2014–15 Champions Hockey League

The 2014–15 Champions Hockey League was the first season of the Champions Hockey League, a European ice hockey tournament launched by 26 founding clubs, six leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The regulation round began on 21 August 2014 and ended on 8 October 2014. The playoffs began on 4 November 2014 and ended with the Champions Hockey League Final on 3 February 2015. Luleå HF defeated Frölunda HC 4–2 to win the first edition of Champions Hockey League.
On 9 December 2013, the IIHF officially announced that they had launched the Champions Hockey League tournament, starting in the 2014–15 season. The season's format was revealed on 20 December 2013, during the playoffs of the 2013 European Trophy.
== Team allocation ==
A total of 44 teams from eleven different European first-tier leagues participated in the 2014–15 Champions Hockey League. The teams were decided with regards to different licenses for the founding teams, leagues and wildcards.
=== Team license ===
The participating teams were decided with regards to different licenses for founding teams, league teams (from founding leagues) and other wildcard teams.
* A license: The 26 founding teams all got an A license, since they play in the first-tier league of their respective domestic league system in the 2014–15 season.
* B license: Two teams – the regular-season winner and the play-off champion in the 2013–14 season – from each of the founding leagues (the Austrian EBEL, the Czech Extraliga, the Finnish Liiga, the German DEL, the Swedish SHL and the Swiss NLA) received a B licence to the tournament. If those teams had already received an A license, other teams from the league took the B license spots. The order the B licenses were handed out is: 
# National champion
# Regular season winner
# Runner-up, regular season
# Play-off finalist
# Best placed semifinal loser
# Worst placed semifinal loser
* C license: There were six wild cards, five for the champions of the Slovak Extraliga (Slovakia), GET-ligaen (Norway), Elite Ice Hockey League (United Kingdom), Ligue Magnus (France) and Metal Ligaen (Denmark), as well as one for the regular season winner of GET-ligaen. The Elite Ice Hockey League champion Belfast Giants were forced to turn down the chance due to lack of arena availability, giving place for the Challenge Cup winner Nottingham Panthers.
=== Teams ===
A full list of the teams participating in the inaugural season and how they qualified was presented on 10 May 2014.
Team 	City/Area 	League 	Qualification 	License
Red Bull Salzburg 	Salzburg 	Austrian Hockey League 	founding club 	A
Vienna Capitals 	Vienna 	Austrian Hockey League 	founding club 	A
Bílí Tygři Liberec 	Liberec 	Czech Extraliga 	founding club 	A
HC Pardubice 	Pardubice 	Czech Extraliga 	founding club 	A
HC Sparta Praha 	Prague 	Czech Extraliga 	founding club 	A
Vítkovice Steel 	Ostrava 	Czech Extraliga 	founding club 	A
HIFK 	Helsinki 	Liiga 	founding club 	A
JYP 	Jyväskylä 	Liiga 	founding club 	A
KalPa 	Kuopio 	Liiga 	founding club 	A
Kärpät 	Oulu 	Liiga 	founding club 	A
Tappara 	Tampere 	Liiga 	founding club 	A
TPS 	Turku 	Liiga 	founding club 	A
Adler Mannheim 	Mannheim 	Deutsche Eishockey Liga	founding club 	A
Eisbären Berlin 	Berlin 	Deutsche Eishockey Liga	founding club 	A
ERC Ingolstadt 	Ingolstadt 	Deutsche Eishockey Liga	founding club 	A
Krefeld Pinguine 	Krefeld 	Deutsche Eishockey Liga	founding club 	A
SC Bern 	Bern 	National League A 	founding club 	A
Fribourg-Gottéron 	Fribourg 	National League A 	founding club 	A
ZSC Lions 	Zürich 	National League A 	founding club 	A
