Home » World » Rögle–Växjö 4–2: My five impressions from Rögle’s improbable playoff march

Rögle–Växjö 4–2: My five impressions from Rögle’s improbable playoff march

Rögle is ready for the SM final. Despite a 0–2 deficit after the first period, Rögle also won the fourth match in the semi-final series against Växjö. It was 4-0 in matches for this Rögle, who won 13 in a row.
Here are Gustav Lundblad’s five impressions from the match and an unlikely playoff.

Rögle–Växjö 4–2

(0–2, 1–0, 3–0)

First period:
0–1, 12:08, Brian Cooper (Joachim Blichfeld)
0–2, 16:52, Manuel Ågren (Brian Cooper)
Second period:
1–2, 9:12, Adam Tambellini (Adam Engström, Lian Bichsel)
Third period:
2–2, 2:39, Simon Ryfors (Brady Ferguson, Michael Kapla) (PP)
3–2, 8:50, Daniel Zaar (Simon Ryfors, Dennis Everberg) (PP)
4–2, 18:35, Daniel Zaar (Lian Bichsel) (tom bur)

Shot: 25–34 (8–15, 8–14, 9–5)
Expulsions: Rögle: 1 x 2 min. Växjö: 2 x 2 min + 1 x 5 min + 1 x 20 min.
Public: 6310

Rögle to the SM final with 4–0 in matches.

1. In motion

“The full day, it is never the greatest.
The best day is a day of thirst.
Of course there is a goal and meaning in our journey – but it is the path that is worth the effort”
– Ur Karin Boye, In movement

Rögle. Rögle. Rögle.

4–2 in the Catena Arena. Roger Hansson looked ecstatic out there on the ice after another victory, another success, another step on the long road to the looming final goal – a road that continues to look as straight as nails for Rögle.
But even if Rögle would not win the SM gold, this team has given all the green and whites – and many more – memories that they will never forget.
Their playoff run is historic, improbable.
What is Jörgen Jönsson thinking tonight? Can he do anything but smile at his boyhood club achieving one of its greatest successes? Given that there was simply nothing they could do about it. In reality, neither Färjestad nor Växjö had any chance of knocking Rögle BK out of this SM play-off.
It wasn’t meant for Rögle to lose.

“The best goal is an all-night rest,
where the fire is lit and the bread is broken in haste.
In places where you only sleep once,
sleep will be secure and the dream full of song.
Break up, break up! The new day dawns.
Infinite is our great adventure.”
– Ur Karin Boye, In movement

2. Lack of reaction

I was at Skånesport’s office earlier today and as the conversation went then, in the middle of all the other football talk, we who drank coffee pretty much agreed that there could probably be a reaction for Rögle tonight.
That that winning streak would stop at twelve games and that Rögle would perhaps rather than 4–0 win the match series with 4–1 or 4–2.
That’s how it looked to be in the first period as well. After a tentative start, desperate Småland players washed Rögle off the ice.
And when they flushed, the home team pinned them in their own zone and thundered in 0–1. They tore apart Lian Bichsel and Ludvig Claesson and Manuel Ågren feinted and made it 0–2.
It was easy to expect that Växjö would win this fourth game then.
But Rögle in the spring of 2024 is something else, something that does not lock itself into the expectations of those around it.
Apart from the expectation that they will win every game.
Because they do.

3. Swag the PP

Rögle came out as a different team in the second period. A propagandistic attack with a backward and peeking Daniel Zaar, with Bichsel and Adam Engström in cross-passing lead roles, led to Adam Tambellini sending the reduction puck into an almost empty goal.
When Växjö got Powerplay, assistant coach Nicklas Rahm spoke in the TV interview that “have some swagger and come out and deliver” in numerical superiority.
They gave it an honest try to put a bigger nail in the Rögle coffin, Robert Rosén got free – but Christoffer Rifalk saved again.
Instead, it was Rögle who showed swag the PP.
They had two chances at the start of the third period.
They scored two goals.

4. Zaar, bara Zaar

Rögle’s regular season ended with Daniel Zaar’s overtime goal at home against MoDo.
It was his seventh goal in 41 games played in the 2023-24 SHL.
After tonight’s crazy third period, he has scored as many goals in TEN playoff games.
The playoff’s shooting league leader made it 3–2 after Dennis Everberg dug the puck out of a hole in front of Emil Larmi.
Then he ended the evening, the semi-final series and Växjö’s season by scoring 4–2 in an empty net.

Zaar and Simon Ryfor’s power play goals at the beginning of the third period more or less took the must out of Växjö.
When Eric Martinsson also received a match penalty and a five-minute suspension for a two-handed slash against Everberg – when there were only eight minutes remaining – the situation looked even worse for Växjö.
They were only down by one goal, but it never really felt exciting in the final minutes, when they took out the goalie and took a timeout.
They made a good semi-final series, they were clearly better than Rögle’s first opponent Färjestad – but they were not enough against the Röglemachine 2024.

5. Does this ever happen again?

It will now be 13 days before hockey will be played in Catena Arena again.
The Rögle players get to rest a little over a week before the SC final series begins, in Skellefteå or Gothenburg.
All Rögle fans can take this weekend to cozy up properly.
Their team has given them an experience that may never come again – regardless of how it goes in the SC final.
• 13 straight wins.
• 4–0 against the regular season winners.
• 4–0 against the reigning champions.
• The association’s second SC final ticket ever.
What they have done is completely improbable.
Thursday, April 11, 2024 is a day of triumph for Rögle BK, which was not least accentuated in the TV broadcast where Kenny Jönsson, Ted Brithén – and a magnanimous Chris Abbott wearing a Rögle shirt – all got to participate and send even more good feelings into the hearts of North-West Skåne .
Towards the SM final.
It is the path that is worth the effort.

Photo: Bildbyrån

Contact details:
gustav.lundblad@skanesport.se

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