Espoo Blues will meet Zürich Lions of Switzerland in the semi-finals of the Champions Hockey League.
Their opponents became clear in the last round of matches in the group stages on Wednesday, when Zürich overturned an earlier home loss and beat Slavia Prague 5-1 in Prague to snatch top spot in Group D.
The Zurich Lions' hero on the night was veteran Finnish goalie Ari Sulander, 39, who had a blinder of a match and pulled off no fewer than 51 saves.
Espoo Blues themselves were in Sweden to play HV-71 in a match without any real significance, given that Blues had already ensured their qualification to the knock-out stages.
In any event, they thrashed their hosts 6-0 in Jönköping, with a brace of goals each from Tero Konttinen and Sami Ryhänen and one apiece from Jani Lajunen and Patrik Lostedt.
The Espoo team thus won all four of their games, but coach Petri Matikainen realises that Zürich will provide a stiffer test to come, and if they can defeat the Swiss side they will have to face the winners of a tough all-Russian semifinal encounter between Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Salavat Julajev Ufa.
The first semi-final will be played in Switzerland next Wednesday, with the return leg in the Espoo Arena on January 7th.
