2014-2015 Champions Hockey League

  • Xenforo Cloud has upgraded us to version 2.3.6. Please report any issues you experience.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Nobody will take it seriously this year, as many of the team playing there doesn't deserve to be there, maybe in the future when it comes truly best on best tournament.

It doesn't matter if this tournament is "best on best" or not. It's all about money flow. If there would be profit from it, then it would success. If not, it would fail.
And knowing that richest European countries don't give a **** about hockey I think it would be latter case.

It could be even sad a little, if it wasn't so evidently clear from the beginning.
 
This might sound crazy, but if they are going to have 44 teams in uneven groups (by not having all runner-ups qualified for the eighth finals), I'd like to see 64 teams in 16 groups, having the winners advancing to the eight-finals, or having the winners and runner-ups from each group advancing to the 16th finals!

  • Add the winner of the Hungarian league (this year: HK Nove Zamky), or Székesfehérvár playing in EBEL
  • Add the runner-up of the Slovakian playoffs (this year: HK Nitra)
  • Add the winner of the Slovenian playoffs (this year: Olimpija Ljubljana)
  • Add the winner of the Polish playoffs (this year: KH Sanok)
  • Add the winner of the Italian playoffs (this year: Ritten/Renon)
  • Add the foreign teams in the KHL: Lev Praha (Czech Republic), Donbass Donetsk (Ukraine), Dinamo Riga (Latvia), Medvescak Zagreb (Croatia), Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia), Dinamo Minsk (Belarus), Jokerit (Finland) and Barys Astana* (Kazakstan)
  • Add the seven best ranked Russian clubs inside the geographical part of Europe

*Barys Astana can be discussed, since the city is geographically a part of Asia, but the country is in both Europe and Asia. If Barys's entrance is a no, then they could be replaced by an eighth Russian club

= 64 teams :handclap:
 
Nobody will take it seriously this year, as many of the team playing there doesn't deserve to be there, maybe in the future when it comes truly best on best tournament.

why should we believe in miracle? Do you think that there will be changes next year (less clubs, better quality)? People behind CHL are not competitive enough to create something great. The guys are the same guys as behind old CHL. They showed us in past that they dont know how to create CHL. They showed us today that they dont know how to make draw!!! I dont believe these guys.

Look at CHL partners, nothing serious. No big companies, only local partners. You need money to run a league.

As someone said, and I dont want to talk about it, CHL needs KHL to be succesfull. KHL wont join CHL if there is no interest of KHL. As we know, KHL´s goal is to create euro league - so being in CHL for year or two is in KHL´s interest, because KHL can convince euro clubs that CHL is a joke. This CHL is run by Sweden, not Swiss/Germans (key partners for KHL in near future), also important to know.

It irritates me when czech/slovak clubs are written uncorrectly at CHL website (but swedish are correct, why? lets write all clubs in ENG or in domestic language).
 
re-read the question one more time



I would expect from CHL clubs to buy better players than have now on rosters. Lets say from KHL if you dislike NHL. Ek said it, there are no money in CHL, so no reason for better players. No money-no success.

Lets be honest. Do you consider today´s draw as success? No mistakes etc??? Lets compere it with UEFA Champions League if you want.

Success is a relative thing. The skill set on the teams rosters aren't the only factor to determine the quality of the tournament. It's the entertainment value it adds. If people are entertained and thinks it's fun, the product is successfull and attendance will rise and revenue will rise. Bigger/better sponsor deals will add more revenue as the leagues popularity rises.

Now, you were saying?
 
This CHL is run by Sweden, not Swiss/Germans (key partners for KHL in near future), also important to know.

I'm guessing that the Czechs are in fact also strongly guilty. Why Jaroslav Å paček was invited to draw ?
 
IMHO being critical of the CHL in this thread is fair game... if weren't allowed to critic/question things message boards would be pretty boring places. If vorky wants to keep on referencing the same months (years?) old Klaus Zaugg column he should be allowed to.

With that being said you would think a huge KHL backer like vorky would have bigger things to worry about than a draw that apparently didn't run like clock work. I mean KHL training camps are opening in like 2 months and we don't even know how many teams will be playing the league next season. The CHL could very well bust but given 2 of the KHL's earliest EU teams are having financial issues (including a defending conference champion) the KHL might not be the way forward for European pro club hockey either.
 
