Game 1 of the SDHL Finals was a tight affair marred once again by questionable officiating. This is a rematch of last season’s Semifinal, where Luleå swept Frölunda three games to none en route their sixth straight championship. 2024-25’s FHC will not go down so easily. They were a thorn in LHF’s side all season long, and the teams split their four regular season games with two wins apiece. Frölunda stars Andrea Dalen, Michelle Karvinen and Elisa Holopainen are playing some of their best hockey of the season right now, and are getting further offensive support from the team’s second and third lines as well.
Luleå, meanwhile, have the firepower (on paper, at least) to score at will. The funny thing is, despite sweeping their first two playoff series, the team has not been scoring at a particularly impressive clip. Coming into the Finals, they were only 18% on the power play, which is fine, but certainly not dominant. Too often, their stars have gone missing for long stretches, or have forgotten that most goals are not pretty. They over pass or hang on to the puck too long, or shoot without traffic. Indeed, Luleå’s scoring efficiency prior to tonight’s game sat at just over 8 percent — difficult to understand when their roster is as stacked as it is.
In a scoreless opening frame, Luleå outshot Frölunda 12-9 but could not solve goaltender Steph Neatby, who played a much more patient, controlled game than her most recent outings against Brynäs. Luleå finally got on the board in the second period, when they dared to create more traffic and get pucks to the slot. Linnea Johansson scored from the doorstep and Petra Nieminen tallied from the right hash marks to make it 2-0 LHF after nearly 34 minutes of play. Frölunda, for their part, used their speed to burn Luleå’s defenders multiple times. While they did not score in the period, it never seemed like a goal was far off.
FHC got their goal early in the third period, when Felizia Wikner-Zienkiewicz potted her third of the playoffs. Her marker was assisted by Sanni Rantala and Emilia Vesa, who both had strong, bold outings, and dared to make plays. Vesa’s hard work was rewarded again in the waning minutes, when she tied the game at two apiece to silence the Luleå crowd.
In a controversial overtime finish, Michelle Karvinen was sprung on a breakaway and deked right on LHF goalie Sara Grahn. Karvinen lost control of the puck due to a plain as day flying Superman slash to her hands delivered by Luleå defender Camryn Wong. Karvinen, knocked off balance, fell forward as she skated past the net and made contact (entirely unintentional contact) with Grahn’s head. Grahn was eventually helped off the ice and replaced by backup Frida Axell. Wong was not penalized on the play, despite a lengthy referee conference at center ice. Play continued and Karvinen would not be denied again. Seven minutes in to overtime, she skated hard and deftly kept a puck from exiting the offensive zone, turned, deked and fired through traffic to beat Axell and Luleå. 34-year-old Karvinen, at her best, is the best player in the league.
Neatby made 29 saves for the win. Game 2 is on Friday at 7pm local time.