2018–19 Champions Hockey League

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, Great Britain 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 	SM-liiga 	play-off champion 	4th 	final
TPS 	Turku 	SM-liiga 	regular season runner-up 	5th 	quarter-finals
Tappara 	Tampere 	SM-liiga 	play-off finalist 	5th 	round of 16
HIFK 	Helsinki 	SM-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.
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.
===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 will take precedence. When comparing head-to-head results, the following criteria was 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 2016/17 CHL club ranking
Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 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 A===
===Group B===
===Group C===
===Group D===
===Group E===
===Group F===
===Group G===
===Group H===
== Playoffs ==
=== Qualified teams ===
Group	Winners (seed) 	Runners-up
A 	Frölunda HC (6) 	ZSC Lions
B 	Malmö Redhawks (8) 	Red Bull München
C 	Skellefteå AIK (4) 	HC Bolzano
D 	EV Zug (2) 	Kometa Brno
E 	Tappara (3) 	Storhamar
F 	Kärpät (5) 	Dragons de Rouen
G 	Red Bull Salzburg (7)	SC Bern
H 	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 8 group winners and the 8 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 couldn't 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.
=== 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==
*
2018
Champions