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When Olimpija headed into the fifth game of the best-of-seven final series with a 3-1 lead, things could not possibly have looked better. But let's rewind the tape back to September last year.

Having witnessed the financial and sporting success of Jesenice, who had joined the EBEL league a year earlier, Olimpija, the other Slovenian ice hockey icon, successfully lobbied the Austrian organisers to accept them into the league. They put together a strong team that was backed by wealthy sponsors, a prerequisite set by the organisers. Twelve new players joined the squad, including Slovenian ice hockey legends Nik Zupančič, 39, Tomaž Vnuk and Dejan Kontrec, both 37, plus three US players, four Canadians and the Russian coach Ildar Rahmatulin, a former Olimpija player. After some beginner's luck, their performances soon began to look second-rate and by December, after a string of eight defeats, the team had sunk to the bottom of the league. Drastic action was required and Rahmatulin was sacked and replaced by Mike Posma, who brought in former NHL star Todd Elik and replaced two of the existing foreign players. Olimpija's fortunes began to turn immediately. They managed to scramble up the ladder and finished the first round of the competition in eighth place. They then qualified for the knock out stages after securing one of the two remaining spots in the play-offs via a mini round-robin tournament with Innsbruck, Graz and Alba from Hungary. In the quarter-finals, Olimpija shocked KAC Klagenfurt by winning both the away matches and qualifying for the semi-finals. That's when ice hockey mania really hit Ljubljana and tickets became hot property. Olimpija played Linz in the semifinals, winning the best-of-seven series after just five matches. With the momentum they had, Olimpija began the final series against Salzburg in style, taking a 3-1 lead and standing just one step from the trophy. Then, out of the blue and barely two hours before the crucial fifth match, came the news that "due to an administrative error, Olimpija is stripped of the third win". Olimpija had registered one player too many for the previous match and, according to EBEL rules, they automatically forfeited the match. That left the series tied at 2-2. Both Posma and the assistant coach, Bojan Zajc, shouldered the blame and accepted the penalty but added that the timing of the announcement was rather inappropriate.

With the wind knocked out of their sails, the players were unable to regroup for the fifth game in Salzburg and were comprehensively trounced 5-0. To make matters worse, Olimpija's star goalkeeper, Alex Westlund, picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Klemen Mohorič. The sixth game, in front of a packed Tivoli Hall, was tight throughout but Salzburg managed to hold on to a one-goal advantage to win 3-2 and become the EBEL champions for the second year in a row. The Salzburg players celebrated their title with a slightly modified version of the well-known Slovene supporters chant "If you don't jump, you're not Slovene", changing it to "If you don't jump, you are Slovene".

It was not so much the defeat that hurt but more the manner in which it happened. Nevertheless, after cooling down, the players, the management and the fans were more than happy with the end result, especially considering how the season had begun. "Only the icing on the cake was missing," said Nik Zupančič after the game, while the captain, Tomaž Vnuk, has already set his sights on the national championships. "We played our hearts out tonight and we deserved more than losing the match. I am proud of my team-mates and we can all be proud of our achievement this year," said Brendan Yarema, one of Olimpija's best players, along with Ralf Intranuovo, Todd Elik, Tomaž Vnuk and Alex Westlund.

Vnuk's performance was especially impressive, considering that he had contemplated hanging up his skates. He was probably inspired by Elik, who, at 41, is even older and has already proven that it is still possible to play competitive hockey at his age. Most of the international players (but not Westlund, see box) have extended their contracts by another year and fans have already started buying 2008/2009 season tickets.

Here to Stay

The nation's current appetite for ice hockey is reminiscent of the late 1980's and early 1990's when it was one of our most popular team sports and regularly attracted up to 8000 people to the Ljubjlana and Jesenice rinks. Jesenice dominated the sport in those times, although Olimpija threw everything they could into trying to bring the trophy back to Ljubljana. For a while, in its heyday and shortly before Yugoslavia broke up, teams from Croatia and Serbia - Medveščak, Partizan, Crvena zvezda, Vojvodina - also fielded strong teams (mainly with Slovenian players) and Medveščak and Partizan even managed to win the championship on two occasions.

In 1995, Jesenice's inability to form a competitive team due to lack of funds, finally allowed Olimpija to win the national championships for the first time since the early 80's. However, Olimpija's dominance had a devastating effect on the public's perception of the sport in general. All attempts to resurrect its popularity failed, including the formation of an "Alpine League" with the best Italian and Austrian teams in the mid 1990's, not to mention the competitions against uncompetitive Croatian and Hungarian teams. Rather unexpectedly, the Austrian league has proven to be the recipe for its revival. With a new, 12,000-seat hall due to be completed in Ljubljana's suburbs by 2010 (as opposed to Tivoli Hall's capacity of 4,500), ice hockey is threatening, at the expense of other sports, basketball and football in particular, to once again become the event "to see and be seen at". The Austrians are equally happy with these developments, as the overall attendance was up by 9 per cent on last year's figures. This was due in part to the enlarged league and the greater number of matches, however, the average attendance per match was also up slightly.

From Heaven to Hell

Jesenice had a completely different experience to their compatriots from the capital. After dominating the EBEL at the start of the season and equalling the league's record of 12 consecutive wins, they finished the first half of the season in a disappointing 4th place. While they achieved their intermediate goal of finishing in the top six, their stuttering performances after such a stunning start were a major concern leading into the knock out stages. To make matters worse, they lost a number of key players through injury and the team was never able to recover. Their defeat by Linz in the quarter-finals also denied fans the opportunity of watching an all-Slovenian semi-final series. Despite attaining their stated goal, the disappointment of under-achieving was palpable and the management has decided to let coach Kim Collins leave. However, the club is determined to learn from its mistakes and this year's hardships have only fuelled their desire to do a better job next year. They have already concluded agreements with former Jesenice players Tomaž Razingar, Marcel Rodman and his brother David, as well as Jean Philippe Paré, another former top scorer for the club.

Most Wanted

Alex Westlund, 32, is widely regarded as being the main force behind Olimpija's stunning performances this year. The fact that he was a member of the US national team that won a bronze medal at the 2004 World Championships in the Czech Republic speaks for itself. Despite that, he has never played in the NHL. Prior to joining Olimpija, he spent most of his career in the US ECHL league, with two breaks of one and two years spent with the Russian teams Khabarovsk and Lokomotiva, respectively. Only two days after the end of the final series, it was announced that Westlund, who lived in Ljubljana with his girlfriend, was leaving for Linz, despite being offered more money to stay in Ljubljana. "I had a preliminary agreement with Linz and I intend to respect it," said the popular "Westi". The joy that Linz feel in having secured the services of the EBEL's best goalie could hardly be more obvious: "Westlund was not only the best goalie but also the best player of the league. Out of 1927 shots, he let through only 128 goals. His excellence made him a nightmare for attacking teams. He is one of the most sought after players but, fortunately, we made a deal early in the season."