valeranga .
Vålerenga Storhamar
1/2 Finals game, Storhamar leads the serie 1:0 (4:1)
Two teams that were two levels above the whole league for last few seasons met in Semi Finals. This season neither of this two played as expected. That especially goes for Storhamar who finished only fourth, nine points behind 2nd Valerenga and 12 pts behind the regular season champions Frisk Asker. Their domination is in question now as for first time in last four seasons neither of this two won regular championship. Rivalry between this two has become bigger then ever during last few season, and so far Valerenga proved as better team with W19-D8-L15 against Storhamar during last four seasons and three champions title to Storhamar one (i don't count regular season titles as Play-off is totally different scheme and style of play).
Don't get fooled by result of first match, Storhamar did won 4:1, but they played extremely defensive, they took very early lead and after two mins of game it was 2:0. Afterwards only Valerenga pushed while Storhamar defended most of match. Valerenga had 41 shots on goal to only 19 shots of Storhamar, and i think that in 8 of 10 games Valerenga would win with this shot ratio, but Storhamar early lead and a bit of luck made the result.
Today Valerenga will probably play the same, offensively, trying to equalize the series. Only minus that i can see for Valerenga in this match (and whole serie) is their tiredness as they had big problems in defeating Lillehammer (4-3 in series) and even in those games home advantage proved as crucial. Storhamar didn't had bigger problems against, this season totally average, Stavanger and swept them with easy 4-0. But even in that games Storhamar didn't played as supposed, and played much more defensive then usual. Valerenga likes to play at home against Storhamar, their record shows it good: W11-D5-L5 in last four seasons. This serie should be very tight, Valerenga players could be tired, but i think it will be of bigger importance in last few games of the series. In this season regular part they've met six times:
2008-02-21 Storhamar 3-5 Valerenga
2008-01-29 Valerenga 4-0 Storhamar
2008-01-10 Valerenga 1-2 Storhamar
2007-12-02 Storhamar 6-2 Valerenga
2007-10-18 Valerenga 3-2 Storhamar
2007-10-02 Storhamar 2-3 Valerenga
I expect pressure from Valerenga from the start and their win, be it minimal or big...
Pick : Valerenga
Odds : 2.00
Stake : 5 / 10
Bookmaker : Expekt
Date : 2008-03-11
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