The 2021/22 season of the Champions Hockey League came to a spectacular end at the beginning of March as Sweden's Rögle Ängelholm beat Tappara Tampere of Finland to clinch the European Trophy in their debut CHL season.
The seventh season of the pan-European competition offered plenty of excitement and drama but also many note-worthy occasions that caught us all by surprise – here is the second part of our Four biggest surprises of the 2021/22 season!
Amazing atmosphere in Kyiv
The 2021/22 season marked a new country appearing on the CHL map for the very first time since Poland was added in 2016/17 – Ukraine, represented by their national champions HC Donbass Donetsk, made their debut on the European Stage and impressed during their first CHL campaign with great commitment, hospitality and sportsmanship.
Donbass Donetsk pulled crowds of over five thousand for their home games and surprised with amazing pre-game shows worthy of a CHL Final.
The Ukrainians missed out on the Playoffs by just a few points but ended their CHL debut with two wins and two overtime losses and never lost by more than a single goal – a solid display for the newcomers!
Fribourg and Leksand make Playoffs
Group F, featuring Czech Extraliga champions Oceláři Třinec, internationally experienced side HC Slovan Bratislava, Swiss NL side Fribourg-Gottéron and SHL newcomers Leksands IF, was a group that was expected to be very close, but it ended up being decided earlier than anticipated.
After the first four Group Stage games, the two Playoff places were already secured by Fribourg and Leksand, who made easy work of the Czech Extraliga champions and Slovan.