Clubs from SWE, SUI, GER, CZE, AUT in contention

The Champions Hockey League’s round of 16 played out over the last couple of weeks, reducing the number of teams remaining in this year’s competition to eight. They include two teams each from Sweden, Switzerland and Germany and one each from Czechia and Austria.

Last year’s champion, Geneve-Servette, is still alive but the other finalist, Skelleftea AIK, is out of the mix. Let’s take a look back at how it all went down.

Farjestad Karlstad (SWE) def Tappara Tampere (FIN) 6-5 OT (3-2, 3-3, 1-0)

The highlight matchup of the round of 16 was a classic Sweden-Finland matchup, featuring top-ranked and still unbeaten Farjestad against Tappara, the three-time reigning Finnish champion and CHL winner from 2022-23.

Farjestad won the first game in Tampere by a goal and led by two on aggregate before Tappara scored twice in the final period to force overtime. There, Viktor Lundin was the hero, sending Farjestad to the quarter-finals for the second straight year. Now they will try to reach the final four of a European club championship for the first time since the 2006-07 European Champions Cup.
 

Farjestad have players who represented four different countries at the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, including Czech gold-medalist David Tomasek, Swedish bronze-medalist Linus Johansson, and a couple of teenage Anaheim Ducks prospects in Norwegian defenceman Stian Solberg and Italian goalie Damian Clara.

Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) def Lahti Pelicans (FIN) 7-1 (2-1, 5-0)

This matchup was close for a while. Tied 1-1 in the third period of the first game, Troy Bourke scored the go-ahead goal on a brilliant solo rush. Then the Edmonton-born forward opened the scoring in the return game on a shorthanded breakaway, helping Salzburg return to the quarters for the first time since 201819.
Eight players from the Salzburg roster were members of the Austrian team that nearly made the quarter-finals at last year’s Worlds, led by veteran wingers Thomas Raffl and Peter Schneider.

Sparta Prague (CZE) def Ocelari Trinec (CZE) 5-2 (4-1, 1-1)

In last year’s Extraliga semi-finals, Sparta led the series 3-0 but Trinec came back to win, tying both the sixth and seventh games in the last minute of regulation time and winning in overtime. Winning this CHL matchup was thus a small measure of revenge.

Sparta took firm control from the start, scoring three goals in the first 12 minutes of the first game at home. The teams then essentially tied 2-2 over the final five periods, but the damage had been done. Sparta advances to the quarter-finals for the third time, having previously done so in 2016/17 and 2021/22.

Defencemen David Krejcik and Michal Kempny were both World Championship gold medalists last May at Sparta’s home rink, O2 Arena.

Vaxjo Lakers (SWE) def Fribourg-Gotteron (SUI) 4-3 (1-0, 3-3)

Vaxjo ground out a 1-0 victory on home ice and led 3-1 on aggregate halfway through the third period of the return game when Fribourg struck twice on the same power play to tie it. However, just 71 seconds after the equalizer, Felix Robert put Vaxjo back in front to stay.

Vaxjo made the CHL final in 2017-18. Winger Joachim Blichfeld is a former San Jose Shark and a regular on the Danish national team.

Pinguins Bremerhaven (GER) def Skelleftea AIK (SWE) 10-1 (5-0, 5-1)

This matchup was perhaps the most surprising of the round of 16, not only because of who won but by how decisively. Last season, Skelleftea won the Swedish Hockey League title and advanced to the CHL final.
The Pinguins, who last season finished first in the DEL regular season and made the finals for the first time, are led offensively by a pair of wily veterans from the Slovenian national team. Ziga Jeglic and Jan Urbas have 12 and 11 points in the CHL this year respectively.

Geneve-Servette (SUI) def Lausanne HC (SUI) 12-4 (5-0, 7-4)

The reigning European club champion is headed back to the quarter-finals after eliminating local rival Lausanne HC. The two teams are separated by a 60 km drive along Lake Geneva. Despite the rivalry, this particular matchup wasn’t particularly close, with Geneve winning 5-0 and 7-4. Vincent Praplan scored four goals in the return game, including one on a penalty shot.
 

Although there are no Finnish teams left in the competition, Geneve’s roster features four 2022 Olympic gold medalists: Sami Vatanen, Sakari Manninen, Teemu Hartikainen, and Markus Granlund.

Eisbaren Berlin (GER) def Sheffield Steelers (GBR) 9-5 (5-3, 4-2)

The big story of this matchup was British national team star Liam Kirk returning to face his hometown team as a member of Eisbaren Berlin. The German champs led 2-0 and 3-1 in the first leg, only to see Sheffield come back. In the return game, the Steelers struck first to cut the aggregate deficit to one, but Eisbaren pulled away again with two quick goals early in the second period.

Berlin got five points across two games from German national team veteran Leo Pfoder. He is one of three team members who won bronze in 2018 in Pyeongchang. Pfoderl’s 13 points overall is tied for the scoring lead.

ZSC Lions Zurich (SUI) def Straubing Tigers (GER) 11-3 (4-2, 7-1)

Zurich, the defending Swiss champ and the original CHL champion from 2008-09, eventually won this matchup comfortably, but the difference on aggregate was only two goals with 40 minutes to go.

Sven Andrighetto, a former Montreal Canadien and a two-time World Championship silver-medalist for Switzerland, had seven points in the two games. He is tied with Pfoderl for the overall scoring lead with 13 points.

Like the round of 16, the quarter-finals will be played across two legs with the winners decided by aggregate scores. The first games will be played on 3 and 4 December with the return games on 17 December.
The matchups are:

• Farjestad Karlstad (SWE) vs Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)
• Vaxjo Lakers (SWE) vs Sparta Prague (CZE)
• Pinguins Bremerhaven (GER) vs Geneve-Servette (SUI)
• ZSC Lions Zurich (SUI) vs Eisbaren Berlin (GER)

The semi-finals are scheduled for 14-15 and 21-22 December. The winners will advance to the one-game final, to be played on Tuesday, 18 February, 2025.