I wonder how my local club is going to market this tourney. They've been looking for ways to increase international play since at least 2006-2007, but all the European Trophy managed to accomplish was to give these international club games an air of glorified practice games, and I don't think it will be easy to convince the average viewer otherwise. I hope they'll at least send proper squads to play instead of juniors or try-outs, which they will if they're serious about being serious this time.
 
A little rule reminder:

16) Playing the Role of Moderator: You're not a moderator so don't correct posters as if you were a moderator. If a thread or post violates the rules, use the "Report This Post" button rather than playing the parent. Editorial comments on the value of a thread or post, such as "useless thread", "in before the lock", "this thread should be closed", etc., are not welcome. This also may be considered spam, as it adds nothing to the discussion, and furthermore as thread hijacking and taking the thread off topic. If you don't like a thread and it doesn't break any rules don't reply to it! More often than not, that causes more problems than it fixes. Let us handle what is ours to handle. If you're interested in becoming a moderator you can send your application to [email protected].

It's not yours to decide whether posts are on topic or not, or who should be allowed to post in a thread. You always have the option of reporting posts that break the rules or to discuss issues directly with a mod, but those matters shouldn't be discussed publicly.
 
Now that the groups are set, who do you see coming first in each division and who do you see as teh 5 runner ups.

My Group winners are Bolded
Runner-Ups are in Red.


Group A

Kärpät Oulu

Köln Haie

Bili Tygri Liberec

HC Kosice
----------------------
Group B

ZSC Lions Zurich

Färjestad Karlstad

Vienna Capitals

VÃ¥lerenga Oslo
----------------------
Group C

Frölunda Gothenburg

Villach SV

Geneva Servette

Briançon Diables Rouges
----------------------
Group D

PSG Zlin

Fribourg-Gottéron

Eisbären Berlin

Djurgården Stockholm
----------------------
Group E

Tappara Tempere

Ocelari Trinec

SC Bern

Stavanger Oilers
----------------------
Group F

Südtirol Bolzano

Linköping HC

HC Pardubice

TPS Turku
----------------------
Group G

Sparta Prague

Växjö Lakers

Adler Mannheim

KalPa Kuopio
----------------------
Group H

ERC Ingolstadt

SaiPa Lappeenranta

Vitkovice Ostrava

EV Zug
----------------------
Group I
Red Bull Salzburg

Kloten Flyers

JYP Jyväskylä

HV71 Jönköping
----------------------
Group J

Skellefteå AIK

Krefeld Pinguine

IFK Helsinki

SønderjyskE Vojens
----------------------
Group K

Hamburg Freezers

Lukko Rauma

Luleå Hockey

Nottingham Panthers
 
Now that the groups are set, who do you see coming first in each division and who do you see as teh 5 runner ups.

My Group winners are Bolded
Runner-Ups are in Red.

Nice bets but as a KalPa fan, I must tell KalPa isn't as good as it was 2-3 years ago, when it was really good. Ofcourse, we are rebuilding now after totally tanking last season (yes, tanking is back in Liiga now when the series is league is closed gain. In Liiga you tank because you can sell all your best players to KHL/SHL ect and get good money for next season), and we'll see what kind of roster we get, it might end up well.

At least we got Virta back coaching. He was the one that made us to win the Regullar Season few years ago and play well. Also our owners do have money, and there has become new "little" owners like Teemu "Härski" Hartikainen among us. Players raised by KalPa and who made millions from NHL or KHL like to buy a piece of KalPa.

Kapanen's family and Kimmo Timonen are big owners, too, Kapanen family being main owner. These owners don't want to lose money but they have good liquidity to do business. Also like how the new GM has made fan products look so much better and all that other stuff.
 
Last edited:
I wonder how my local club is going to market this tourney. They've been looking for ways to increase international play since at least 2006-2007, but all the European Trophy managed to accomplish was to give these international club games an air of glorified practice games, and I don't think it will be easy to convince the average viewer otherwise. I hope they'll at least send proper squads to play instead of juniors or try-outs, which they will if they're serious about being serious this time.

I think they really need to try to sell the idea that being good in your domestic league is great but to be a truly established club you have to have success in Europe. Playing in different competitions isn't anything new to football clubs so maybe take a page from their book?

I would start fining players who don't sound enthusiastic in interviews. :naughty:

I checked most of the league sites (the official ones, not the club sites) and they made the draw front page news.
 
Tough group for HIFK. Especially Skellefteå will be hard to handle. I'm stoked for this competition, I really hope this takes off. Will be at every home game, possibly some away games as well!
 
