2014-2015 Champions Hockey League

[FiLe]

To be fair, I really can not tell if it was an attempt at humour or not. I'm not a regular at hockeysverige so I wouldn't know. Swedish spourts journalism is certainly not at this level in general. Swedes tend to undervalue our league, just as finns do.

It doesn't look too far out of the line with some other shtick I've read from the Swedish yellow media. There certainly is more than one writer who has the tendency to construct the best-case scenario and then report it as if it were a fact.

And agreed, it's the kind of stuff one should not use to judge all of Sweden's sports reporting. We're all also wary of our Finnish counterparts.

 

[Bjornee]

Wennerholm @ Aftonbladet is a perfect example. Tre Kronor has won gold in WC after 2/3 decent games in every chronicle every year. EVERY D**N YEAR

 

[joe89]

If we are to look at the silver lining, at least it does not appear that most clubs were taking these games any more seriously than their usual regular season games.

What I mean to say is that the Swedes can't excuse themselves by claiming the CHL was taken somewhat more seriously in Finland to explain the embarrassing disrepancy.

The eight Swedish teams collected 97 points. The eight Finnish teams collected 99 points. Both nations had one team each that did extremely poorly(HV & Kalpa) and the rest got in or missed out in the last game. Växjö just missed(had equal points to TPS and more points than a group winner in Tappara), Färjestad was also a not-good-enough 2nd place team, and Djurgården's fate has been discussed already. No real disrepancy in performance, only outcome.

In the groups with both Swedish and Finnish teams the stats were:
Highest position in the standings: 3-2
Total points: 63-61
Points SWE-FIN games only: 15-15
SWE record(vs FIN): 4-4-1-1 (W-L-OTW-OTL)
FIN record(vs SWE): 4-4-1-1 (W-L-OTW-OTL)
SWE-FIN goal differential: 22-22

Once again, very close.

 

[Jonimaus]

SVT still pissed at Djurgården for resting 7 of their players for the Fribourg game.

So the swedish teams doesn't really care, and they expect fans to show up? Yeah, if the SHL teams treat CHL like this, what's the point.

 

[Slimmy]

So the swedish teams doesn't really care, and they expect fans to show up? Yeah, if the SHL teams treat CHL like this, what's the point.

Frölunda sent their original lineup to Austria and the Villach game. Why Djurgården decided to rest their A-squad I can't say. They're one of the clubs with a share in the CHL which makes it all the more odd.

 

[Vicente]

Frölunda sent their original lineup to Austria and the Villach game. Why Djurgården decided to rest their A-squad I can't say. They're one of the clubs with a share in the CHL which makes it all the more odd.

Were the players important? Have they played a lot?

As a Kölner Haie fan I can say that our team was extremly tired after the first couple of weeks when they played Wednesday, Friday and Sunday due to CHL and they are at the bottom of the league standings now.

I could imagine a team resting players to keep them fresh in general not as disrespect to the competition itself.

 

[FiLe]

The eight Swedish teams collected 97 points. The eight Finnish teams collected 99 points. Both nations had one team each that did extremely poorly(HV & Kalpa) and the rest got in or missed out in the last game. Växjö just missed(had equal points to TPS and more points than a group winner in Tappara), Färjestad was also a not-good-enough 2nd place team, and Djurgården's fate has been discussed already. No real disrepancy in performance, only outcome.

Huh. Interesting. And goes to show that explanations tend to get far better when you involve a hefty amount of numbers.

It appears that the margins that decide who advances and who doesn't are very narrow with this league. Something to keep in mind for the future.

 

[Slimmy]

Were the players important? Have they played a lot?

As a Kölner Haie fan I can say that our team was extremly tired after the first couple of weeks when they played Wednesday, Friday and Sunday due to CHL and they are at the bottom of the league standings now.

I could imagine a team resting players to keep them fresh in general not as disrespect to the competition itself.

