Livescore
Färjestad won promotion to Sweden’s top league in dramatic fashion on Sunday. With the score against the SDHL incumbents tied 1-1 after regulation, the game went to overtime, and continued into overtime. And continued. And continued. In all, 156 minutes were played. Five overtimes. With intermissions (of which there were seven), the game lasted over five and a half hours. Both team’s goalies played brilliantly — Emma Polusny, in Leksand’s goal, made 77 saves on 79 shots. Her heroics were eclipsed however, by her adversary, Färjestad’s Amanda Rampado. Rampado, almost inconceivably, allowed a single goal and made, wait for it, 97 saves. She held on and held on, and never appeared flustered. She kept her team alive until finally, mercifully, her teammate Wilma Johansson jumped on a bouncing puck and fired home the game winning goal.
One has to feel for Leksand and Polusny, who battled and played their hearts out for the chance to retain their spot in the top league. They endured a trying regular season that ended with 18 straight losses, and, after winning Game 1 of their best of 3 SDHL qualification series, seemed poised to be rewarded for their suffering. But Färjestad took Game 2, a relatively short game that needed only two overtimes to decide a winner, 3-2. Game 3, the decisive game, was one for the ages. In all, these athletes played over 238 minutes, or nearly 12 periods, in two days, and their determination never wavered. Leksand may have lost, but they did themselves proud.
Färjestad is the third NDHL team in three years to win promotion, following Skellefteå AIK last season and Frölunda the year before.
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