2014–15 Champions Hockey League

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.[3][5]

Teams

A full list of the teams participating in the inaugural season and how they qualified was presented on 10 May 2014.[6]

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

The schedule of the competition is as follows.[13][14][15]

Kärpät

Tappara

Lukko

SaiPa

JYP

HIFK

TPS

KalPa

Skellefteå

Frölunda

Färjestad

Växjö

Linköping

Luleå

HV71

Djurgården

Stavanger

SønderjyskE

Vålerenga

Hamburg

Ingolstadt

Krefeld

Köln

Mannheim

Berlin

Zlín

Sparta

Třinec

Pardubice

Vítkovice

Liberec

Zürich

Fribourg

Kloten

Bern

Genève

Zug

Bolzano

Salzburg

Villach

Vienna

Košice

Nottingham

Briançon

Teams in the 2014–15 Champions Hockey League.
Red: Group A; Yellow: Group B; Green: Group C; Black: Group D; Brown: Group E; Pink: Group F; Blue: Group G; Orange: Group H; Purple: Group I; Deep pink: Group J; Turquoise: Group K.

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.[18] 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.[19] They were drawn into eleven groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.[16]

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.[13]

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.[14][20]

The 11 group winners and the five best ranked runners-up qualified for the playoffs.[13] 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.[21]

See the detailed group stage page for tiebreakers if two or more teams are equal on points.

Group A

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Kärpät 6 3 2 0 1 17 12 +5 13 Bílí Tygři Liberec 6 3 0 0 3 16 15 +1 9 HC Košice 6 2 0 1 3 14 16 −2 7 Kölner Haie 6 2 0 1 3 12 16 −4 7

KAR KOL LIB KOS Kärpät — 3–2 (SO) 3–1 3–2 (OT) Kölner Haie 3–2 — 1–4 2–1 Bílí Tygři Liberec 3–4 2–1 — 3–2 HC Košice 1–2 4–3 4–3 —

Group B

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Vienna Capitals 6 4 1 1 0 16 9 +7 15 ZSC Lions 6 2 1 2 1 17 16 +1 10 Färjestad BK 6 1 3 1 1 15 13 +2 10 Vålerenga IF 6 0 0 1 5 7 17 −10 1

ZSC FBK VIC VIF ZSC Lions — 2–3 (OT) 2–1 (OT) 4–1 Färjestad BK 4–3 (OT) — 1–2 (SO) 4–1 Vienna Capitals 5–3 4–1 — 2–1 Vålerenga IF 2–3 1–2 (SO) 1–2 —

Group C

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Frölunda HC 6 5 0 0 1 35 13 +22 15 Genève-Servette 6 5 0 0 1 28 15 +13 15 Villach SV 6 2 0 0 4 11 23 −12 6 Briançon Diables Rouges 6 0 0 0 6 8 31 −23 0

FHC VSV GEN BRI Frölunda HC — 5–2 7–3 6–2 Villach SV 1–7 — 0–5 4–1 Genève-Servette 4–3 4–2 — 5–1 Briançon Diables Rouges 1–7 1–2 2–7 —

Group D

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Fribourg-Gottéron 6 3 2 1 0 21 13 +8 14 PSG Zlín 6 2 1 2 1 15 20 −5 10 Djurgårdens IF 6 2 1 1 2 21 16 +5 9 Eisbären Berlin 6 0 1 1 4 14 22 −8 3

ZLÍ FRI BER DIF PSG Zlín — 2–3 (OT) 4–2 3–1 Fribourg-Gottéron 3–2 (SO) — 6–3 3–1 Eisbären Berlin 3–4 (SO) 0–2 — 4–3 (SO) Djurgårdens IF 8–0 5–4 (OT) 3–2 —

Group E

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Tappara 6 3 0 2 1 21 16 +5 11 Stavanger Oilers 6 3 1 0 2 19 17 +2 11 Oceláři Třinec 6 3 0 0 3 20 14 +6 9 SC Bern 6 1 1 0 4 11 24 −13 5

