The 2017–18 Champions Hockey League was the fourth season of the Champions Hockey League, a European ice hockey tournament. The tournament was reduced to 32 teams, and qualification was on sporting merits only. The six founding leagues are represented by between three and five teams (based on a three-year league ranking), while seven "challenge leagues" are represented by one team each. One place was reserved for the Continental Cup champion. Unlike in the three previous editions, founding teams did not automatically qualify. The season concluded with the final on 6 February 2018 at Vida Arena where JYP beat Växjö Lakers 2–0, becoming the first non-Swedish team to win the title.
Team allocation A total of 32 teams from different European first-tier leagues participate in the 2017–18 Champions Hockey League. Besides the Continental Cup champions, 24 teams from the six founding leagues, as well as the national champions from Slovakia, Norway, Denmark, France, Belarus, the United Kingdom and Poland qualified.
The qualification for these places was set out in the rules as follows: National league champion (play-off winners) Regular season winners Regular season runner-up Losing play-off finalist Higher regular season ranked losing semi-finalist Lower regular season ranked losing semi-finalist Third placed team in regular season Fourth placed team in regular season Fifth placed team in regular season.
Teams Team City/Area League Qualification Participation Previous best Frölunda HC Gothenburg Swedish Hockey League 2017 CHL winner 4th champion HV71 Jönköping Swedish Hockey League play-off champion 4th round of 16 Växjö Lakers Växjö Swedish Hockey League regular season winner 4th semi-finals Brynäs IF Gävle Swedish Hockey League play-off finalist 1st Malmö Redhawks Malmö Swedish Hockey League play-off semi-finalist 1st Tappara Tampere Liiga play-off champion 4th round of 16 TPS Turku Liiga regular season runner-up 4th quarter-finals KalPa Kuopio Liiga play-off finalist 4th round of 16 JYP Jyväskylä Liiga play-off semi-finalist 4th round of 16 HIFK Helsinki Liiga play-off semi-finalist 4th quarter-finals SC Bern Bern National League play-off champion 4th quarter-finals ZSC Lions Zürich National League regular season runner-up 4th quarter-finals EV Zug Zug National League play-off finalist 4th round of 32 HC Davos Davos National League play-off semi-finalist 3rd semi-finals Kometa Brno Brno Czech Extraliga play-off champion 1st Bílí Tygři Liberec Liberec Czech Extraliga regular season winner 4th round of 16 Oceláři Třinec Třinec Czech Extraliga regular season runner-up 3rd round of 32 Mountfield HK Hradec Králové Czech Extraliga play-off semi-finalist 1st Red Bull München Munich Deutsche Eishockey Liga play-off champion 3rd round of 32 Adler Mannheim Mannheim Deutsche Eishockey Liga regular season runner-up 4th round of 32 Grizzlys Wolfsburg Wolfsburg Deutsche Eishockey Liga play-off finalist 2nd round of 32 Vienna Capitals Vienna Austrian Hockey League play-off champion 4th round of 16 Red Bull Salzburg Salzburg Austrian Hockey League regular season runner-up 4th round of 16 EC KAC Klagenfurt Austrian Hockey League play-off finalist 2nd group stage Nottingham Panthers Nottingham Elite Ice Hockey League Continental Cup winner 2nd group stage Cardiff Devils Cardiff Elite Ice Hockey League regular season champion 1st HC '05 Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica Tipsport Liga play-off champion 1st Stavanger Oilers Stavanger GET-ligaen play-off champion 4th round of 32 Neman Grodno Grodno Belarusian Extraleague play-off champion 2nd group stage Esbjerg Energy Esbjerg Metal Ligaen play-off champion 2nd group stage Rapaces de Gap Gap Ligue Magnus play-off champion 3rd group stage ComArch Cracovia Kraków Polska Hokej Liga play-off champion 2nd group stage
Group stage
For the group stage, the teams were drawn into 8 groups of 4 teams. Each team plays home and away against every other team for a total of 6 games. The best 2 teams qualify to the round of 16.
As the reigning CHL champions, Frölunda HC was the top seeded team. In the top pot were also the reigning champions of the six founding leagues and the regular season winner of SHL, Växjö Lakers. The 16 remaining teams from founding leagues were placed to pots 2 and 3. The fourth pot included playoff champions of seven challenge leagues and Nottingham Panthers, the champion of 2016–17 IIHF Continental Cup.
