Off-season changes & summary
The playing format for the 2019/20 Champions Hockey League Season remained unchanged from the previous two seasons, with 32 teams qualifying.
Wildcards were awarded to the same leagues as in previous seasons, to the national champions of Norway, Slovakia, Belarus, France, Great Britain, Denmark and Poland. In addition to the Elite Ice Hockey League champions Cardiff Devils, the British-based league was also represented by Continental Cup Runners-up Belfast Giants, who brought the CHL to the Emerald Isle for the first time.
In addition to Belfast, other newcomers to the competition included Swiss clubs EHC Biel-Bienne, Lausanne HC and HC Ambrì-Piotta, from Finland the Lahti Pelicans and HPK Hämeenlinna, the Augsburger Panther from Germany, Graz99ers from Austria, Frisk Asker from Norway and Rungsted Seier Capital from Denmark.
Once again, 125 games were played over the CHL season, starting on 29 August concluding on 4 February with the one-game Final in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. In the first Final held outside of Sweden or Finland, the Frölunda Gothenburg won their second-straight title and fourth overall, by beating hosts Mountfield HK 3-1 before a sellout crowd at ČPP Arena.
Playing format
The playing format remained unchanged from the previous two seasons. Teams played the other three in their group at home and away, with the top two from each group going directly to the Round of 16. At this stage, a random Draw was held to determine the next matchups, with group winners being seeded and drawn against runners-up.
The Playoff Stage (Round of 16, Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals) were played in two-game, home-and-away knock-out series, where the winner on goals aggregate advanced. The Final was one game, played at the venue of the team with the best-accumulated Group Stage and Playoff record.
Group stage review | click here for Group Stage Standings 2019/20
Swedish teams were strong in the Group Stage, with all five teams advancing and Luleå Hockey, Skellefteå AIK and Frölunda all winning their groups. Switzerland was also strongly represented with four of five teams advancing, and Biel-Bienne, Lausanne and EV Zug finishing first.
The only Swiss team not to advance came very close, as Ambrì-Piotta’s 10 points were just one back of Färjestad Karlstad and two back of Red Bull Munich in Group G. The closest race of all was in Group E where Skellefteå, SC Bern and Kärpät Oulu all finished with 11 points. Based on head-to-head records, Skellefteå and Bern advanced. Kärpät were less than a minute away from winning the group, but a late equalizing goal by Skellefteå’s Linus Lindström forced overtime in the group’s last game. Kärpät won the game in a shootout, but it wasn’t enough.
The Swedish and Swiss teams were joined by three from Germany, two from the Czech Republic and one each from Finland and Belarus in the Round of 16. After failing to advance on two previous tries, Yunost Minsk became the first Belarusian team to advance from the Group Stage by edging out Oceláři Třinec on the last day, thanks to a point earned in a shootout loss to the Pelicans.
Playoff Review | click here for Playoff tree 2019/20
Clubs from six countries entered the Playoffs but that was reduced to four in just one round, as Minsk and Tappara Tampere were both eliminated, meaning – surprisingly – that no Finnish teams would be left in the Quarter-Finals. Tappara came back from a 3-0 deficit at home to tie Zug, but two power-play goals from Gregory Hofmann would provide Zug with the margin of victory they’d need on home ice in the return game.
While three Swiss teams survived the Round of 16, they all went out in the Quarters. Most painfully, Biel-Bienne held a two-goal lead on aggregate over Frölunda with less than three minutes to play, but saw that evaporate and then lost on an overtime goal by Patrik Carlsson. For Frölunda, it was the second straight round they’d fought off near-certain elimination after overcoming a five-goal deficit at one point in the Round of 16 against Färjestad. And they weren’t finished.
In the Semi-Finals, Frölunda faced Luleå – the team that had beaten them in the 2014/15 Final. Entering the last period, Luleå led on aggregate but Frölunda got goals from captain Joel Lundqvist – who was playing his 1000th game for the team – and Ryan Lasch to fight off yet another match point and advance to the Final for the fifth time in six years.
Their opponents in the title game were Mountfield, who had finished second to Frölunda in Group H and then through fantastic defensive play and stellar netminding from Marek Mazanec, went through Adler Mannheim, Zug and Djurgarden Stockholm, conceding only three goals in six games along the way. By virtue of their better record throughout the competition, Mountfield hosted the Final and local reaction was amazing, with the 6890-capacity venue in Hradec Králové selling out quickly.
With the building abuzz, Mountfield thrilled their fans by taking the early lead on a power-play goal by Petr Koukal, but Frölunda pushed back in a big way, scoring three times in the last three minutes of the first period to take a 3-1 lead. From there, the reigning champs played a solid possession game that Mountfield just couldn’t overcome and there was no further scoring.
After the Final, Lasch – the CHL’s all-time scoring leader with 91 points – earned his second LGT MVP and third LGT Top Scorer awards. And then the whole Frölunda team was awarded the European Trophy for the fourth time.