Tonight sees the second leg of the quarterfinals of this year's Champions Hockey League. And three of the four matches are very much in the balance after the first leg.

Frölunda v Brno

Only Frölunda Indians can say they have one foot in the semi finals after winning 4-1 away from home against Kometa Brno last week. The Swedes put the game to bed in the second period when they scored 3 goals in just 10 minutes. Gothenburg local, Patrik Carlsson gained four points on the night with 3 Goals and 1 Assist, the second of which came just 17 seconds into the second period. Then it was Norwegian Olympian, Mats Rosseli Olsen and Canadian Bronze medal Olympian, Chay Genoway who finished off the Czechs with half the match still to play. American Ryan Lasch picked up 3 assists on the night to become the competition's Top Scorer with 17 points (2G+15A).

Lasch, Carlsson and Rosseli Olsson have all won the CHL with Frölunda before and Brno will need to find something special in Sweden tonight if they are to stop the Indians' march towards another title.

The other three matches had dramatic third periods which leave all to play for in the final match.

Skellefteå v Pilsen

In the other Czech Republic v Sweden match, Skellefteå AIK were completely outplayed in the first two periods by visitors HC Pilsen and were down 3-0 at half way through the match. The scoring was opened at 11:20 by none other than Milan Gulas, who has played against tonight's opposition for four years for Färjestad BK and knows his opponents better than anyone else on the ice. When the 3-0 goal went in at 28:22, the Swedish manager Tommy Samuelsson called a time out and his "chat" with the players was recorded live on air.

But it was not so much this as his team talk in the pause before the third period that seemed to change the team. 2016 Calgary Flames drafted Linus Lindström has only scored one goal all season in the SHL*. But decided to buck the trend and score two goals in less than five minutes, sandwiched between 2003 St Louis Blues drafted, Juamatti Aaltonen's goal to leave the match at 3-3 at the final whistle. That sets up a winner-takes-all match tonight in the Czech Republic. I still favour Pilsen to maintain their unbeaten record in the competition, but if the Skellefteå who played in the third period turn up for the whole game it could be a very painful night for the home fans who will no doubt pack the arena tonight.

Malmö v Munich

The third and final Swedish team in the competition, Malmö Redhawks were away from home against Red Bull Munich. The first two periods lead to a 0-0 deadlock which was eventually broken in the third by the Swedes when their Danish striker, Frederik Störm scored with just under 15 minutes still to play in the match. The 3440 home fans were not disappointed though as Munich rallied, first scoring through 2005 San Jose Sharks drafted Derek Joslin less than two minutes after Störm to tie the game at 1-1. It was German Olympic Silver Medalist, Frank Mauer who would win the game for Red Bull when he slotted home the puck at 53:37 hardly given the Swedes time to reply. That leaves Munich in the driving seat with every chance of going through to the semi finals tonight in Malmö. However, I still favour the home side who are having an excellent season, currently lying only three points behind league leaders, Färjestad BK.*

Salzburg v Kärpät

In the final match of the first leg quarterfinals Red Bull Salzburg also took advantage of their Nordic opposition in the third period. The Austrian team took the lead early in the second period and doubled it again as the third period started, Canadian Brant Harris finding the net on both occasions. That give him the team's Top Scorer jersey for tonight's match.

But then it was the Finnish league leaders, Kärpät Oulu, who then replied with two to tie the game, the first of which was scored by their CHL top scorer, Swede Niklas Lasu. However, the home team were not to be denied, and with just 23 seconds left on the clock, Canadian John Hughes stepped up and knocked in the winner for the Austrians.

For me, my predictions from before the first round still stand and tonight's fixtures will be won by the home teams Frölunda Indians, HC Pilsen, Malmö Redhawks and Kärpät Oulu. They must win by a simple aggregate of the scores from the two matches and I think they will maintain the Nordic stranglehold which has dominated the Champions Hockey League since it's inception in 2014/5. If either of the Red Bull teams go through it will be the first time either Austrian or German teams have got to the semi final in the competition which has been won 3 times by Sweden and 1 by Finland.

*as of 07/12/18

Rasmus Sandin - Toronto Marlies (AHL)

Although only 18, the offense minded back has already played at junior level for MODO Hockey, Almtuna and Brynäs IF. However his only games in the SHL were last year for Rögle BK, where he played five games before he moved to the OHL where he had a breakout year with 45 points in 51 games, making him the highest scoring European back in the league. That caught the attention of the Toronto Maple Leafs who drafted him last summer in round 1 and he has continued to produce points in their AHL team this season.