To answer your first question; Yes, Micke Samuelsson and Tellqvist were among those who were resting.
I'm not saying they didn't have their reasons but it was obvious that the CHL took a back seat to the domestic league. If they had won their last game in the group stage Djurgården would have clinched a playoff spot.

 

[Jablkon]

Were the players important? Have they played a lot?

As a Kölner Haie fan I can say that our team was extremly tired after the first couple of weeks when they played Wednesday, Friday and Sunday due to CHL and they are at the bottom of the league standings now.

I could imagine a team resting players to keep them fresh in general not as disrespect to the competition itself.

On the other hand, finnish teams can obviously deal with that schedule. This aspect was also opened here, because after the start of the season czech teams became dramatically worse in CHL. Maybe they just don't train enough during the season...

But for sure there were and will be teams resting players for othe reasons - lack of motivation, struggling in domestic league etc....

 

[Slimmy]

Did anyone else see the complete ****ing garbage CHL trophy suggestions? They expect us to vote for those?
And when we're on that note; the CHL logo need a complete ****ing revamp. The fuglyness.
They want this league to be respected and prestigious then do it right. Throw money at it.

 

[vorky]

Did anyone else see the complete ****ing garbage CHL trophy suggestions? They expect us to vote for those?
And when we're on that note; the CHL logo need a complete ****ing revamp. The fuglyness.
They want this league to be respected and prestigious then do it right. Throw money at it.

They dont have money that is the problem.

 

[FiLe]

Besides, while it would feel like a novelty to watch at first, I think both the players and audience alike would soon grow weary of playing in a rink laced with money.

 

[Exarz]

Did anyone else see the complete ****ing garbage CHL trophy suggestions? They expect us to vote for those?
And when we're on that note; the CHL logo need a complete ****ing revamp. The fuglyness.
They want this league to be respected and prestigious then do it right. Throw money at it.

I suggest going back to the old European Trophy logo

 

[vorky]

I heard that some clubs did not want to travel to games. Any info?

 

[vorky]

Attendance 1/8 finals

game 1

Genéve - SaiPa 5,214
Kärpät - Vienna 4,239
TPS - Lukko 3,642
Luleå - Salzburg 2,559
Tappara - Frölunda 2,546
Sparta - Linköping 2,381
JYP - Skellefteå 1,757
Fribourg - IFK Helsinki 1,171


game 2

Frölunda Gothenburg - Tappara Tampere 4,770
Vienna Capitals - Kärpät Oulu 4,700
IFK Helsinki - Fribourg-Gottéron 3,809
SaiPa Lappeenranta - Genève-Servette 2,830
Red Bull Salzburg - Luleå Hockey 2,610
Skellefteå AIK - JYP Jyväskylä 2,518
Lukko Rauma - TPS Turku 2,472
Linköping HC - Sparta Prague 2,437

1/4 finals

IFK Helsinki - Frölunda Indian 4858
Linköpings HC - Skellefteå AIK 2276
Lukko Rauma - Luleå HF 2224
SaiPa Lappeenranta - Kärpät Oulu 2187

less people than in previous round.

 

[Exarz]

1/4 finals

IFK Helsinki - Frölunda Indian 4858
Linköpings HC - Skellefteå AIK 2276
Lukko Rauma - Luleå HF 2224
SaiPa Lappeenranta - Kärpät Oulu 2187

less people than in previous round.

Swedish commentators believed it was because it was only Swedish and Finnish teams left, plus that two Swedish and two Finnish teams played each other, those two games also had the lowest attendances by far. I think the attendance numbers would be different if more teams from Central Europe still were in the competition!

Edit: Didn't see the attendance number in Lukko-Luleå, but I think my point still was made

 

[vorky]

Swedish commentators believed it was because it was only Swedish and Finnish teams left, plus that two Swedish and two Finnish teams played each other, those two games also had the lowest attendances by far. I think the attendance numbers would be different if more teams from Central Europe still were in the competition!

