The 2014–15 Champions Hockey League was the first season of the Champions Hockey League, a European ice hockey tournament launched by 26 founding clubs, six leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The regulation round began on 21 August 2014 and ended on 8 October 2014. The playoffs began on 4 November 2014 and ended with the Champions Hockey League Final on 3 February 2015. Luleå HF defeated Frölunda HC 4–2 to win the first edition of Champions Hockey League.
On 9 December 2013, the IIHF officially announced that they had launched the Champions Hockey League tournament, starting in the 2014–15 season. The season's format was revealed on 20 December 2013, during the playoffs of the 2013 European Trophy.
Team allocation A total of 44 teams from eleven different European first-tier leagues participated in the 2014–15 Champions Hockey League. The teams were decided with regards to different licenses for the founding teams, leagues and wildcards.
Team license The participating teams were decided with regards to different licenses for founding teams, league teams (from founding leagues) and other wildcard teams.
A license: The 26 founding teams all got an A license, since they play in the first-tier league of their respective domestic league system in the 2014–15 season. B license: Two teams – the regular-season winner and the play-off champion in the 2013–14 season – from each of the founding leagues (the Austrian EBEL, the Czech Extraliga, the Finnish Liiga, the German DEL, the Swedish SHL and the Swiss NLA) received a B licence to the tournament. If those teams had already received an A license, other teams from the league took the B license spots. The order the B licenses were handed out is: National champion Regular season winner Runner-up, regular season Play-off finalist Best placed semifinal loser Worst placed semifinal loser
C license: There were six wild cards, five for the champions of the Slovak Extraliga (Slovakia), GET-ligaen (Norway), Elite Ice Hockey League (United Kingdom), Ligue Magnus (France) and Metal Ligaen (Denmark), as well as one for the regular season winner of GET-ligaen. The Elite Ice Hockey League champion Belfast Giants were forced to turn down the chance due to lack of arena availability, giving place for the Challenge Cup winner Nottingham Panthers.
Teams A full list of the teams participating in the inaugural season and how they qualified was presented on 10 May 2014.
Team City/Area League Qualification License Red Bull Salzburg Salzburg Austrian Hockey League founding club A Vienna Capitals Vienna Austrian Hockey League founding club A Bílí Tygři Liberec Liberec Czech Extraliga founding club A HC Pardubice Pardubice Czech Extraliga founding club A HC Sparta Praha Prague Czech Extraliga founding club A Vítkovice Steel Ostrava Czech Extraliga founding club A HIFK Helsinki Liiga founding club A JYP Jyväskylä Liiga founding club A KalPa Kuopio Liiga founding club A Kärpät Oulu Liiga founding club A Tappara Tampere Liiga founding club A TPS Turku Liiga founding club A Adler Mannheim Mannheim Deutsche Eishockey Liga founding club A Eisbären Berlin Berlin Deutsche Eishockey Liga founding club A ERC Ingolstadt Ingolstadt Deutsche Eishockey Liga founding club A Krefeld Pinguine Krefeld Deutsche Eishockey Liga founding club A SC Bern Bern National League A founding club A Fribourg-Gottéron Fribourg National League A founding club A ZSC Lions Zürich National League A founding club A EV Zug Zug National League A founding club A Frölunda HC Gothenburg Swedish Hockey League founding club A Färjestad BK Karlstad Swedish Hockey League founding club A HV71 Jönköping Swedish Hockey League founding club A Linköpings HC Linköping Swedish Hockey League founding club A Luleå HF Luleå Swedish Hockey League founding club A Djurgårdens IF Stockholm Swedish Hockey League founding club A Skellefteå AIK Skellefteå Swedish Hockey League play-off champion B HC Bolzano Bolzano Austrian Hockey League play-off champion B Hamburg Freezers Hamburg Deutsche Eishockey Liga regular season winner B Oceláři Třinec Třinec Czech Extraliga regular season runner-up B Kloten Flyers Kloten National League A play-off finalist B Genève-Servette Geneva National League A play-off semi-finalist B Växjö Lakers Växjö Swedish Hockey League play-off semi-finalist B Villach SV Villach Austrian Hockey League play-off semi-finalist B Lukko Rauma Liiga play-off semi-finalist B SaiPa Lappeenranta Liiga play-off semi-finalist B Kölner Haie Cologne Deutsche Eishockey Liga play-off finalist B PSG Zlín Zlín Czech Extraliga play-off champion B Stavanger Oilers Stavanger GET-ligaen play-off champion C HC Košice Košice Tipsport Liga champion C SønderjyskE Vojens Metal Ligaen champion C Briançon Diables Rouges Briançon Ligue Magnus champion C Nottingham Panthers Nottingham Elite Ice Hockey League Challenge Cup winner C Vålerenga IF Oslo GET-ligaen regular season winner C
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition is as follows.
