
Skellefteå versus Tychy last year. You can tell it's the Champions Hockey League because everybody has a red arm. Source.
Last season we followed the Continental Cup, the championship tournament for lower tier European hockey clubs. Now let's follow the top European club tournament, the Champions Hockey League.
The Champions Hockey League runs from August to February, concurrent with the national leagues. The tournament begins with 32 top European teams in a group stage, from which 16 emerge to participate in four rounds of playoffs to decide the champion. Top-ranked leagues (read Sweden and Finland) contribute as many as five teams, while the lowest-ranked get one apiece. Clubs from 13 countries are involved in this year's tournament.
The winner of the previous Continental Cup is reserved a place in the Champions Hockey League. However, last year's Continental Cup winner Arlan Kokshetau are not eligible, and the place has gone to runners-up Belfast Giants instead. Teams from Kazakhstan are not invited to the Champions Hockey League because the travel is too much for some of the other clubs, which probably explains why the KHL clubs are also not in this tournament.
Skellefteå AIK, from Northern Sweden, are in the Champions Hockey League for the fifth time in six years. They qualify as fifth-place finalists in the Swedish league last year. They are in Group E with Oulun Kärpät (who finished first in the regular season in Finland), SC Bern (last year's playoff champs in Switzerland), and French champion Brûleurs de Loups from Grenoble. Only two teams will advance from the group, and though Grenoble are bound to finish bottom Skellefteå will have a hard time getting past either Kärpät or Bern.
Each team in a group plays each opponent once at home and once away. The group stage goes on into October. Games this weekend:
Skellefteå 2 - 2 Bern (Aug 30) SAIK won SO.
Kärpät 3 - 1 Grenoble (Aug 30)
Skellefteå [1 - 2] Grenoble (Sept 1)
Kärpät [2 - 3] Bern (Sept 1) [Bern won in OT.]
[Following these games the Group E standings are:
G GD Pts
Kärpät 2 +1 4
Bern 2 0 3
Grenoble 2 -1 3
Skellefteå 2 0 2 ]
Skellefteå in the Champions Hockey League so far:
2014-15
GS 2014/8/21 Krefeld Pinguine 1 - 2 Skellefteå
GS 2014/8/23 SønderjyskE 1 - 4 Skellefteå
GS 2014/9/4 Skellefteå 4 - 1 SønderjyskE
GS 2014/9/6 Skellefteå 4 - 0 Krefeld Pinguine
GS 2014/9/24 Skellefteå 3 - 0 HIFK
GS 2014/10/7 HIFK 5 - 3 Skellefteå
16 2014/11/4 JYP 4 - 5 Skellefteå
16 2014/11/11 Skellefteå 3 - 2 JYP (Skellefteå won SO.)
QF 2014/12/2 Linköping 1 - 2 Skellefteå
QF 2014/12/9 Skellefteå 3 - 4 Linköping (Skellefteå won SO.)
SF 2015/1/13 Skellefteå 2 - 2 Luleå
SF 2015/1/20 Luleå 3 - 2 Skellefteå
2015-16
GS 2015/8/21 Nitra 2 - 4 Skellefteå
GS 2015/8/23 Liberec 0 - 4 Skellefteå
GS 2015/8/27 Skellefteå 2 - 2 Nitra (Skellefteå won SO.)
GS 2015/9/5 Skellefteå 5 - 2 Liberec
32 2015/9/22 Košice 4 - 3 Skellefteå
32 2015/10/6 Skellefteå 3 - 0 Košice
16 2015/11/3 Eisbären Berlin 2 - 5 Skellefteå
16 2015/11/10 Skellefteå 2 - 1 Eisbären Berlin
QF 2015/12/1 Davos 1 - 1 Skellefteå
QF 2015/12/8 Skellefteå 1 - 4 Davos
2016-17
GS 2016/8/18 Vienna Capitals 3 - 2 Skellefteå
GS 2016/8/20 KalPa 1 - 2 Skellefteå
GS 2016/8/27 Skellefteå 4 - 0 KalPa
GS 2016/9/7 Skellefteå 2 - 5 Vienna Capitals
32 2016/10/4 JYP 4 - 0 Skellefteå
32 2016/10/11 Skellefteå 4 - 2 JYP
2018-19
GS 2018/8/31 Bolzano 3 - 3 Skellefteå (Bolzano won SO.)
GS 2018/9/2 Tychy 1 - 8 Skellefteå
GS 2018/9/6 Skellefteå 6 - 2 Tychy
GS 2018/9/8 Skellefteå 2 - 1 Bolzano
GS 2018/10/9 HIFK 1 - 5 Skellefteå
GS 2018/10/16 Skellefteå 3 - 4 HIFK
16 2018/11/6 Storhamar Dragons 4 - 4 Skellefteå
16 2018/11/20 Skellefteå 3 - 2 Storhamar Dragons
QF 2018/12/4 Skellefteå 3 - 3 Plzeň
QF 2018/12/11 Plzeň 1 - 1 Skellefteå (Plzeň won SO.)
Source: German Wikipedia