Edit: Didn't see the attendance number in Lukko-Luleå, but I think my point still was made

I dont think so.

 

[SurMartin]

Kabanov is out for the season. Thanks CHL.

 

[Jussi]

Swedish commentators believed it was because it was only Swedish and Finnish teams left, plus that two Swedish and two Finnish teams played each other, those two games also had the lowest attendances by far. I think the attendance numbers would be different if more teams from Central Europe still were in the competition!

Edit: Didn't see the attendance number in Lukko-Luleå, but I think my point still was made

Both SaiPa and Lukko have been terrible in the Finnish league lately so it's natural the bandwagon fans (which a lot of the less hardcore sports fans in Finland are) stayed home. SaiPa were averaging around/over 3000 for their group games which was a lot for their arena/city. I don't recall the ticket policies for each team, ie. if the CHL games are included in the season tickets or you'd get a discount.

 

[Urbanskog]

I dont think so.

The Central European clubs were dominant in the CHL when it came to attendance:

 

[vorky]

Urbanskog

I wanted to say that there would be not more people in Helsinki if Eisbaren or Kosice came to Helsinki instead of Frolunda. It is possible that Eisbaren would have more fans than IFK for example, but still not impressive. A man would predict more fans in best euro league as CHL characterize itself.

Btw, only Kosice are central Europe club, not german or suiss clubs.

 

[Yabob]

I would say neither of those two Finnish teams have a particularly large arena to begin with. Add a couple of hundred people and the arenas would have been half filled. The game in Helsinki even got past the 50% mark. At least by official numbers. I have no idea how many people actually attended the games though.

In Linköping, though, they were far far bellow maximum capacity. All sorts of reasons probably apply, such as:

- Lack of interest in the tournament
- Too many home games recently (7 in the past 30 days... there is only so many games that people can afford to attend)
- The ridiculously stupid starting time of 20:05 (which is too late, on a week day, for a lot of people living outside the city... and for a number of people in the city as well most likely)
- And of course the fact that you could watch it for free on TV in the comfort of your home (instead of freezing your a** off in the "empty" arena).

 

[Urbanskog]

Urbanskog

I wanted to say that there would be not more people in Helsinki if Eisbaren or Kosice came to Helsinki instead of Frolunda. It is possible that Eisbaren would have more fans than IFK for example, but still not impressive. A man would predict more fans in best euro league as CHL characterize itself.

Btw, only Kosice are central Europe club, not german or suiss clubs.

According to the official definition, Central Europe consists of Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.

 

[Slimmy]

Urbanskog

I wanted to say that there would be not more people in Helsinki if Eisbaren or Kosice came to Helsinki instead of Frolunda. It is possible that Eisbaren would have more fans than IFK for example, but still not impressive. A man would predict more fans in best euro league as CHL characterize itself.

Btw, only Kosice are central Europe club, not german or suiss clubs.

No one expected it to be a huge success from the start. No one. It's been said time and time again that the clubs are in for the long haul this time. There's no use in rushing anything. Learn from mistakes and improve the product till next year. They have a solid product on the ice already. With patience I'm confident the tourney will pick up steam. In a few years time it could hold it's own weight and rivalries will emerge. I've learned plenty just from this year looking at the opposition and their respective leagues.
This is the way forward for euro club competition. Let's hope KHL joins and that everyone's satisfied with the league format.

 

[Jussi]

No one expected it to be a huge success from the start. No one. It's been said time and time again that the clubs are in for the long haul this time. There's no use in rushing anything. Learn from mistakes and improve the product till next year. They have a solid product on the ice already. With patience I'm confident the tourney will pick up steam. In a few years time it could hold it's own weight and rivalries will emerge. I've learned plenty just from this year looking at the opposition and their respective leagues.
This is the way forward for euro club competition. Let's hope KHL joins and that everyone's satisfied with the league format.

Exactly. I think KHL is a prime example of how to do things the wrong way by thinking short term instead of long term.