EV Zug 	Zug 	National League A 	founding club 	A
Frölunda HC 	Gothenburg 	Swedish Hockey League 	founding club 	A
Färjestad BK 	Karlstad 	Swedish Hockey League 	founding club 	A
HV71 	Jönköping 	Swedish Hockey League 	founding club 	A
Linköpings HC 	Linköping 	Swedish Hockey League 	founding club 	A
Luleå HF 	Luleå 	Swedish Hockey League 	founding club 	A
Djurgårdens IF 	Stockholm 	Swedish Hockey League 	founding club 	A
Skellefteå AIK 	Skellefteå 	Swedish Hockey League 	play-off champion 	B
HC Bolzano 	Bolzano 	Austrian Hockey League 	play-off champion 	B
Hamburg Freezers 	Hamburg 	Deutsche Eishockey Liga	regular season winner 	B
Oceláři Třinec 	Třinec 	Czech Extraliga 	regular season runner-up	B
Kloten Flyers 	Kloten 	National League A 	play-off finalist 	B
Genève-Servette 	Geneva 	National League A 	play-off semi-finalist 	B
Växjö Lakers 	Växjö 	Swedish Hockey League 	play-off semi-finalist 	B
Villach SV 	Villach 	Austrian Hockey League 	play-off semi-finalist 	B
Lukko 	Rauma 	Liiga 	play-off semi-finalist 	B
SaiPa 	Lappeenranta	Liiga 	play-off semi-finalist 	B
Kölner Haie 	Cologne 	Deutsche Eishockey Liga	play-off finalist 	B
PSG Zlín 	Zlín 	Czech Extraliga 	play-off champion 	B
Stavanger Oilers 	Stavanger 	GET-ligaen 	play-off champion 	C
HC Košice 	Košice 	Tipsport Liga 	champion 	C
SønderjyskE 	Vojens 	Metal Ligaen 	champion 	C
Briançon Diables Rouges	Briançon 	Ligue Magnus 	champion 	C
Nottingham Panthers 	Nottingham 	Elite Ice Hockey League	Challenge Cup winner 	C
Vålerenga IF 	Oslo 	GET-ligaen 	regular season winner 	C
==Round and draw dates==
The schedule of the competition is as follows.
Phase 	Round 	Draw date 	First leg 	Second leg
Group stage	Matchday 1 	21 May 2014, 12:00 CET 	21–22 August 2014 	21–22 August 2014
Group stage	Matchday 2 	21 May 2014, 12:00 CET 	23–24 August 2014 	23–24 August 2014
Group stage	Matchday 3 	21 May 2014, 12:00 CET 	4–5 September 2014 	4–5 September 2014
Group stage	Matchday 4 	21 May 2014, 12:00 CET 	6–7 September 2014 	6–7 September 2014
Group stage	Matchday 5 	21 May 2014, 12:00 CET 	23–24 September 2014	23–24 September 2014
Group stage	Matchday 6 	21 May 2014, 12:00 CET 	7–8 October 2014 	7–8 October 2014
Playoff 	Eighth-finals 	10 October 2014, 12:00 CET	4 November 2014 	11 November 2014
Playoff 	Quarter-finals	10 October 2014, 12:00 CET	2 December 2014 	9 December 2014
Playoff 	Semi-finals 	10 October 2014, 12:00 CET	13 January 2014 	20 January 2015
Playoff 	Final 	10 October 2014, 12:00 CET	3 February 2015 	3 February 2015
== Group stage ==
The group stage draw took place on 21 May 2014 in Minsk, Belarus, and the teams were assigned to eleven groups from A to K. The 44 teams were allocated into four pots based on their positions in their national leagues 2014, with the top seeded teams being placed in Pot 1 and the lower ranked teams in Pot 2, Pot 3 and the lowest ranked teams in Pot 4. They were drawn into eleven groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format, giving six games per team. In total, 132 games were played in the group stage.
The schedule was released on 2 June 2014, with 30 of 44 teams playing their first game 21 August 2014, and the other teams playing their first game the following day. The match days were 21–22 August, 23–24 August, 4–5 September, 6–7 September, 23–24 September and 7–8 October 2014. All game times are local times.
The 11 group winners and the five best ranked runners-up qualified for the playoffs. The five best runners-up were determined by ranking all runners-up based on their number of points and goal differential in their respective groups, explained more detailed in the detailed group stage article.
