Off-season changes & summary

The Champions Hockey League 2017/18 season started with some big changes – off the ice, the league launched its new brand and visual identity and began collecting enhanced statistics for the new season. On the ice, the league was cut down to 32 teams with all having to earn their places on sporting merits - in simple terms, no more automatic qualification for founding teams.

Wildcards were awarded to the same leagues as in the previous season, with Poland retaining its spot. The Nottingham Panthers won the Continental Cup and joined Elite League winners Cardiff Devils as part of a two-team contingent from Great Britain.

125 games were played over the CHL season, starting on 24 August all the way through to the final showdown in Växjö on 6 February. For the first time in CHL history there was a final not involving Frölunda after three consecutive years and two championships, and the trophy left Sweden as JYP Jyväskylä shut out the Lakers in a 2-0 win.

Playing format

To take account of the reduction in teams, clubs were drawn into eight groups each containing four teams. 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, 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 2017/18

One team stole the headlines in the Group Stage, as the Nottingham Panthers qualified top of their group to become the first British team to reach the knock-out stage. Elsewhere, CHL stalwarts HC Davos, HV71, KalPa Kuopio, and IFK Helsinki all fell in the group stage. Mountfield HK finished last in their group in their debut season as the only Czech team to not make the Round of 16, while Germany and Austria saw only one of their three teams each make the play-offs. Almost all of the groups were decided on over the last two Game Days.

Playoff Review | click here for Playoff tree 2017/18

Arguably the biggest shock of the CHL in its four seasons came in the Round of 16. Trailing 3-2 from the first leg, Bílí Tygři Liberec won the game on the night in Gothenburg to take Frölunda to overtime, and then scored the winner shortly into the extra period to eliminate the defending champions. Bern and Växjö also overturned first game defeats on the returns as Germany and Austria lost their remaining teams, while JYP won the Finnish battle over Tappara to be the only Liiga team left standing.

The Quarter-Finals were notable in that three Czech teams made it to the last eight for the first time. Bern threw away a goal advantage in the return game to be eliminated by Växjö, while JYP overcame their plane landing lade in Brno to win 5-3 and eliminate Kometa. Liberec again shocked, going to Zurich a goal down – tying the game, and then winning in a shootout – while Třinec continued their run with another near sell-out as they eliminated Malmö.

A very multinational Semi-Final line-up saw two Czech teams go up against Liiga and SHL sides, but it was the Nordics who advanced through – Växjö tied at one going back to home ice and easing past Liberec 6-1 in the return game. JYP however had to battle against Třinec, the Czechs pulling back the two-goal deficit late on to force overtime and then a shootout before being blanked 2-0 by the Liiga team.

And so to the Final, for the first time not involving Frölunda and for the fourth time in a new venue – the Vida Arena in Växjö. Backed by some 200 traveling fans from Jyväskylä the visitors played a perfect road game, taking the lead towards the end of the middle period and then sealing the deal with an empty net goal shortly before the end. Not the result the majority of the sell-out crowd had hoped for, but a historic win to see the CHL Trophy leave Sweden and head to Finland. It was also the first time a team was shutout in a CHL Final.