Frolunda Gothenburg is the club champion of European ice hockey for 2015-16, following a dramatic 3-2 overtime victory on home ice over rival Swedish club Lulea Hockey in Tuesday’s Champions Hockey League final before a sell-out crowd of 12,044 at Scandinavium.
The win is Frolunda’s fifth European title in 11 CHL seasons – no other club has won more than once.
The overtime hero was Finnish left winger Jere Innala, who fired a one-time blast on the power play that was perfectly teed up by defender Henrik Tommernes 4:57 into the extra frame. All three of Frolunda’s goals in the game came on special teams.
“That was one of our goals this season and we got it done, so it feels amazing,” Innala said about the CHL victory. “Playing 3-on-3, both teams are gonna get chances, and we got the power play and we used it, so I’m happy.”
It was an exciting finish to a game that saw Frolunda twice take the lead and Lulea answer – including a last-minute equalizer to force overtime – but it took a while for the game to get going.
The first half of regulation time saw little in the way of offence and no scoring, with Frolunda holding a slight edge in play. The home side finally connected while down a man, with Innala in the penalty box for tripping. On a shorthanded breakaway, veteran centre Nicklas Lasu, who had been on three of Frolunda’s previous CHL-winning teams, beat Lulea goaltender Mateus Ward with a quick wrister to the blocker side.
Lulea tied it for the first time early in the third, when Eetu Koivisstoinen deflected Mathias Brome’s rising shot on a play that needed video replay to confirm. Frolunda regained the lead six minutes later on a similar-looking play at the other end of the ice. On their first power play of the game, it was a chest-high point shot from Tommernes that former NHLer Jacob Peterson got a stick on.
It looked like that might be it, but with Ward on the bench for a sixth attacker and time running out, Lulea forced just the second overtime game in CHL finals history, firing a shot from a sharp angle that found space in the far top corner of the net with 17 seconds remaining.
🚨 GOAL 🚨 @LuleaHockey pull their goalie and equalise with just 16 seconds left on the clock! ☝️#ChampionsGoBeyond pic.twitter.com/yuvgyuUqQc
— Champions Hockey League (@championshockey) March 3, 2026
“It was an unreal game and unreal atmosphere tonight,” said Frolunda captain Max Friberg, who was also voted MVP of the 2025-26 CHL season with 12 points in 13 games. “I can’t really take it in now. It’s a great feeling, being able to put on that kind of performance that we did.”
Friberg, 33, returned to Sweden from North America to join Frolunda in 2017 and has played for the team ever since. He was part of two of the team’s CHL titles and assumed the captaincy after Joel Lundqvist’s retirement in 2023.
“I’m really proud of the boys,” Friberg continued. “How they were able to battle both physically and mentally – they scored with 17 seconds left and they just bounced back and stayed focused for the overtime. I’m really proud of my team.”
“I’m so happy and I’m glad we got the victory,” said 18-year-old winger Ivar Stenberg, who is one of the top prospects for the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. While he only had three points in 12 CHL games, Stenberg has had an outstanding season in the SHL with 32 points in 38 games, and was a driving force in Sweden’s gold medal at this year’s IIHF World Junior Championship.
“It means a lot to do this with all the guys,” Stenberg continued. “It’s something I’ll take with me my whole life.”
The win was revenge of sorts, as Lulea defeated Frolunda 4-2 in the CHL back in 2014-15 – the competition’s “reboot” season. However, very few of the participants in this year’s game were involved in the title game 11 years ago in Lulea.
Lasu was the only on-ice participant in this year’s final who also suited up for the 2014-15 final. Veteran goalie Joel Lassinantti, who was in goal for Lulea’s CHL win in 2014-15, was backing up Ward in this game.
Following that, Frolunda won four of the next five CHL titles in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020. The Gothenburg team had to wait a while to return to the top, but finally got its fifth European title in 2026.
The feeling of lifting the European Trophy! 💥🏆 #chlfinal2026 pic.twitter.com/Jyn1tQzpus
— Champions Hockey League (@championshockey) March 3, 2026
This year’s CHL
Frolunda finished third in the CHL’s regular season with five wins and an overtime loss, while Lulea finished ninth with three wins and three losses. In the playoffs, Frolunda dispatched Grenoble from France, ERC Ingolstadt from Germany and Brynas Gavle from Sweden to reach the final. Lulea beat Kometa Brno from Czechia, Ilves Tampere from Finland, and EV Zug from Switzerland.
Two Zug players, Gregory Hofmann and Dominik Kubalik, tied for the CHL scoring lead with 13 points each – Hofmann won the scoring title by scoring six goals to Kubalik’s five.
Hofmann, Frolunda’s Peterson, Zug’s Tomas Tatar, Ingolstadt’s Riley Barber and Jan Urbas of Germany’s Pinguins Bremerhaven all had six goals. Innala, whose OT-winner in the final was only his second goal of the competition, actually led the CHL this season with 10 assists, followed by nine from Friberg and Brome.
Tommernes and Lukko Rauma’s Eric Gelinas were the top scorers among defenders with 10 points each.
Among goalies, Frolunda’s Tobias Normann earned six of his team’s nine wins. Veteran Lukko goalie Antti Raanta also won six games.
Neither Frolunda nor Lulea has much time to dwell on Tuesday’s game as they return to SHL action on Thursday.
“We’ll see – we have another game on Thursday but I think we can find a good balance of both,” Friberg said about how Frolunda will celebrate. “(We can let) this sink in and have a good time, but we’re back in the league on Thursday.”