark, 12 Henrik Stenberg, 13 Mattias Samuelsson, 16 Victor Andersson, 17 Niklas Winroth, 20 Valdemar Ahlroth, 21 Jesper Berggren, 22 Albin Sjögren, 24 Linus Jamtdal, 50 Michael Jansson, 66 Rasmus Sundstedt, 77 Tobias Gustafsson, 83 Emil Helmrich, 97 Robin Nilsberth

Technology Florbal Mlada Bolesav: 74 Lukas Bauer, 80 Petr Musil – 7 Tomas Novak, 14 Tomas Chroust, 16 Tadeas Chroust, 17 Jakub Bina, 18 Jan Rehor, 20 Martin Tokos, 24 Josef Pluhar, 25 Jakub Gruber, 28 Ales Hoffer, 33 Jan Jelinek, 40 Jiri Curney, 58 Filip Zakonov, 70 Petr Krzyzanek, 71 Milan Tomasik, 88 Jan Natov