Loppuun asti! – To the end!, chant TPS fans.

Another late penalty, this time for TPS. Tero Koskiranta for slashing but just a minute-and-half remains of the play.

Two minutes of the third period remain! Score still 9-0.

The game has lost most of its intensity by now. Players are merely skating around, not passionate about scoring anymore.

No-one at the attendance will forget the TPS goalsong in a while. "Hunajata, hunajata" it goes, which translates to honey, honey... And TPS fans sure had lots of honey tonight!

Six minutes remaining. TPS fans are having a good time, jumping and cheering on their team who have done a great job tonight.

Halfway through last period!

Niclas Lucenius, the Cramo Top Scorer who has a goal and two assists tonight, is missing from the bench. Not sure if he got hurt at some point.

Bolzano players look exhausted and it's no wonder since they're playing with just three lines tonight.

Game on! 20 more minutes to play. I wonder if we'll see any more goals in this period...

One minute remaining of second period.

What a period it has been! Less than two minutes remaining and TPS have scored six times.

At the same time Bolzano Phillip de Simone get two for slashing. Bolzano protest the decision but with no success.

Goal scorer Rasmus Kulmala is just 20 years old. He was a part of the gold-winning Finnish World Junior Championships team in 2014.

The intensity is somwhat gone on ice at least for now. Bolzano need to figure out something to open their scoring!

It's a shame for HC Bolzno who had such a good start to this period. They just can't seem to be able to put the puck past Lassila.

Excellent scoring chance for Markus Gander of Bolzano on PP but Lassila makes a save!

Bolzano with a sharp start here in second period. Lassila with some nice saves.

Second period is on!

Bolzano goalie Hubl has made some quality saves tonight, while Teemu Lassila has had it easy this far.

TPS PP with Lasch, Smolenak and Koskiranta and Seigo & Gysbers as defencemen looks dangerous.

Matias Sointu with a quick wristshot and it looks like Hubl doesn't see it but he flashes the glove and saves it.

Smolenak, Lasch and Koskiranta – TPS's second line – have been energetic and get a well-deserved goal. It comes after a lot of action in front of Bolzano goal.

We MIGHT have another goal.

Bolzano with no problems bringing the puck to the offensive zone on PP but TPS working well to keep them away from great shooting distances.

We get a confirmation for it: TPS goal was indeed scored by Tukonen, not Pikkarainen.

Bolzano with four or five shots during the last minute but none are particularly dangerous. Lassila stops them with ease.

New TPS player Nakladal with a nice shot from the blueline but Hubl catches it.

Both teams are playing on full strentgth,

Rasmus Kulmala of TPS tries to break through while his team is playing short-handed but his efforts are stopped just before he has the chance to shoot.

Slight confusion over who scored the TPS goal here as it appeared to be Tukonen, but Pikkarainen's name is called out. We'll see.

Koskiranta – Smolenak – Lasch try to force the puck behind Hubl but fail.

First shot of the game by TPS captain Petteri Nummelin, he fires over the goal.

And here's TPS in their familiar black jerseys! Almost go-time here in Turku.

Bolzno are arriving on ice in their white jerseys!

HK Areena looks quite empty, but that is due to the arena boasting over 12 000 seats. Around 2 000 people here with around seven minutes before puck-drop.

TPS missing defenceman Markus Seikola, but otherwise, the lineup looks solid.

HC Bolzano with 16 skaters today: three lines and Daniel Frank.

Welcome! The warm-ups are over and fans are slowly arriving. We even have some HC Bolzano fans here who brought theur own Italian flag!

Starting lineups:

TPS Turku: Lassila (Järvinen) – Nakladal, Nummelin, Lehtonen, Gysbers, Friman, Seigo, Karhu – Tukonen, Lucenius, Pikkarainen – Smolenak, Koskiranta, Lasch – Sointu, Kumeliauskas, Virtala – Kulmala, Vähätalo, Karvinen – Lämsä.

HC Bolzano: Hubl (Hell) – Egger, Oberdorfer, Hofer, Crowley, Lee, Miglioranzi – Pance, Bernard, Gander – de Simone, Insam, Schofield – Zisser, Zanette, Sisca – Frank

Referees: M. Johansson (SWE), J. Leppänen (FIN) – M. Hägerström (FIN), D. Österholm (FIN).

Friday night in Turku, Finland brings on the showdown between local team TPS and Italian visitors HC Bolzano.

The visiting team HC Bolzano has had its own difficulties while preparing for the season. The side was still missing players until the beginning of this week but a few greatly-timed signings (including Mark Cullen and Derek Nesbitt on Wednesday) made sure that the team is ready to begin the CHL challenge.

Last season HC Bolzano played in the Austrian league EBEL for the first time and immediately became champions. The 'Foxes' may not be the favourites heading into this game but they sure have nothing to lose.

Home side TPS have a great-looking roster, but so they did last year – and still failed to reach the Liiga playoffs. To avoid another disaster they acquired two talented forwards, Radek Smolenak and Ryan Lasch, who have both shown they're scoring skills in Liiga before. Bolzano defenders will definitely have problems with keeping these two from scoring.

The home crowd in Turku wants a win from their boys and the atmosphere will be great. It is going to be wonderful!

Welcome. This game starts at 18:30 EET, 17:30 CET.