As we know, KHL´s goal is to create euro league - so being in CHL for year or two is in KHL´s interest, because KHL can convince euro clubs that CHL is a joke. This CHL is run by Sweden, not Swiss/Germans (key partners for KHL in near future), also important to know.

Believe me, there is absolutely no interest in any of the big and rich European countries to ever join KHL and even less to increase their budget in a way to make losses.
 
why should we believe in miracle? Do you think that there will be changes next year (less clubs, better quality)? People behind CHL are not competitive enough to create something great. The guys are the same guys as behind old CHL. They showed us in past that they dont know how to create CHL.
The old CHL was created by IIHF with Russian sponsor money. The new CHL is created by the clubs in cooperation with the leagues and the IIHF. Seems much more stable to me.

This CHL is run by Sweden, not Swiss/Germans (key partners for KHL in near future), also important to know.
While the European Trophy mainly was run by Swedes, the CHL certainly has more nationalities in the head of the organisation.

C.H.L. Board

Representing the Clubs:
Anders Ternbom, SWE, chairman
Petr Briza, CZE
Timo Everi, FIN
Peter John Lee, GER
Peter Zahner, SUI
Rupert Zamorsky, AUT

The Leagues:
Christian Feichtinger, AUT
Gernot Tripcke, GER

The IIHF:
Kalervo Kummola, FIN

Only one Swede out of nine board members. It might be also one or two employed by the CHL.

It irritates me when czech/slovak clubs are written uncorrectly at CHL website (but swedish are correct, why? lets write all clubs in ENG or in domestic language).
The Swedish non-English letters Ä and Ö also exists in Finnish and German, which covers most of the CHL area. The Czech non-English letters are not used in any other CHL language, and are probably hard to find on the keyboards in the CHL office in Switzerland. But I agree that they should put more effort in getting the Czech and Slovak names right.
 
I'm probably going down to Stockholm to watch the Djurgården vs Eisbären Berlin game! I've wanted to see Eisbären play for a few years now :handclap:
 
Now that the groups are set, who do you see coming first in each division and who do you see as teh 5 runner ups.

Group A
Kärpät (FIN)
Runner-up: Kölner Haie (GER)

Group B
ZSC Lions (SUI)
Runner-up: Färjestad (SWE)

Group C
Frölunda (SWE)

Group D
Zlín (CZE)

Group E
Bern (SUI)

Group F
Linköping (SWE)

Group G
Sparta Prague (CZE)

Group H
Ingolstadt (GER)

Group I
JYP (FIN)
Runner-up: Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)

Group J
Skellefteå (SWE)
Runner-up: HIFK (FIN)

Group K
Luleå (SWE)
Hamburg Freezers (GER)
 
Last edited:
Group A
Kärpät (FIN)
Runner-up: Kölner Haie (GER)

Group B
ZSC Lions (SUI)
Runner-up: Färjestad (SWE)

Group C
Frölunda (SWE)

Group D
Zlín (CZE)

Group E
Bern (SUI)

Group F
Linköping (SWE)

Group G
Sparta Prague (CZE)

Group H
Ingolstadt (GER)

Group I
JYP (FIN)
Runner-up: Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)

Group J
Skellefteå (SWE)
Runner-up: HIFK (FIN)

Group K
Luleå (SWE)

one more runner up is Eisbaren ?
 
In the near future it's a threat to the KHL's plans of expanding further in Europe.
In the long run, it culd keep players like Dick Axelsson from signing with the KHL and stay in Sweden. If it's a success, clubs in europe will see it as a great opportunity for their organization to grow. Hockey is growing in europe and it's looking good right now. I'm positive.

Expansion can't be unlimited. A couple of teams maybe. so how is it a threat?
This has zero connection.

Whether you like it or not it's all about money. A player with a NHL or a KHL contract looming will in the end go there, given the talent equals the amount offered. For comparable money most players would stay at home obviously, but it's not going to happen in 99% of the leagues participating now that they would be able to offer comparable money.


Where did you get the bolded part from? It's already been said that the IIHF only playes a minor administrative role in the CHL with 12% of the shares. It wasn't founded by the IIHF and it isn't controlled by the IIHF. They're not the deciding body.

Yet they were negotiating with the KHL about participation, so...

It's obvious they fear the "takeover" by the KHL, but that's BS and only a serious issue to Fasel&Co.
 
Believe me, there is absolutely no interest in any of the big and rich European countries to ever join KHL and even less to increase their budget in a way to make losses.

ok, then you will be suprised in near future ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad