2014-2015 Champions Hockey League

[Tomas W]

Will all jerseys look the same except for the logo?? What an awful awful awful idea is so.

 

[Yabob]

Sparta's look a bit different, so probably not. The ads, the flag and logo placements seems identical though.

 

[JJTT]

Thanks for the input. Most useful.
If anyone has input on Liiga, NLA etc.: thanks in advance.

Some of the top prospects/young players from each team from Finland

HIFK

Ville Husso, Goalie (St Louis)
Mika Partanen LW (undrafted)
Matti Lamberg RW (undrafted)
(Miro Karjalainen RD, Dallas) Highly unlikely to play

JYP:

Julius Nättinen Center (2015 draft)
Sami Niku LD (2015 draft)
Markus Nenonen LW (undrafted)
Valtteri Kemiläinen RD (undrafted)
Juuso Ikonen RW (undrafted)

Kalpa

Joonas Lyytinen LD (Nashville)
Jonne Tammela LW (2015)
Topi Piipponen LW (2015)
Saku Kinnunen C (Undrafted)
Kasperi Kapanen RW (Pittsburgh), will not play in group stage games

Kärpät

Sebastian Aho LW (2015)
Jesse Puljujärvi RW (2016)
Tomi Karhunen Goalie (undrafted)
Saku Mäenalanen LW (Nashville)
Joonas Donskoi RW (former Florida prospect)
Julius Junttila LW (undrafted)
Nicolas Deschamps (Washington)
Ville Pokka RD (Islanders), will not play on group stage games

Lukko

No notable guys

Saipa

No notable guys

Tappara

Patrik Laine RW (2016)
Pekka Jormakka RW (Undrafted)
Olli Palola RW (Undrafted)
David Kolomatis (Washington)
Atte Mäkinen RD (Undrafted)
Otto Rauhala C (Undrafted)

TPS

Mikko Rantanen LW (2015)
Julius Vähätalo LW/C (Detroit)
Mikko Lehtonen LD (Undrafted)
Matias Pulli RD (Undrafted)


And for Finnish users: Sonera will show these games for free just register here

 

[Yabob]

Växjö. So all of them aren't the same obviously.

 

[Tomas W]

Växjö. So all of them aren't the same obviously.

Ok, good. Didnt like the SAIK and FBK ones. Perhaps the "dark" jersey look better. That ad on the arm could have been more discreet, it will look ugly on some jerseys. Dont know why sponsors always insist on making the jerseys so ugly, what's to gain with annoying the fans?

 

[SurMartin]

Will all jerseys look the same except for the logo?? What an awful awful awful idea is so.

A guy on our supporterforum said all teams could choose between 3 different standard models.

Not only is the model bad, the actual quality is horrible. Looks like a cheap practice jersey in comparison:

 

[Tomas W]

A guy on our supporterforum said all teams could choose between 3 different standard models.

Not only is the model bad, the actual quality is horrible. Looks like a cheap practice jersey in comparison:

The tiger (or wasp rather maybe) is dead

I agree the jerseys look cheap.

 

[JJTT]

Kärpät

Tappara

HIFK

JYP

Kalpa

Lukko

Saipa

TPS

Red arms on every jersey, ugh.

 

[Vicente]

Anyone else actually excited to see this tournament? I am looking forward to see teams like Nottingham and to compare their playing level with the teams from the top 5 leagues. There will be many, many games shown via internet stream in Germany.

 

[JJTT]

Anyone else actually excited to see this tournament? I am looking forward to see teams like Nottingham and to compare their playing level with the teams from the top 5 leagues. There will be many, many games shown via internet stream in Germany.

Hockey in August, works for me.

 

[CHargoalie]

I've seen people complaining about this new CHL over the Internet. "Not as good as the original, poorly organized", etc. So far, the one thing (only thing, really) that bothers me, is the fact that the title doesn't match the reality. Not that many "champions" in the tournament. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to seeing these games. It's pretty much as JJTT said, and there's almost a month till the Finnish league starts again.

It looks like a few of the jerseys are lacking the club identity in forms, but I guess you just have to see them as "alternate jerseys". The ad in the sleeve is quite horrible though.

 

[Systemfel]

The red sleeves are honestly ugly as ****. Who came up with that? What's the point? The CHL logo patch is enough.

 

[Slimmy]

So who is:

1. favourite
2. darkhorse
3. underdog?

From a swedish perspective; SAIK was the clear favorite before the transfers. Now it's anyone's guess. I wouldn't call them a darkhorse but Frölunda might surprise a few people. Think they have a good shot at winning. Believe Djurgården will do pretty well in their group. Though, they are the clear underdog as far as Swedish teams go.

 

[Slimmy]

Anyone else actually excited to see this tournament? I am looking forward to see teams like Nottingham and to compare their playing level with the teams from the top 5 leagues. There will be many, many games shown via internet stream in Germany.

Been waiting all summer. Stoked that SVT picked up the tourney and are going to stream a lot of games.

 

[Jussi]

MTV3 will air JYP-Salzburg on free tv on Friday.

 

[Ciccarelli]

Anyone else actually excited to see this tournament? I am looking forward to see teams like Nottingham and to compare their playing level with the teams from the top 5 leagues. There will be many, many games shown via internet stream in Germany.

I already bought the tickets to the Rauman Lukko - Nottingham Panthers game and I'm not even a Lukko fan, quite opposite infact. Too bad Ässät didn't make it, but I'm still excited.

 

[eme]

The red sleeves are honestly ugly as ****. Who came up with that? What's the point? The CHL logo patch is enough.