The Junior Worlds will not be his first experience of international play for Sweden, Sandin has already represented his country at U16, U17 and U20 level, captaining the team at the U17 WHC tournament in 2016/7. This however, will be his first Junior World Championship.

Erik Brännström- Chicago Wolves (AHL)

Erik Brännström might only be 19 but has already played 2 seasons in the SHL with HV71 and is younger brother to Isac Brännström (pictured). As well as putting out good numbers he has been captain of Sweden at U16 and U17 level as well as the Jönköping club at U20 level. He was assistant captain at U18 level as well as for the team that won Silver at the Junior Worlds last year. His height at 179cm/ 5ft 10" is short for a NHL defenseman and may be the only thing stopping him having a successful career in North America. However that has not stopped Vegas Golden Knights drafting him in round 1 in 2017 and so far this season he has a a 0.80 PPG for 20 games with the Knights' AHL affiliated team, Chicago Wolves. You can be certain he will be adding to the four points he gained at last year's at Junior Worlds.

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On Wednesday 5 December Team Sweden announced it's squad for the forthcoming Junior World Championships in Vancouver where Sweden will be hoping to go one better than their Silver last year.

The team is mainly drawn from the top division, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), but includes a number of unexpected names from the second tier, Hockey Allsvenskan.

But in this article I'm going to take a look at the players who are currently playing in North America.

They have, naturally, all played at international level in every age category from U16 upwards and all, apart from one have been captain or assistant captain at for the national team. It is primarily their achievements on the international stage that drawn attention of North Americans clubs that they now play for but they have all played in the SHL whilst still juniors.

The six players are drawn from two different leagues - the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

The AHL will be familiar to readers of my blog, as the development league for the NHL teams. The standard is similar to the SHL but the age group younger, usually between 18-25. This is because of the because of complicated eligibility rules which are focused on developing a through-flow of players who can develop in their time there before moving on.

So the AHL is not only is the training ground for potential NHL stars, but is the workplace for both North Americans and Swedes who will later be key players in the SHL and other European leagues. For example Rhett Rakhshani, Andrew Gordon, Jacob Josefson and Cristopher Nihlstorp have all had significant spells in the league.

The OHL is one of three junior leagues in Canada for those aged 16-21 and is considered one of the toughest in the world as players fight, often literally, for their professional hockey career. Both Toronto and Ottawa lie in the province of Ontario and over a third of Canada's population live there making it a natural home for the country's national sport. The league's most famous son is Wayne Gretzky but Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane also played in the league.

We're now going to take a look at each player in turn, first Erik Brännström, Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren who are in the AHL; then Adam Boqvist (pictured), Rikard Hugg and Hugo Leufvenius who are in the OHL.

6. Färjestad BK

Until now Färjestad have been in the bottom half of the table, but this November they have won 6 out of 8 games and taken points from those other two matches where they twice lost in Overtime.

The team is very similar to last year's, with no big splash out on import players. Perhaps the most significant pre-season signing was netminder, Markus Svensson but it has been his colleague, Adam Werner who leads the team with a 92.95 SVS% putting him fourth overall in the SHL.

Losing two of their top scorers from 2017/8 meant the team has had to find itself again up front. And it has been new signing, 26 year old Swede, Jesper Olofsson and club stalwart, 32 year old Johan Ryno who have taken up the challenge leading the way in points production from the forwards. This month has also seen the return of one of last year's stars, Michael Lindqvist (above). The 24 year old had started the 2018/9 season with Hartford Wolf Pack, the New York Rangers' AHL development team after a breakout first season in the SHL last year. On his return to Stockholm he started where he left of with four points in just five games (1G+4A). However, the top scorer in the team is currently not a forward but Finnish defenseman Jesse Virtanen with 15 points, including 13 assists.

If they can continue with this kind of form they may turn out to be the surprise winners of this year's SHL.

5. Djurgården IF

November has seen the return of two players from North America who had an enormous impact for the Stockholm club last season. 21 year old Jonathan Davidsson only got as far as training with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but 20 year old Axel Jonsson Fjällby got to play 16 games with Washington Capitals' AHL development team, the Hershey Bears.

