With 16 teams left in the 2019/20 Champions Hockey League season, they’re not just fighting for places in the Quarter-Finals when European hockey action returns on 12 November.
The deeper we go into this season, the closer we get to finding out how many places each league will have next year. Here’s how things look based only on results this season so far:
| # | League | Points/Game | 2019/20 Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 2.28 | 100 |
| 2 | Sweden | 2.20 | 95 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 2.20 | 95 |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 1.67 | 85 |
| 5 | Belarus | 1.67 | 85 |
| 6 | Finland | 1.58 | 75 |
| 7 | Austria | 1.00 | 70 |
| 7 | UK | 1.00 | 70 |
| 9 | Poland | 0.67 | 60 |
| 10 | France | 0.50 | 55 |
| 10 | Slovakia | 0.50 | 55 |
| 11 | Denmark | 0.50 | 55 |
| 13 | Norway | 0.00 | 40 |
Indicates country has no teams left in the competition.
Germany is currently the form country this season. All three of the DEL’s teams made it out of the Group Stage, and with an average of 2.28 points per game, they lead Europe so far. However, this may also be where it starts to get harder to stay on top of the pile: as the League Ranking uses an average points per game per league, it means that all three teams will need to keep winning to maintain that average.
Contrast that however with Finland, who it’s been fair to say have not had a good CHL campaign thus far. Only Tappara Tampere remain in the competition, and the Liiga will need a mammoth effort from them to ensure they don’t lose a place for the second season running.
Sweden are in an interesting position in that four of their five teams in the next round play against each other. While that means it will be hard to increase their points per game ratio dramatically, it will also mean that total stays relatively consistent for another round.
What does that mean for the overall league ranking?
| # | Country | Total Points | 2020/21 Places |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 244 | 5 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 231 | 5 |
| 3 | Germany | 222 | 4 (+1) |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 210 | 4 |
| 5 | Finland | 207 | 3 (-1) |
| 6 | Austria | 192 | 3 |
| 7 | Belarus | 185 | 1 |
| 8 | UK | 148 | 1 |
| 9 | France | 144 | 1 |
| 10 | Slovakia | 144 | 1 |
| 11 | Norway | 134 | 1 |
| 12 | Poland | 133 | 1 |
| 13 | Denmark | 133 | 1 |
It means that Finland are in danger of losing a place – unless Tappara can go quite deep into the competition! The pressure is on the Tampere-based team much the same as it was JYP Jyväskylä two seasons ago, and they went on to lift the trophy and keep Finland at having five teams in the CHL. They’re now faced with the reality of dropping to three.
Germany would increase to four teams next season if they can keep up their current run, while Czech Republic have clawed their way back up after a disappointing start to the season. They’ll maintain four teams on current form, but with two through to the Round of 16 there’s some pressure there as well to keep that average up. Teams from Czech Republic, Germany, Finland and Switzerland all play each other in the next round, meaning we could have some dramatic changes when the Quarter-Finalists are known.
When are points awarded?
In the CHL playoffs, it’s the score at 60 minutes that counts for awarding points in the League Ranking. The detailed League Ranking is a formula taking into account the weighted results of each league over the past four seasons.