The group stage of the 2014–15 Champions Hockey League was played from August 21 to October 8 2014. A total of 44 teams competed in the group stage.
Draw The eleven groups were determined by a draw, which took place on May 21 2014 in Minsk, Belarus. The 44 teams were located into four seeding pots, consisting of 11 teams each with the highest ranked teams in pot 1 and the lowest ranked teams in pot 4, based on a special ranking criteria: Champions of the six founding leagues, Regular season winners of the six founding leagues, Remaining A and B license teams according to placing within their leagues, Wild card teams, according to placing within their leagues.
The teams were then drawn into eleven groups of four containing. One team from each of the four seeding pots, with the restriction that teams from the same national association could not be drawn against each other.
These fixtures were decided after the draw was released on June 2 2014.
Teams Below are the 44 teams in the group stage, grouped by their seeding pot, based on their ranking. Where teams finished in the same place in their respective leagues, they were ranked according to the IIHF World Ranking of the leagues.
Key to colours in group tables Group winners and the five best runners-up advanced to the playoffs
+Pot 1Team Skellefteå AIK Oulun Kärpät PSG Zlín ZSC Lions ERC Ingolstadt HC Bolzano Sparta Prague Hamburg Freezers Red Bull Salzburg Frölunda HC Tappara+Pot 2Team Oceláři Třinec Fribourg-Gottéron Krefeld Pinguine Färjestad BK Kloten Flyers Kölner Haie Växjö Lakers Lukko Villach SV Linköping HC SaiPa+Pot 3Team Genève-Servette Vienna Capitals Adler Mannheim JYP Luleå Hockey HC Pardubice Vítkovice Steel Eisbären Berlin HIFK Bílí Tygři Liberec SC Bern+Pot 4Team HV71 EV Zug TPS KalPa Djurgårdens IF Stavanger Oilers HC Košice Briançon Diables Rouges SønderjyskE Vålerenga IF Nottingham Panthers
Format The 44 teams were divided into eleven groups of four teams each. In each group, teams play 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 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 section ranking of second-placed teams.
The matches are played in 60 minutes (3 periods with 20 minutes each) with the winning team receiving three points (the losing teams gets zero points). If a match ended with a draw both teams received one point and the game proceeded to a five-minute overtime (with teams playing with 3 players instead of regular five) to determine a winner of a bonus point. The first team to score in overtime wins the match and the bonus point. If the overtime ends scoreless a shootout is used to determine the winner (and who gets the bonus point). The teams take five penalties each and the teams who scored most penalties takes the win, sometimes the shootout is also a draw extra penalties are used to determine the winners if still tied after 5 shots.
Tiebreakers The teams are ranked according to points (2 points for a win in regular time, 1 points for a win in overtime or shootout, 1 point for a loss in overtime or shootout, 0 points for a loss in regular time). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings: Most points in games against other tied teams; Best goal difference in games against other tied teams; Most goals scored in games against other tied teams;
Once a team is separated from the group of some tied teams, the remaining teams will return to criteria 1.
If two teams still remain tied and their two mutual games were decided in overtime or a penalty shootout, an overtime victory will be considered greater than a shootout victory. If both games were decided in shootouts, then the team that scored the most total goals in the two shootouts will be ranked ahead. Note that these criteria would only apply if only two teams remain tied.
If a tie still remains between two or more teams, the teams will be ranked in order of their finish in their most recent national championship (champion, runner-up, two remaining semi-finalists ranked by regular-season standings, four remaining quarter-finalists ranked by regular-season standings). If they finished in the same position in their respective leagues, the CHL Club Ranking will be used, which is same ranking used when seeding the clubs ahead of the group stage.
Groups The group stage began on 21 August 2014 and ended on 8 October 2014. 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 match times are local times.
Key to colours in group tables Group winners and the five best runners-up advanced to the playoffs
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 The five best runners-ups from the group stage were determined by the following parameters in this order: Points Goal difference Goals scored Final position in last year's national championship CHL Club Ranking (same as used in group stage seeding)
References