Group stage tie-breaking criteria
If two teams are tied in points after the group stage is finished, the teams precedence is decided by head-to-head games. If teams are tied after that, then the team which was ranked higher prior to the tournament took precedence. When comparing head-to-head results, the following criteria were applied:
more points in games against the other tied team better goal difference in games against the other tied team more goals scored against the other tied team more goals scored in a single game against the other tied team If the head-to-head games between teams ended as draws after regulation, this additional criterion was applied: overtime wins against the other tied team If the head-to-head games between teams ended with game winning shots, this additional criterion was applied: more goals scored in the two game winning shot competitions If teams are still tied, the higher position in the 2016–17 CHL club ranking was decided about precedence.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 Frölunda HC HV71 Tappara SC Bern Kometa Brno Red Bull München Vienna Capitals Växjö Lakers TPS ZSC Lions Bílí Tygři Liberec Adler Mannheim Red Bull Salzburg Brynäs IF KalPa EV Zug Oceláři Třinec Grizzlys Wolfsburg EC KAC Malmö Redhawks JYP HC Davos Mountfield HK HIFK HC '05 Banská Bystrica Stavanger Oilers Neman Grodno Esbjerg Energy Cardiff Devils Rapaces de Gap ComArch Cracovia Nottingham Panthers
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Playoffs
Qualified teams
GroupWinners (seed)Runners-upA Tappara (2) Red Bull SalzburgB Malmö Redhawks (6) Kometa BrnoC EV Zug (7) JYPD Adler Mannheim (3) Oceláři TřinecE Växjö Lakers (5) Bílí Tygři LiberecF Nottingham Panthers (8) SC BernG Red Bull München (4) Brynäs IFH Frölunda HC (1) ZSC Lions
Format
In each round except the final, the teams played two games and the aggregate score was decided the team which advances. As a rule, the first leg was hosted by the team who had inferior record in the tournament so far and the second leg was played on the home ice of the other team. If aggregate score is tied, a sudden death overtime followed. If the overtime is scoreless, the team who wins the game winning shot competition advances.
The final was played on the home ice of team who had better record in the tournament on February 6, 2018.
Bracket
The eight group winners and the eight second-placed teams advanced to the Round of 16. The teams were divided into two seeding groups and group winners were randomly drawn against runners-up. Teams who had faced each other in the group stage could not be drawn against each other in the round of 16. The draw took place in Helsinki, Finland on October 13, 2017.
Note: The teams listed on top of each tie were runners up in the group stage and play the first leg at home. The bottom team were group winners and play the second leg at home. Due to conflicting schedules however, both Malmö Redhawks and Adler Mannheim ended up playing their first legs at home. The order of the legs (what team starts at home) in the future rounds may be changed as the team with best record should have second match at home.
Round of 16 The draw for the entire playoff was held on 13 October 2017 in Helsinki. The first legs were played on 31 October with return legs played the following week.
First Leg
Second Leg
Quarter-finals First legs were played on 5 December, return legs were played on 12 December.
First Leg
Second Leg
Semi-finals First legs were played on 9 January, return legs were played on 16 January 2018.
First Leg
Second Leg
Final The final was played on 6 February 2018.
Statistics
Scoring leaders
Player Team ZSC Lions 9 9 7 16 4 +7 4 4 0 37 24.32% Frölunda HC 7 4 11 15 4 +5 2 1 0 21 19.05% Bílí Tygři Liberec 10 10 4 14 4 +5 1 3 1 42 23.81% SC Bern 10 4 7 11 2 –5 0 1 0 30 13.33% Oceláři Třinec 12 3 8 11 10 +5 0 1 0 18 16.67% Växjö Lakers 13 1 10 11 2 +4 0 1 0 32 3.13% Brynäs IF 8 4 6 10 2 +3 2 2 0 31 12.9% JYP 12 4 6 10 6 +3 0 1 0 37 10.81% ZSC Lions 8 1 9 10 0 +6 0 0 0 14 7.14% Frölunda HC 7 0 10 10 4 +5 0 0 0 14 0.00% Source: championshockeyleague.net
Leading goaltenders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list. Player Team Oceláři Třinec 10 9 1 278 11 96.19% 1.07 2 615 ZSC Lions 5 3 2 83 4 95.40% 0.78 2 309 EC KAC 3 2 1 87 5 94.57% 1.67 0 180 ZSC Lions 5 3 2 122 8 93.85% 1.59 2 301 JYP 9 6 1 245 17 93.51% 2.06 1 495 Source: championshockeyleague.net
References