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legGroup stageMatchday 121 May 2014, 12:00 CET21–22 August 2014Matchday 223–24 August 2014Matchday 34–5 September 2014Matchday 46–7 September 2014Matchday 523–24 September 2014Matchday 67–8 October 2014PlayoffRound of 1610 October 2014, 12:00 CET4 November 201411 November 2014Quarter-finals2 December 20149 December 2014Semi-finals13 January 201420 January 2015Final3 February 2015
Group stage
The group stage draw took place on 21 May 2014 in Minsk, Belarus, and the teams were assigned to eleven groups from A to K. The 44 teams were allocated into four pots based on their positions in their national leagues 2014, with the top seeded teams being placed in Pot 1 and the lower ranked teams in Pot 2, Pot 3 and the lowest ranked teams in Pot 4. They were drawn into eleven groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format, giving six games per team. In total, 132 games were played in the group stage.
The schedule was released on 2 June 2014, with 30 of 44 teams playing their first game 21 August 2014, and the other teams playing their first game the following day. The match days were 21–22 August, 23–24 August, 4–5 September, 6–7 September, 23–24 September and 7–8 October 2014. All game times are local times.
The 11 group winners and the five best ranked runners-up qualified for the playoffs. The five best runners-up were determined by ranking all runners-up based on their number of points and goal differential in their respective groups, explained more detailed in the detailed group stage article.
Key to colours in group tables Group winners and the five best runners-up advanced to the playoffs
See the detailed group stage page for tiebreakers if two or more teams are equal on points.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Group J
Group K
Ranking of second-placed teams
For tiebreakers if two or more teams are equal on points, see the detailed group stage page.
Playoffs
In the playoffs, the teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis with the team with the better standing after the group stage having the second game at home, except for the one-match final played at the venue of the team with the best competition track record leading up to the final.
The mechanism of the draw for playoffs are as follows: The entire playoff was drawn at a single occasion on 10 October 2014 to determine the eight pairings for the round of 16. After the draw, all matches up to the final are set in brackets. In the draw for the round of 16, the eight best group winners were seeded, and the three group winners with worst record and the five best runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group could not be drawn against each other.
Bracket
Note: The teams listed on top of each tie play first match at home and the bottom team plays second match at home.
Round of 16 The draw for the entire playoff (round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final) was held on 10 October 2014. The first legs were played on 4 November, and the second legs were played on 11 November 2014.
Notes
Quarter-finals The first legs were played on 2 December, and the second legs were played on 9 December 2014.
Semi-finals The first legs were played on 13 January, and the second legs were played on 20 January 2015.
Final
The final was played on 3 February 2015 at the venue of the team with the best competition track record leading up to the final.
Statistics
Leading scorers Rankings based upon points, and sorted by goals.
RankPlayerTeam1 Mathis Olimb Frölunda HC10717246+112 Andreas Johnson Frölunda HC91112236+133 Erik Gustafsson Frölunda HC10512172+74 Matt D'Agostini Genève-Servette849136+75 Daniel Zaar Luleå HF1066120+46 Max Görtz Frölunda HC1057120+57 Pär Lindholm Skellefteå AIK10111122+108 Joonas Donskoi Kärpät1074112+119 Niklas Fogstrom Luleå HF1056110+99 Per Ledin Luleå HF1056114+5
Leading goaltenders Goalkeepers with 40% or more of their team's total minutes, ranked by save percentage.
RankGoaltenderTeamMinutesSaves1 Luka Gračnar Red Bull Salzburg300:0051.00.96614122 Melvin Nyffeler Fribourg-Gottéron243:1161.48.95713313 Marek Schwarz Bílí Tygři Liberec211:2551.42.95610904 Joel Lassinantti Luleå HF257:1251.17.9489105 Justin Pogge Färjestads BK290:3671.45.94010906 Marcus Högberg Linköpings HC362:35101.65.93314307 Mantas Armalis Djurgårdens IF246:1481.95.93311218 Iiro Tarkki Kärpät304:5571.38.9319519 Stefan Steen Växjö Lakers199:2051.51.93167010 Eero Kilpeläinen KalPa303:48112.17.9301461
Prize money The 44 teams competed for a grand total of 1.5 million euros. However, the money distribution was not announced.
References