Rouen Dragons Head Coach Fabrice Lhenry: “Klagenfurt are a dominant team in the ICE that regularly participate in the CHL and have reached the Round of 16 several times. They are a team we have faced twice in the past few years, but haven’t been successful against. They have shown their identity – they’re hard-working, play a fast collective game and have good individual players.”

Färjestad Karlstad Head Coach Tomas Mitell: “A team that we don’t know too much about yet. But it is always a challenge to play teams where you expect to come away with a win – all regarding to ranking and history. But the game is played on the ice and you never know what’s going to happen.”

Fribourg-Gottéron Head Coach Patrick Emond: “Klagenfurt are a good team, very consistent. At the end of the regular season, they narrowly lost in the final of the playoffs. This will be the start of a five-day trip for the team, followed by a trip to Třinec.”

Unia Oświęcim Assistant Coach Krzysztof Majkowski: “They are the runners-up of Austria. Similar to Red Bull Salzburg, they supply many players to the Austrian national team. The team is coached by Kirk Furey, a coach from across the ocean. The team’s offensive strength primarily comes from the duo of Jan Muršak and Nick Petersen. Our Head Voach, Nik Zupančič, knows Muršak’s potential very well, having had the opportunity to coach him in the Slovenian national team.”

Genève-Servette Head Coach Jan Cadieux: “Unlucky finalists last season, Klagenfurt nonetheless dominated the ICE regular season. The team were able to count on experienced players such as Jan Mursak, Nick Petersen and Matt Fraser. The players must have seen that we lost to Innsbruck last year, so I think our confrontation will be anything but a pleasure.”

ZSC Lions Zurich General Manager Sven Leuenberger: “A traditional organisation that only lost to Salzburg in the final last season. We want to take revenge for the defeat during the 2017/18 CHL campaign!”