Two goals in 16 seconds, midway through the first period in the final of the European Trophy put the Eisbären Berlin on their way to a 5–3-victory against reigning Swedish champions HV 71. Eventually the club from the capital city of Germany, hade to pull out their best defensive game to hold on to the lead in the final period and make sure that the trophy and the prizemoney of 40 000 Euro ended up in Berlin.

The Berlinside took hold of the game right from the first draw, putting a lot of preassure in the Swedes and creating a lot of chances. But it took almost 12 minutes to break the deadlock, and there was a little bit of good fortune involed in the opening goal. The Swedish goalie Andreas Andersson tried to push the puck away, but it hit Laurin Braun and was deflected into the net for the first goal.

If the first goal was a bit fortuitous, the second was a gem. André Rankel found Jeff Friesen with a superb backhandpass and Friesen found the net with the easiest of shots. Only 16 seceonds separated the two goals. And when Friesen scored his second goal of the game on a double power-play just 1:54 into the second period, Berlin looked to cruise to a victory. But HV 71 showed great character and goals from Jesper Fasth (6:13) and Jesper Williamsson (7:00) put the Swedes back into the game. Berlin was quick to respond though. Only sex seconds (!) after the second HV-goal, the top-scoring defenceman of the tournament, Jimmy Sharrow scored his fifth goal of the European Trophy, his tenth point overall, to give Berlin a two goal cushion.

HV 71 got one goal back before the second period was over, a power-play goal from Fredrik Bremberg, but solid defensive play and great goalkeeping by Rob Zepp, voted best goalie of the tournament after the final, made sure that the Eisbären held on. HV 71 pulled goalie Andreas Andersson off the ice with two minutes to go in search of the equalizer that would take the game into overtime, but that also gave Berlinforward Stefan Ustorf the opportunity on an open net as HV-defender Juuso Hietanens stick broke. Ustorf kept his cool and scored the goal that definitely sealed the win, crowning Eisbären Berlin as the first champions of the European Trophy.

Swiss champions SC Bern made sure of finishing i third place after defeating Färjestad from Sweden, 3–1 in the game for third place. Färjestad took the lead in the first period when Anton Grundel scored on a powerplay. But the special pointsscorer on the Bernteam, Brett McLean turned the game around with good assistance from Phillip Furrer. Once in the second period (after 14:36) and once in the third (after 9:52) Mc Leans pass found Furrer who scored on a powerplay to turn the 1–0-deficit into a 2–1-lead. The Swedes then had their chances to tie the game, especially on three opportunities in power-play, but Bern kept their composure and when Färjestad pulled goalie Alexander Salek to play 6 on 3, McLean found the empty net to put the game out of Färjestads reach.

Jokerit took fifth place in the all-Finnish clash with Oulun Kärpät. After a scoreless first period Kärpät opened the scoring with two goals in the second. But Jokerit turned it all around in the final period. Two powerplays right at the beginning of the perid made it 2–2 after 1:41. And then two goals from Janne Lahti, the first 4 on 5 and the second 5 on 4 with only 11 seconds remaining on the clock, gave Jokerit a 4–2-win.

In the game for seventh place, Finnish champions TPS Turku scored three goals in less than three minutes at the beginning of the second period to take hold of the game against hosts Red Bull Salzburg. That was the decisive sequenze in the game and Red Bull never got closer then a two goal deficit. TPS eventually won the game 9–5, after scoring both of the last goals in an empty net.

Per Csongrádi (2010-09-06 00:58:46)