Champions Hockey League - Group K

Champions Hockey League - Group K

20 Aug 2014 | Dennis Mende
 

Today we complete our presentations with Group K: Luleå HF, Lukko Rauma, Nottingham Panthers and Hamburg Freezers. We also share our predictions with you.

 
 
 
 

Luleå HF


The Swedes have lost several key players but still are the top favourites in this group. Luleå HF uses its current name since 1980 after being founded as GroKo Hockey three years earlier being the result of a merger of two Luleå based clubs. On the domestic level Luleå had its most successful period in the mid 1990s when they won the Swedish championship in 1996 and were finalists in 1993 and 1997. They had another unsuccessful run to the final in 2013. On the international level the team entered the European Trophy in its second edition in 2011 and immidiately made it to the final round which they completed on the third spot. The very next year they won the ET title with a 2-0 final win against fellow Swedes Färjestad BK. In 2013 they reached the final round once more but missed the final game due to a shootout loss in the group stage against JYP who went on to win the final ET tournament.

In the 2013-14 SHL season, Luleå were just able to avoid the pre-playoffs by one point. They lost the following quarterfinal best of seven series against the Växjö Lakers in 6 games. Their key player last regular season in all goals, assists and points by a wide margin was national team forward Linus Klasen who recorded 28 goals and 29 assists for 57 points in 54 games. He decided to leave the club though and joined Lugano in Swiss NLA this offseason marking a huge loss for the Swedes. Another forward in his prime and also having national team experience, Niklas Olausson, decided to leave for the NLA aswell, joining EHC Biel. Good news though is that the team could keep brothers Cam and Chris Abbot and their offensive partner Per Ledin. After an extraordinary year starting goalie David Rautio left for Linköpings HC. Other players leaving were the trio Daniel Gunnarsson, Linus Persson and Anton Hedman who all left for top side Färjestad BK. Notable signings were goalie Daniel Larsson (AIK, SHL), along with forwards Lennart Petrell (Geneve Servette, NLA) and Stephen Dixon (Yugra, KHL).

The changes weren't all on the ice though. Former head coach Jonas Rönnqvist was substituted by Joakim Fagervall who never before had a coaching job outside of second-tier Swedish Allsvenskan and Russian VHL. If the new head coach is able to include several talented youngsters in the new team, they will be hard to beat by anoyone in this group.

Lukko Rauma


The Finnish side was already founded in 1936 and was a key side in Finnish ice hockey during most times. They never had the really big success though apart of one championship in 1963 in then still top-tier SM-sarja and a vice championship in SM-liiga in 1988. In the 2013-14 season Lukko managed to conquer the third spot in the regular season. After a semifinal loss in the following playoffs against Tappara Tampere over the full distance in their best of seven series, they went on to claim the third spot against SaiPa. The team never participated in the European Trophy and is also no founding member of the CHL but rather qualified for the tournament on the ice.

Head coach Risto Rufva is going into his third season with Lukko. He was able to keep 36 year old veteran Ville Vahalahti in the team and even announced him assistant captain after he became Liiga topscorer with 52 points last year. Other key players for the offense like Aaron Gagnon and Ilkka Mikkola - who was named team captain in the off season - were also kept. The same goes for American starting goalie Ryan Zapolski who had a great first season in Europe after a break through year in ECHL the previous season. There were some key changes though. Veteran defender Petteri Nummelin left for league rivals TPS and so did forward Lauri Tukonen. The team though was able to make the team significantly stronger in the off season. They signed defender Mikko Kousa and forward Janne Lahti after Jokerit's departure for KHL along with veteran former longtime NHL forward Ville Nieminen.

If Lukko can repeat their strong last season, they will be hard to beat for the first place finnish in this group.

Nottingham Panthers


The British team is among the least known teams and the biggest outsiders of the first Champions Hockey League edition. The team was originally founded in 1946 but did not play between 1960 and 1980. The Panthers collected a total of four regular season championships in the UK along with five playoff championships - three consecutive ones between 2010 and 2013. They claimed both titles in the 2012-13 season. The following year was rather disappointing though for the city which is rather known for its football team Nottingham Forest. The Panthers were only 4th in the regular season and already lost the quarterfinals with two painful defeats against Scottish side Braehead Clan who went on to reach the third spot. On the international level Nottingham competed in the IIHF Continental Cup in the 2013-14 season. They won their group in the second stage with the full 9 points against HK Riga Juniors (LAT), HYS The Hague (NED) and Bipolo Vitoria-Gasteiz (ESP). They went on to only one game in the following third stage group D against HC Ertis Pavlodar (KAZ) while losing against group winners Asiago (ITA) and last placed Toros Neftekamsk (RUS-2).