TAP TRI SCB OIL Tappara — 5–1 3–5 7–3 Oceláři Třinec 1–2 — 7–0 4–5 SC Bern 4–3 (SO) 0–4 — 0–2 Stavanger Oilers 2–1 (SO) 2–3 5–2 —

Group F

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Linköpings HC 6 4 1 0 1 20 10 +10 14 TPS 6 3 1 1 1 21 12 +9 12 HC Bolzano 6 3 0 0 3 12 22 −10 9 HC Pardubice 6 0 0 1 5 11 20 −9 1

HCB LHC PCE TPS HC Bolzano — 1–2 4–3 4–2 Linköpings HC 5–0 — 2–1 1–2 HC Pardubice 1–3 3–6 — 2–3 (SO) TPS 9–0 3–4 (SO) 2–1 —

Group G

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts HC Sparta Praha 6 3 1 1 1 25 19 +6 12 Växjö Lakers 6 4 0 0 2 19 14 +5 12 KalPa 6 2 0 1 3 11 15 −4 7 Adler Mannheim 6 1 1 0 4 11 18 −7 5

SPA VLH MAN KAL HC Sparta Praha — 5–4 6–3 2–3 Växjö Lakers 2–5 — 6–1 2–1 Adler Mannheim 3–2 (OT) 1–2 — 3–1 KalPa 4–5 (SO) 1–3 1–0 —

Group H

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts SaiPa 6 4 1 0 1 18 11 +7 14 EV Zug 6 3 0 1 2 14 14 0 10 Vítkovice Steel 6 1 1 1 3 18 20 −2 6 ERC Ingolstadt 6 1 1 1 3 16 21 −5 6

ING SAI VÍT EVZ ERC Ingolstadt — 4–1 4–5 (SO) 3–2 (OT) SaiPa 5–2 — 4–3 (SO) 3–0 Vítkovice Steel 5–1 1–3 — 2–5 EV Zug 3–2 1–2 3–2 —

Group I

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Red Bull Salzburg 6 5 0 0 1 23 8 +15 15 JYP 6 3 2 0 1 15 11 +4 13 HV71 6 2 0 1 3 15 17 −2 7 Kloten Flyers 6 0 0 1 5 5 22 −17 1

RBS KLO JYP HV71 Red Bull Salzburg — 7–1 4–0 3–1 Kloten Flyers 0–2 — 2–3 (OT) 0–5 JYP 3–2 2–0 — 4–3 (SO) HV71 3–5 3–2 0–3 —

Group J

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Skellefteå AIK 6 5 0 0 1 20 8 +12 15 HIFK 6 4 1 0 1 31 15 +16 14 SønderjyskE 6 1 0 1 4 15 31 −16 4 Krefeld Pinguine 6 1 0 0 5 13 25 −12 3

SKE KRE IFK SON Skellefteå AIK — 4–0 3–0 4–1 Krefeld Pinguine 1–2 — 3–5 3–4 HIFK 5–3 6–1 — 10–1 SønderjyskE 1–4 4–5 4–5 (SO) —

Group K

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Lukko 6 5 0 0 1 21 7 +14 15 Luleå HF 6 5 0 0 1 32 6 +26 15 Hamburg Freezers 6 1 0 0 5 8 21 −13 3 Nottingham Panthers 6 1 0 0 5 9 36 −27 3

HAM LUK LHF NOT Hamburg Freezers — 0–3 1–4 6–0 Lukko 5–0 — 2–0 6–2 Luleå HF 6–0 3–1 — 9–1 Nottingham Panthers 3–1 2–4 1–10 —

Ranking of second-placed teams

Group	Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
K	Luleå HF	6	5	0	0	1	32	6	+26	15
C	Genève-Servette	6	5	0	0	1	28	15	+13	15
J	HIFK	6	4	1	0	1	31	15	+16	14
I	JYP	6	3	2	0	1	15	11	+4	13
F	TPS	6	3	1	1	1	21	12	+9	12
G	Växjö Lakers	6	4	0	0	2	19	14	+5	12
E	Stavanger Oilers	6	3	1	0	2	19	17	+2	11
B	ZSC Lions	6	2	1	2	1	17	16	+1	10
H	EV Zug	6	3	0	1	2	14	14	0	10
D	PSG Zlín	6	2	1	2	1	15	20	−5	10
A	Bílí Tygři Liberec	6	3	0	0	3	16	15	+1	9

See the detailed group stage page for tiebreakers if two or more teams are equal on points.

