The 2018–19 Champions Hockey League was the fifth season of the Champions Hockey League, a European ice hockey tournament. The tournament was competed by 32 teams, and qualification was on sporting merits only. The six founding leagues were represented by between three and five teams (based on a four-year league ranking), while seven "challenge leagues" were represented by one team each. One place was awarded to the Continental Cup champion. Unlike in the first three editions, founding teams did not automatically qualify. The group stages began on 30 August 2018, and ended on 17 October 2018. The season had an average attendance of 3,401 per game, one percent increase from the previous season.
Swedish team Frölunda HC won their third Champions Hockey League title, defeating Red Bull München, the first German team to reach the final, 3–1 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg.
Team allocation A total of 32 teams from different European first-tier leagues participated in the 2018–19 Champions Hockey League. Besides the Continental Cup champions, 24 teams from the six founding leagues, as well as the national champions from Slovakia, Norway, Denmark, France, Belarus, the United Kingdom and Poland qualified.
The qualification for these places was set out in the rules as follows: National league champion (play-off winners) Regular season winners Regular season runner-up Losing play-off finalist Higher regular season ranked losing semi-finalist Lower regular season ranked losing semi-finalist Third placed team in regular season Fourth placed team in regular season Fifth placed team in regular season.
Teams Team City/Area League Qualification Participation Previous best JYP Jyväskylä SM-liiga 2018 CHL winner 5th Champion Växjö Lakers Växjö Swedish Hockey League play-off champion 5th final Djurgårdens IF Stockholm Swedish Hockey League regular season runner-up 4th round of 16 Skellefteå AIK Skellefteå Swedish Hockey League play-off finalist 4th semi-finals Malmö Redhawks Malmö Swedish Hockey League play-off semi-finalist 2nd round of 16 Frölunda HC Gothenburg Swedish Hockey League regular season third place 5th Champion Kärpät Oulu Liiga play-off champion 4th final TPS Turku Liiga regular season runner-up 5th quarter-finals Tappara Tampere Liiga play-off finalist 5th round of 16 HIFK Helsinki Liiga play-off semi-finalist 5th quarter-finals Kometa Brno Brno Czech Extraliga play-off champion 2nd quarter-finals HC Plzeň Plzeň Czech Extraliga regular season winner 2nd round of 32 Mountfield HK Hradec Králové Czech Extraliga regular season runner-up 2nd group stage Oceláři Třinec Třinec Czech Extraliga play-off finalist 4th semi-finals ZSC Lions Zürich National League play-off champion 5th quarter-finals SC Bern Bern National League regular season winner 5th quarter-finals EV Zug Zug National League regular season runner-up 5th round of 16 HC Lugano Lugano National League play-off finalist 2nd round of 16 Red Bull München Munich Deutsche Eishockey Liga play-off champion 4th round of 16 Eisbären Berlin Berlin Deutsche Eishockey Liga regular season runner-up 4th round of 16 Nürnberg Ice Tigers Nuremberg Deutsche Eishockey Liga play-off semi-finalist 1st HC Bolzano Bolzano Austrian Hockey League play-off champion 2nd group stage Vienna Capitals Vienna Austrian Hockey League regular season first round winner 5th round of 16 Red Bull Salzburg Salzburg Austrian Hockey League regular season pick round runner-up 5th round of 16 Yunost Minsk Minsk Belarusian Extraleague Continental Cup winner 2nd round of 32 Neman Grodno Grodno Belarusian Extraleague play-off champion 3rd group stage HC '05 Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica Tipsport Liga play-off champion 2nd group stage Storhamar Ishockey Hamar GET-ligaen play-off champion 2nd round of 16 Cardiff Devils Cardiff Elite Ice Hockey League regular season champion 2nd group stage Aalborg Pirates Aalborg Metal Ligaen play-off champion 1st Dragons de Rouen Rouen Ligue Magnus play-off champion 2nd group stage GKS Tychy Tychy Polska Hokej Liga play-off champion 1st
Group stage
For the group stage, the teams were drawn into 8 groups of 4 teams. Each team played home and away against every other team for a total of 6 games. The best 2 teams qualified to the round of 16.