Maybe the best known player of the Panthers is British national team winger David Clarke who plays for the team since 2003 with a brief stint with Italian side Allegehe in between. He was also named Panthers team captain in 2013 and paid back the trust with a 64 point regular season making him top scorer of his team. Another prominent player is Nottingham born 24-year old left winger Robert Lachowicz who was one of the top scorers in recent years after joinin the EIHL team in 2007 already. With Lynn Loyns the team has a forward with NHL and longtime DEL experience.

The team lost Canadian center Matt Francis this off-season who went on to play for Danish side Aalborg after three strong seasons in England. Another Canadian forward and third best scorer Matt Ryan signed with EIHL league rivals Dundee Stars. Veteran British defender Jonathan Weaver signed with EPIHL side Telford Tigers while American defender Chris Murray left the team mid-season to play for DEL2 side Bietigheim in Germany. The team was improved in the off season. Apart of many minor league signings from North America, Candian forwards Nathan Robinson (Kölner Haie) and Mark Lee (Schwenninger Wild Wings) were both signed after playing in German DEL in their prime years. Czech center Martin Podlesak joins the team after more than 300 games in the Czech elite league.

37 year old British-Canadian head coach Corey Neilson is in charge of the team since 2008 but only left the ice in 2013, finishing five years as player-coach. He also was assistant coach of the British national team at the 2014 Division 1B World Championship.

As outsiders Nottingham can be proud of any point they get in this group with strong opponents from three of the top five leagues that participate in CHL.

Hamburg Freezers


The Freezers were founded as München Barons in 1999 but relocated three years later to Hamburg and were renamed. The team reached the playoff quarterfinals in all of their first seven DEL seasons before suddenly ending as a bottom team in 2010 and 2011. Since then the team became a top contender for the DEL title though, crowned by a first place finish in the regular season in 2013-14. Their playoff run only ended in the semifinals when they lost their best of seven series against later league champions ERC Ingolstadt in six games. In the European Trophy they participated in 2012 and 2013 but never made it past the group stage becoming 3rd and 6th. The Freezers were no founding members of the newly created CHL though and qualified as regular season winners of DEL for its opening season.

Benoit Laporte, head coach of the Freezers since December 2010 and key for the recent success of the team, lost one of Germany's top talents in left winger David Wolf who joined the Calgary Flames organization this off season. They were able to sign several top players from fellow DEL teams like forward Patrick Pohl (Wolfsburg) and third in the leaguewide topscorer list Kevin Clark (Krefeld, 68 points in 51 regular seson games). Other additions were American forward Marty Sertich (Iserlohn) and Canadian defender Brett Festerling (Nürnberg) whose twin brother Garrett Festerling already played in Hamburg for the last four years and became a German national team player after living in the country for now seven years.

Stars of the Freezers are German national team goalie and longtime KHL player Dimitrij Kotschnew who shares the net with former NHL and KHL player Sebastien Caron. In defense Christoph Schubert (300+ NHL games for Ottawa and Atlanta) is the leader. In offense Thomas Oppenheimer has played well over 350 DEL games at age 25 only. Other notable forwards are former NHL regulars Matt Pettinger and Philippe Dupuis.

If Hamburg are able to show their offensive skills the way they did last regular season, they have a good chance to challenge the two Northern teams in this group for the first spot.   

My predictions for this group:

Due to the experience and quality of their rosters, Luleå and Lukko are favourites to win group K. The options are not much smaller though for the Freezers who play with many Northern Americans with NHL experience and thus adopted some sort of NHL style. Nottingham only have very small outsider chances to win points in this group.

Schedule

22.08.2014 Nottingham Panthers - Lukko Rauma    
22.08.2014 Hamburg Freezers - Luleå Hockey      
24.08.2014 Nottingham Panthers - Luleå Hockey      
24.08.2014 Hamburg Freezers - Lukko Rauma      
05.09.2014 Lukko Rauma - Nottingham Panthers      
05.09.2014 Luleå Hockey - Hamburg Freezers      
07.09.2014 Luleå Hockey - Nottingham Panthers      
07.09.2014 Lukko Rauma - Hamburg Freezers      
23.09.2014 Nottingham Panthers - Hamburg Freezers      
23.09.2014 Luleå Hockey - Lukko Rauma      
07.10.2014 Lukko Rauma - Luleå Hockey      
07.10.2014 Hamburg Freezers - Nottingham Panthers

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