2023 Red Wings first rounder Axel Sandin Pellikka and Skellefteå AIK came up one goal short of winning the Champions Hockey League

Yesterday in Geneva, Axel Sandin Pellikka—whom the Red Wings selected 17th overall at the 2023 NHL Draft—and Skellefteå AIK came up one goal short of winning the Champions Hockey League, falling 3-2 to Genève-Servette in the final.

This year's CHL field featured 24 teams from across Europe, representing 11 different hockey leagues across the continent.  The final between Skellefteå and Genève-Servette featured the competition's northernmost team against its southernmost.

Sandin Pellikka played 14:21 in the final without recording a point.  However, in 10 games over the course of the tournament, he posted three goals and two assists—hardly a modest contribution from an 18-year-old defenseman in what is arguably the most talent-rich hockey competition in the world outside of the NHL.

This is, however, the second time this winter that Sandin Pellikka has fallen one game short of a gold medal, having been defeated in the gold medal game of the World Juniors by Team USA (and fellow Detroit prospect Trey Augustine) in early January.

There was one player with Red Wing ties who did come away with CHL victory: Finnish forward Valterri Filppula.  Filppula played 10 seasons and 591 games with Detroit across two stints with the team, a run that included the 2008 Stanley Cup triumph.  Filppula picked up an assist in the final, bringing his point total to 10 (three goals and seven helpers) in 13 games in the competition.

With the CHL over for the year, Skellefteå and Sandin Pellikka will turn their attention back to their domestic (rather than continental) competition, the SHL.  Skellefteå currently sit fourth in that table, seven points back of current leaders Färjestad.  Their first post-CHL game will come tomorrow against MoDo.

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