"You're right. It feels so incredibly good. Our team this year has been so incredibly good. We're absolutely fucking dominant," says Pär Lindholm to TV4.
Helmets and sticks flew in the air and a large black and yellow pile of joy formed on the ice as fans celebrated in a packed arena.
Finally, then.
"It's going to be a fucking party in town. We're going to party hard," says Skellefteå's Jonathan Pudas to TV4.
Because after a real charge this Saturday in May, when some supporters had dressed in gold-colored headgear, it became almost silent in Skellefteå Kraft Arena after Rögle's opening.
Nightmare start
Not even ten minutes had been played when Rögle - who did everything to crash the party - led 2-0 after goals by Mark Friedman and Lubos Horky.
A pale Skellefteå couldn't keep up with the pace and were pushed back by a reborn Ängelholm team.
Then the home team showed their class.
A two-man power play was needed at the end of the first period - and, voila, the score was 2-2.
Oscar Lindberg scored the first and was involved in the second, which Mikkel Aagaard scored on a rebound with only three seconds left in the period.
"I wouldn't say worried, but it's clear that it's a bad start. Rögle came out very well. It'll take some time for us to get an answer to that, but once we get it, we'll feed it all the way in," says Lindholm.
Five straight goals
Then it continued at full speed. Barely nine minutes into the second period, the home team had scored two more goals and the Le Mat trophy was not only within reach, but the home players could almost touch it.
Viktor Grahn made it 3-2 after a solo goal, where Rögle goalkeeper Arvid Holm proved to be human, and Oliver Okuliar took advantage of a Rögle error to make it 4-2.
Rögle tried to make a spurt in the third period, creating several hot chances, but before Mark Friedman got his reward, Oliver Okuliar had scored his second in a row, the home team's fifth in a row.
Victor Stjernborg and Rickard Hugg extended the lead to 7-3 with two goals in an empty Rögle net.
The gold is Skellefteå's fifth in club history and their fourth in the last 13 years as the team from Västerbotten has become a powerhouse in Swedish ice hockey.
+ Latest champion teams
2026: Skellefteå.
2025: Luleå.
2024: Skellefteå.
2023: Växjö.
2022: Färjestad.
2021: Växjö.
2020: no playoffs due to the pandemic.
2019: Frölunda.
2018: Växjö.
2017: HV71.