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.[3][4][13]

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.[13][17]
• 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.[21]

Bracket

	Eighth-finals						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	JYP	5	2	7(2)
	Skellefteå AIK (SO)	4	3	7(3)
							Linköpings HC	1	4	5(0)
							Skellefteå AIK (SO)	2	3	5(1)
	HC Sparta Praha	1	2	3
	Linköpings HC	2	2	4
													Skellefteå AIK	2	2	4
												Luleå HF	2	3	5
	TPS	1	4	5
	Lukko	5	3	8
							Lukko	2	1	3
							Luleå HF	5	2	7
	Luleå HF (SO)	2	7	9(2)
	Red Bull Salzburg	4	5	9(0)
																		Luleå HF	4
																			Frölunda HC	2
	Genève-Servette	2	2	4(0)
	SaiPa (SO)	0	4	4(3)
							SaiPa	0	2	2
							Kärpät	2	3	5
	Kärpät	3	3	6
	Vienna Capitals	1	2	3
													Frölunda HC (OT)	4	2	6
												Kärpät	2	3	5
	Tappara	1	2	3
	Frölunda HC	5	4	9
							HIFK	2	3	5
							Frölunda HC	1	5	6
	Fribourg-Gottéron	2	1	3
	HIFK	2	3	5

Note:

1. 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.[17] The first legs were played on 4 November, and the second legs were played on 11 November 2014.[15][22]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
JYP	7–7 (2–3 SO)	Skellefteå AIK	5–4	2–3 (OT)
Genève-Servette	4–4 (0–3 SO)	SaiPa	2–0	2–4 (OT)
HC Sparta Praha	3–4	Linköpings HC	1–2	2–2
Kärpät	6–3	Vienna Capitals	3–1	3–2
TPS	5–8	Lukko	1–5	4–3
Tappara	3–9	Frölunda HC	1–5	2–4
Luleå HF	9–9 (2–0 SO)	Red Bull Salzburg	2–4	7–5 (OT)
Fribourg-Gottéron	3–5[A]	HIFK	2–2	1–3

Notes

1. ^
   Order of legs reversed after original draw, since HIFK home ice was unavailable on 4 November.[22]

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 2 December, and the second legs were played on 9 December 2014.[15]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Linköpings HC	5–5 (0–1 SO)	Skellefteå AIK	1–2	4–3 (OT)
Lukko	3–7	Luleå HF	2–5	1–2
SaiPa	2–5	Kärpät	0–2	2–3
HIFK	5–6	Frölunda HC	2–1	3–5

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 13 January, and the second legs were played on 20 January 2015.[15]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Skellefteå AIK	4–5	Luleå HF	2–2	2–3
Frölunda HC	6–5	Kärpät	4–2	2–3 (OT)

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.[13][15]

3 February 2015 20:15

Luleå HF

4–2 (0–2, 0–0, 4–0)

Frölunda HC

Coop Norrbotten Arena, Luleå Attendance: 6,300

Game reference
	Joel Lassinantti	Goalies	Linus Fernström	Referees: Daniel Piechaczek Aleksi Rantala Linesmen: André Schrader Sakari Suominen
	0–1 00:17 – Lundqvist (Lehkonen, Fälth) 0–2 12:45 – Olimb (Johnsson, Görtz) Näkyvä (Abbott) (PP) – 47:43 1–2 Cehlárik (Fagerudd, Näkyvä) (PP) – 48:57 2–2 Forsberg (Sandström) (PP) – 53:04 3–2 Kukan (Sandström, Granström) (ENG) – 58:36 4–2
	8 min	Penalties	45 min
	25	Shots	27

The 44 teams will compete for a grand total of 1.5 million euros. However, the money distribution has not been announced.[4]