Pots As the reigning CHL champions, JYP were the top seeded team. In the top pot were also the reigning champions of the six founding leagues and the regular season winner of SHL. The 16 remaining teams from founding leagues were placed to pots 2 and 3. The fourth pot included playoff champions of seven challenge leagues and Yunost Minsk, the champion of 2017–18 IIHF Continental Cup.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 JYP Växjö Lakers Kärpät Kometa Brno ZSC Lions Red Bull München HC Bolzano Djurgårdens IF TPS HC Plzeň SC Bern Eisbären Berlin Vienna Capitals Skellefteå AIK Tappara Mountfield HK EV Zug Nürnberg Ice Tigers Red Bull Salzburg Malmö Redhawks HIFK Oceláři Třinec HC Lugano Frölunda HC HC '05 Banská Bystrica Neman Grodno Storhamar Ishockey Cardiff Devils Aalborg Pirates Dragons de Rouen GKS Tychy Yunost Minsk
Group stage tie-breaking criteria If two teams were tied in points after the group stage was finished, the teams precedence was decided by head-to-head games. If teams were tied after that, then the team which was ranked higher prior to the tournament took precedence. When comparing head-to-head results, the following criteria were applied:
more points in games against the other tied team better goal difference in games against the other tied team more goals scored against the other tied team more goals scored in a single game against the other tied team overtime wins against the other tied team more goals scored in the two game winning shot competitions higher position in the 2017–18 CHL club ranking
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Playoffs
Qualified teams
GroupWinners (seed)Runners-upA Frölunda HC (6) ZSC LionsB Malmö Redhawks (8) Red Bull MünchenC Skellefteå AIK (4) HC BolzanoD EV Zug (2) Kometa BrnoE Tappara (3) StorhamarF Kärpät (5) Dragons de RouenG Red Bull Salzburg (7) SC BernH HC Plzeň (1) HC Lugano
Format
In each round except the final, the teams played two games and the aggregate score decided the team which advanced. As a rule, the first leg was hosted by the team who had the inferior record in the tournament to that point and the second leg was played on the home ice of the other team. If aggregate score was tied, a sudden death overtime followed. If the overtime is scoreless, the team who wins the game winning shot competition advanced.
The final was played on the home ice of the team who had the better record in the tournament on 5 February 2019.
Bracket
The eight group winners and the eight second-placed teams advanced to the Round of 16. The teams were divided into two seeding groups and group winners were randomly drawn against runners-up. Teams who had faced each other in the group stage could not be drawn against each other in the round of 16. The draw took place in Helsinki, Finland on 19 October 2018.
Note: The teams listed on top of each tie were runners up in the group stage and play the first leg at home. The bottom team were group winners and play the second leg at home. The Malmö Redhawks, however, ended up playing their first leg at home due to their arena being reserved on 20 November. The order of the legs (which team starts at home) in the future rounds may be changed as the team with the best record should have the second game at home.
Round of 16 First Leg
Second Leg
Quarter-finals First Leg
Second Leg
Semi-finals First Leg
Second Leg
Final
Statistics Scoring leaders The following players led the league in points.
Player Team Frölunda HC 13 5 17 22 6 +4 2 3 0 26 19.23% Frölunda HC 13 6 10 16 35 +1 0 4 0 36 16.67% Red Bull München 11 2 12 14 24 +6 0 1 0 26 7.69% Kärpät 9 8 5 13 2 +4 1 4 2 25 32.00% HC Plzeň 10 8 5 13 8 +11 2 2 0 38 21.05% Red Bull München 9 9 3 12 18 +5 3 2 1 29 31.03% Tappara 7 2 10 12 2 +4 0 0 0 11 18.18% Skellefteå AIK 10 7 4 11 0 +6 1 2 0 48 14.58% HC Plzeň 10 3 8 11 0 –2 1 2 0 18 16.67% Vienna Capitals 6 7 3 10 29 0 1 4 0 27 25.93%
Leading goaltenders The following goaltenders led the league in save percentage, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes.
Player Team Malmö Redhawks 4 2 2 108 7 93.91% 1.75 0 240 Red Bull Salzburg 10 4 3 264 19 93.29% 1.90 0 600 Dragons de Rouen 8 3 4 290 21 93.25% 2.65 1 475 Frölunda HC 6 3 2 122 9 93.13% 1.69 0 319 SC Bern 8 5 3 203 15 93.12% 1.86 1 483
References
External links