The Masers' season began with them barely having a team to line up with in the premiere.

Two months later, the team is ready for the final.

The club's first Swedish Championship final since 2004, ie in Tony Rickardsson's time. 

There awaits the Indians who easily dismissed Västervik at home, also with 59-31 and run their first final since 2015. 

Clear victory

The Masers were in the bridge with ten points before Thursday's return against the Lions.

But Masarna got off to a great start in the match and after six heats the team caught up.

In the end, the numbers were clear, and a total of 99-81 over two matches to the advantage of the Avesta team. 

Team manager Stefan Bäckström had a hard time holding back his emotions after the match. 

- I am teary-eyed and incredibly proud of the association and the boys.

That we stand here for what it looked like when we would start the season, it's like a fairy tale, he says. 

- Even though we were ten points behind, I felt that we had every opportunity, because we are very strong on our home court.

And everyone contributes, we made a fantastic match against the Lions who are a really good team, Bäckström continues. 

Russian joker

Before the playoffs, the Masars recruited the Danish star Nicki Pedersen and after the first semifinal in Gislaved on Tuesday, Bäckström topped the team even more when the Russian national team driver Vadim Tarasenko was picked up. 

- I took him in for profit and loss.

He has not driven for us before this year due to the fact that he did not get a start permit in Sweden this summer.

But now we could finally have the best team.

And what a driver he is, says Stefan Bäckström. 

Tarasenko thanked for that confidence and took 12 points in five heats where drivers such as Antonio Lindbäck, Kim Nilsson and the Frenchman David Bellego were other tops.

That Nicki Pedersen left the match with, for his level, a modest seven points is a strength in itself. 

Starts in Kumla

Now the Indians are waiting in the Swedish Championship final, where the Masars choose to start in Kumla next Tuesday. 

Then the Masars have the chance to win their first Swedish Championship gold since 2000, when the team defeated Rospiggarna in front of over 10,000 spectators. 

- You should have great respect for the Indians.

They have Niels-Kristian Iversen, Max Fricke, Kenneth Bjerre and others..almost an entire national team.

First we will enjoy a couple of days, but there will be two really tough matches.

It's just a shame that we can not have an audience in place, says Stefan Bäckström. 

CLIP: The Lions won round one against the Masars (September 29, 2020)

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Read more about browser support

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser.

We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.

Read more about browser support

The lion's Mattias Thörnblom.

Photo: Bildbyrån