With international events throughout the summer providing hockey for fans in what is normally the “off-season”, the first day of September signifies the start of the 2022/23 professional men’s ice hockey season in Europe in the form of the Champions Hockey League.

The first game to face off will be at 18:05 CET when Rogle Angelholm from Sweden visits Polish champion GKS Katowice to begin its title defence. Another notable opening-night fixture is four-time champion Frolunda Gothenburg from Sweden hosting Czech club Mountfield Hradec Kralove in a rematch of the 2019/20 final.

The 32 teams that have qualified for the competition this season come from 13 leagues and a record 14 countries. Leading the way are Sweden and Switzerland with five teams each, followed by Finland and Germany with four each, Czechia with three, Austria and Poland with two, and one each from Denmark, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia and Slovenia. 

This is the first time that two teams will represent Poland, with Cracovia Krakow qualifying by winning the 2022 IIHF Continental Cup. Also for the first time, Hungary and Slovenia will be represented by Fehervar AV19 and Olimpija Ljubljana, who both play in the Austrian-based ICEHL. 

As usual, the teams are divided into eight groups of four:

• Group A: Lulea Hockey (SWE), Jukurit Mikkeli (FIN), Sparta Prague (CZE), Aalborg Pirates (DEN)
• Group B: EV Zug (SUI), Grizzlys Wolfsburg (GER), TPS Turku (FIN), Olimpija Ljubljana (SLO)
• Group C: Tappara Tampere (FIN), Red Bull Munich (GER), Rapperswil-Jona Lakers (SUI), Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
• Group D: Rogle Angelholm (SWE), ZSC Lions Zurich (SUI), Fehervar AV19 (HUN), GKS Katowice (POL)
• Group E: Red Bull Salzburg (AUT), Fribourg-Gotteron (SUI), Ilves Tampere (FIN), Stavanger Oilers (NOR)
• Group F: Farjestad Karlstad (SWE), Villacher SV (AUT), Straubing Tigers (GER), Cracovia Krakow (POL)
• Group G: Eisbaren Berlin (GER), Mountfield Hradec Kralove (CZE), Frolunda Gothenburg (SWE), Grenoble Bruleurs de Loups (FRA)
• Group H: Ocelari Trinec (CZE), Skelleftea AIK (SWE), HC Davos (SUI), Belfast Giants (GBR)

 
During the group stage, which begins Thursday and finishes on 12 October, each team plays its three group opponents once each home and away for a total of six games. At the conclusion of the group stage, the top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage, which consists of three rounds – the round of 16 in November, the quarter-finals in December and semi-finals in January – in which teams are paired off and play two-game, home-and-away series, after which the winner on aggregate score advances.

The two semi-final winners advance to the one-game final, which this year for the first time will be played on a Saturday, 18 February. 

Players to watch

The top-three scorers in CHL history all play for Frolunda and will be back this season: American Ryan Lasch and Swedes Joel Lundqvist and Patrik Carlsson.
 
Players with over 500 games of NHL experience that are expected to play include TPS Turku’s Lauri Korpikoski, Sparta Prague’s Vladimir Sobotka and Fribourg-Gotteron’s David Desharnais. As for players who have made a name for themselves while wearing their national team colours include Czech goalie and former CHL MVP Simon Hrubec for the ZSC Lions Zurich and Swiss goalies Leonardo Genoni and Reto Berra, playing for EV Zug and Fribourg, respectively. Slovak forward Peter Cehlarik also plays for Zug and Czech Roman Cervenka, the top scorer at last year’s World Championship, is captain of the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers. Eisbaren Berlin’s roster includes long-time German internationals Marcel Noebels and Frank Hordler while Tom Kuhnhack plays for Skelleftea AIK along with Joakim Lindstrom and Oscar Moller.
 
Finally, Andres Ambuhl, the all-time leader in IIHF World Championship tournaments (17) and games played (123) is ready to begin his 23^rd professional hockey season with HC Davos.
 
In the past, the CHL has been a good place to see prospects play before they became big names internationally, such as Joonas Donskoi, Elias Pettersson, Jesse Puljujarvi, Auston Matthews, Rasmus Dahlin, Patrik Laine, Elvis Merzlikins, Moritz Seider and Tim Stutzle.
 
Last season, Juraj Slafkovsky played in the CHL for TPS Turku before going on to win a bronze medal for Slovakia and get named MVP of the Winter Olympics, and then get drafted first overall by the Montreal Canadiens. Also playing was eighth-overall pick Marco Kasper for eventual-champion Rogle and 2021 first-rounder Simon Edvinsson for Frolunda.
 
Kasper should be back this season, and we should also see Arizona Coyotes prospect Julian Lutz for Red Bull Munich, Seattle Kraken prospect Jani Nyman for Ilves Tampere, Winnipeg Jets prospect Elias Salomonsson (again) and Nashville Predators prospect Anton Olsson for Skelleftea, New York Rangers prospect Kalle Vaisanen for TPS, Nashville prospect Simon Knak for Davos, and New Jersey Devils prospect Petr Hauser for Sparta.

Visit www.championshockeyleague.com for more information and to follow the games.