Key to colours in group tables
Group winners and the five best runners-up advanced to the playoffs
See the detailed group stage page for tiebreakers if two or more teams are equal on points.
===Group A===
===Group B===
===Group C===
===Group D===
===Group E===
===Group F===
===Group G===
===Group H===
===Group I===
===Group J===
===Group K===
===Ranking of second-placed teams===
|}
See the detailed group stage page for tiebreakers if two or more teams are equal on points.
== Playoffs ==
In the playoffs, the teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis with the team with the better standing after the group stage having the second game at home, except for the one-match final played at the venue of the team with the best competition track record leading up to the final.
The mechanism of the draw for playoffs are as follows:
*The entire playoff was drawn at a single occasion on 10 October 2014 to determine the eight pairings for the eighth-finals. After the draw, all matches up to the final are set in brackets.
*In the draw for the eighth-finals, the eight best group winners were seeded, and the three group winners with worst record and the five best runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group could not be drawn against each other.
=== Bracket ===
Note:
#The teams listed on top of each tie play first match at home and the bottom team plays second match at home.
=== Eighth-finals ===
The draw for the entire playoff (eighth-finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final) was held on 10 October 2014. The first legs were played on 4 November, and the second legs were played on 11 November 2014.
|}
;Notes
=== Quarter-finals ===
The first legs were played on 2 December, and the second legs were played on 9 December 2014.
|}
=== Semi-finals ===
The first legs were played on 13 January, and the second legs were played on 20 January 2015.
|}
=== Final ===
The final was played on 3 February 2015 at the venue of the team with the best competition track record leading up to the final.
==Statistics==
===Leading scorers===
Rankings based upon points, and sorted by goals.
Rank	Player 	Team 	 	 	 	 	 	
1 	Mathis Olimb 	Frölunda HC 	10	7 	17	24	6	+11
2 	Andreas Johnson	Frölunda HC 	9 	11	12	23	6	+13
3 	Erik Gustafsson	Frölunda HC 	10	5 	12	17	2	+7
4 	Matt D'Agostini	Genève-Servette	8 	4 	9 	13	6	+7
5 	Daniel Zaar 	Luleå HF 	10	6 	6 	12	0	+4
6 	Max Görtz 	Frölunda HC 	10	5 	7 	12	0	+5
7 	Pär Lindholm 	Skellefteå AIK 	10	1 	11	12	2	+10
8 	Joonas Donskoi 	Kärpät 	10	7 	4 	11	2	+11
9 	Niklas Fogstrom	Luleå HF 	10	5 	6 	11	0	+9
9 	Per Ledin 	Luleå HF 	10	5 	6 	11	4	+5
===Leading goaltenders===
Goalkeepers with 40% or more of their team's total minutes, ranked by save percentage.
Rank	Goaltender 	Team 	Minutes	 	 	 	Saves	
1 	Luka Gračnar 	Red Bull Salzburg 	300:00 	5 	1.00	.966	141 	2
2 	Melvin Nyffeler 	Fribourg-Gottéron 	243:11 	6 	1.48	.957	133 	1
3 	Marek Schwarz 	Bílí Tygři Liberec	211:25 	5 	1.42	.956	109 	0
4 	Joel Lassinantti	Luleå HF 	257:12 	5 	1.17	.948	91 	0
5 	Justin Pogge 	Färjestads BK 	290:36 	7 	1.45	.940	109 	0
6 	Marcus Högberg 	Linköpings HC 	362:35 	10	1.65	.933	143 	0
7 	Mantas Armalis 	Djurgårdens IF 	246:14 	8 	1.95	.933	112 	1
8 	Iiro Tarkki 	Kärpät 	304:55 	7 	1.38	.931	95 	1
9 	Stefan Steen 	Växjö Lakers 	199:20 	5 	1.51	.931	67 	0
10 	Eero Kilpeläinen	KalPa 	303:48 	11	2.17	.930	146 	1
== Prize money ==
The 44 teams will compete for a grand total of 1.5 million euros. However, the money distribution has not been announced.
== References ==
1
Category:Champions Hockey League