Tournament is in its infancy. Albeit ugly, I guess the healthy junk of money included with the ad makes up for it. Will probably be adressed later on should the tournament make it big.

 

[Eye of Ra]

eurosport is broadcasting many games.

 

[Jussi]

France, Norway and Slovenia also got tv deals done.

 

[Kennel]

We should do a poll on ugliest jerseys.

 

[CHargoalie]

This makes me wish for scoreless games. Jersey ads in general are quite appalling, but hey, there's always the Swiss way.

 

[WinTheRightGames]

I really hope they ditch that sleeve ad next season.

Is this the Swiss league or what?

 

[Falling Snow]

I really hope they ditch that sleeve ad next season.

Is this the Swiss league or what?

I dont think this is from swiss league, i think thats how the top scorer back will look from every team in the chl...

 

[van22]

Looking at the standings of the participating clubs seems that SHL, Liiga, Extraliga, NLA, DEL champions/ regular season leaders are all participating.

Although the 26 founding teams don't have any qualification requirements (other than being in their countries top elite league), the 18 others must either be a league’s champion, at least a regular season runner-up or at least a playoff semi-finalist.

Is there any major team (that could be a contender) that isn't participating?

Note: * are founding teams

Group A
1. Kärpät (FIN) * - Liiga champions / regular season leader
2. Köln (GER) - DEL finalist
3. Liberec (CZE) * - ..
4. Košice (SVK) - playoff champion

Group B
1. ZSC Lions (SUI) * - NLA champions / regular season leader
2. Färjestad (SWE) * - SHL finalist
3. Vienna Capitals (AUT) * - EBEL regular season leader
4. VÃ¥lerenga (NOR) - regular season winner / playoff finalist

Group C
1. Frölunda (SWE) * - SHL regular season runner-up
2. Villach (AUT) - EBEL playoff semi-finalist
3. Genève-Servette (SUI) - NLA playoff semi-finalist
4. Briançon (FRA) - League Magnus champion

Group D
1. Zlín (CZE) - Extraliga champion
2. Fribourg-Gotteron (SUI) * - NLA regular season runner-up
3. Eisbären Berlin (GER) * - ..
4. Djurgården (SWE) * - ..

Group E
1. Tappara (FIN) * - Liiga finalist / regular season runner-up
2. Třinec (CZE) - Extraliga regular season runner-up
3. Bern (SUI) * - ..
4. Stavanger (NOR) - playoff champion

Group F
1. Bolzano (ITA) - EBEL champion
2. Linköping (SWE) * - SHL playoff semi-finalist
3. Pardubice (CZE) * - ..
4. TPS Turku (FIN) * - ..

Group G
1. Sparta Prag (CZE) * - Extraliga regular season leader
2. Växjö (SWE) - SHL semi-finalist
3. Mannheim (GER) * - ..
4. KalPa (FIN) * - ..

Group H
1. Ingolstadt (GER) * - DEL champion
2. SaiPa (FIN) - Liiga playoff semi-finalist
3. Vítkovice (CZE) * - ..
4. Zug (SUI) * - ..

Group I
1. Salzburg (AUT) * - EBEL finalist
2. Kloten (SUI) - NLA playoff finalist
3. Jyp (FIN) * - ..
4. HV71 (SWE) * - ..

Group J
1. Skellefteå (SWE) - SHL champion/regular season leader
2. Krefeld (GER) * - DEL regular season runner-up
3. IFK Helsingfors (FIN) * - ..
4. Sønderjyske (DEN) - playoff champion

Group K
1. Hamburg (GER) - DEL regular season leader
2. Lukko (FIN) - Liiga playoff semi-finalist
3. Luleå (SWE) * - ..
4. Nottingham (GBR) - Challenge Cup winner

 

[Vicente]

Is there any major team (that could be a contender) that isn't participating?

Topteams of their countries I miss are: EC KAC (AUT), HC Plzen (CZE), HC Davos & HC Lugano (SUI). But thats it.

Here is some additional info to the teams that were not in semifinals or top of regular season rankings but participate.

- Liberec (CZE) - twice in semifinals of Extraliga in last 4 years, in 2011 runners up in regular season
- Eisbären Berlin (GER) - DEL record champions, won title in 2011, 2012 and 2013, ET winner in 2010
- Djurgården (SWE) - Swedish record champions, returned from Allsvenskan but as second tier team made it to ET final round in 2013
- Bern (SUI) - one of Swiss top teams; champions in 2013, runners up in 2012
- Pardubice (CZE) - Extraliga champions in 2010 and 2012
- TPS Turku (FIN) - SM-liiga champions in 2010
- Mannheim (GER) - DEL finalists 2012, regular season winners 2013
- KalPa (FIN) - 2012 regular season winners
- Vítkovice (CZE) - Extraliga vice champions in 2010 and 2011
- EV Zug (SUI) - NLA regular season winners in 2012, semifinals in 2013
- Jyp (FIN) - Finnish champions in 2012, won ET in 2013
- HV71 (SWE) - 2011 Elitserien regular season winners
- IFK Helsingfors (FIN) - Finnish champions in 2011
- Luleå (SWE) - 2012 ET champions, 2013 Elitserien finalists

Although these teams have not had much success in the 2013-14 season, they all were among the very best teams of their respective countries in the very last years. Well maybe with the exception of DIF but they showed their talent in last ET version despite playing Allsvenskan.

So, this shows that CHL is not a weak tournament by its lineup. Of course it can be reduced in the future like for a 32 team or 24 team format but it doesn't mean the additional teams are lowering the level at all. As we all know ice hockey is a rather well-balanced sports with many different top teams every year, not like football where you have the same top 4 teams for decades.