This is a team that is designed to score goals with the first line of Jacob Josefson, Jakob Lilja and Daniel Brodin already with 56 points between them in just 29 games. Then there's Emil Bemström (above), the 19 year old who is leading the whole SHL with 11 goals and was drafted ahead of Jonathan Davidsson by Columbus in the same year, 2017.

For Djurgården attack is the best form of defense and that can be seen in that it is the forwards that lead the team in hits - and penalty minutes. November has been a month where they have continued to score goals, but ultimately have lost more matches than they have won- a trend that will need to change if they want to get further than last year's semi final place.

4. Malmö Redhawks

Malmö's surprising success at the start of the year seemed to have run into the ground when they were on the receiving end of embarrassing 0-9 defeat at Skellefteå AIK. Since then the Redhawks have won all three matches they've played, - even if they twice needed penalties to do it. Tough tackling Emil Sylvegård has lead the charge with three goals and an assist in those matches and Konstantin Komarek (pictured) scored two goals to take him to the top of Total Points in the team with 16 (6G+10A). Austrian Komarek was one of the penalty scorers when Malmö beat HV71 whilst Johan Olofsson got the other from a match against bottom of the table Mora IK.

3. Växjö Lakers

The Lakers were the deserved winners of last year's SHL, the league that apart from the KHL can rightly call itself the best in Europe. However, one of the costs of success in the league is that good players don't stay around long as the SHL is also a shop window for other clubs. The team lost it's top three scorers, Elias Pettersson, Andrew Calof and Robert Rosén but also two talented stand ins, Andy Miele and Dennis Rasmussen. Whilst Pettersson has thrived in Canada for the Vancouver Canucks, the other four have all gone to Russia. So it is no surprise that the Lakers crashed out if the CHL with lackluster results and have spent most of the season in around 10th place.

Until now.

The club has not lost in regulation since 3 November and has beaten Luleå and Djurgården scoring 28- 20 in the month.

The team's top scoring Finn from last year, 36 year old Janne Pesonen (above) is now leading the team in goals. He was drafted by Anaheim Ducks in 2004 and has played in the KHL before moving to Sweden where he is in his second season. But it is Czech import player, Roman Horák who leads on Total Points in his first season in the SHL. The 27 year old also comes in from the KHL before moving from and was drafted by New York Rangers in 2009.

2. Frölunda Indians

Frölunda have had a busy November with 8 matches in the SHL and home and away victories in the Champions Hockey League against Lugano HC. And it is their five victories have kept them at the top of the table. Ryan Lasch lies in first place as the top scorer in the league with 22 points(7G+15A) in contention to repeat his 2015/6 victory as the SHL's Top Points Scorer.

18 year old, Samuel Fagemo (pictured) has been given the honored role of playing alongside the 31 year old American and 36 year old Swede and team captain, Joel Lundqvist in the top line. He will surely play in the Junior World Championships over New Year and see himself drafted next summer if he continues with the form in front of net he has shown so far this season.

The SHL season is nearly half way through as December starts and the table is as tight as its ever been - only 9 points separate the first 10 teams meaning that every single point counts. Below we will have a look at the top six teams as of 30 November.

1. Luleå HF

Lulea's success was not something many predicted. The team is largely unchanged from last year including the same manager, Luleå's own, Thomas Berglund. Since taking Brynäs to an unlikely final place in 2016/7 he returned to his own club where he himself played his professional career. The team has only two players with NHL experience, newcomer and captain, Erik Gustafsson and Johan Harju. Harju played just 2 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning who drafted him in 2007 and defenseman, Gustafsson was never drafted. Instead he came through the NCAA college system and played 91 games for Philadelphia Flyers and 114 in the AHL between 2009-2014.

The skills of Joel Lassinantti in goal are well known- but they can fluctuate. Last year he finished seventh overall, but this year he lies in second with 93.99 SVS%. This is the best stats of his career at Luleå, his local club where he has played since U16 level. It is even better than the 2014/5 season when Luleå won the first Champions Hockey League and the 25 year old was SHL Keeper of the Year.

The final key factor is the rise of American, Jack Connelly into one of the top scoring import players in the league. A player who has a 0.50 PPG in 7 seasons in the SHL is bashing out a 0.90 PPG and has landing himself in fourth in Total Points.