Two days doesn’t seem enough time to recover from the grueling 7-game series Minsk and Bratislava endured, but the Hussars and Eagles will do battle soon in Game 1 of the Season 8 EURO Cup Finals. Minsk got past Belfast and Bratislava edged Lisbon on a Milan Gulas goal in overtime of Game 7.
Minsk has been here before, two seasons ago to be precise, when they took home the Cup after quickly dousing Paris’ hopes in 4 games. Three players in the Bratislava lineup have made it this far in their careers – Alexander Ovechkin (with Belfast), Scott Hartnell (with Athens) and Josh Gorges (with Berlin) – as has another very important person. Lindy Ruff was coach of the Hussars when they lifted the Cup but he signed a contract with Bratislava the next season. If anyone knows how to find the chinks in Minsk’s awesome armor, it’s Ruff. Dave Tippett is running the show in Minsk this season.
Statistically speaking, it seems both teams deserve to be in the finals. The series will be a matchup of two of the league’s top defenses. During the season, Minsk allowed the fewest shots per game in the league. Bratislava was second. Minsk had the lowest goals against average (2.49); the Eagles were fifth (2.74). Minsk was also tops in offense leading the EURO in shots per game and goals scored per game, with Bratislava 4 and 3 spots behind them, respectively.
Their top centers are both defensive studs who can score points with the best of them. Jordan Staal of the Hussars was second in the league in scoring (108 points), with Jonathan Toews of the Eagles right behind him in third (104). Minsk gets more scoring from its second line; Bratislava doesn’t take as many penalties.
On defense, Tyler Myers is the highest scorer of all EURO blueliners and he will line up for Bratislava with partner Michael Stone. Minsk features a fearsome foursome of Ryan McDonagh, Michael Del Zotto, Mxim Chudinov and Aaron Ekblad that has been a force for several seasons now. In goal, it’s Minsk’s Carey Price (90.6 save percentage in the regular season and 91.5 in the playoffs) versus Bratislava’s Marc-Andre Fleury (90.1 and 89.1). Fleury’s age, 34, and the fact his stats worsened in the playoffs are seen as frightful signs in Bratislava, where they are praying for a win in Game 1 or 2 to break Minsk’s home-ice advantage.
Each team has one starter with strong ties to the other side. Luke Adam was an Eagle for three seasons before being traded to Stockholm and today he is a third-line winger in Minsk, having been acquired off the waiver wire. He has scored 7 goals in 15 playoff games this season. Minsk also has former Eagle David Schlemko as a reserve defenseman. Bratislava’s Evgeni Solomonov never played for Minsk, but he was born in southeastern Belarus, about a 4-hour drive from Minsk. He was the third-last played taken in the Season 5 draft and the Eagles didn’t use him until this season. Solomonov tallied 52 points in the regular season and 11 in the playoffs so far.
