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The Belfast Giants learned their Champions Hockey League fate on Wednesday [24 May], with a daunting trip to Finland to face the European champions on the horizon.
Adam Keefe’s squad will take on Tappara, the defending Champions Hockey League and Finnish Liiga winners, at Nokia Arena in one of six preliminary round fixtures.
The Giants will host ICEHL champions EC Salzburg, Italian side HC Bolzano, and Czech squad HC Dynamo Pardubice at SSE Arena, with additional trips to Finland and Austria to face Lukko and HC Innsbruck, respectively.
The Champions Hockey League will follow a revised format next season, with the traditional group stage configuration scrapped in favour of a ‘regular-season’ system.
Under the new approach, the Giants will face six different opponents as part of a single 24-team division in the first phase of the competition, with the top-16 advancing to the knockout rounds.
The Champions Hockey League will also implement new on-ice rules next season, “with the aim of developing the sport and increasing excitement for fans.”
As a result, the following rule modifications will take effect next term:
- If a shorthanded team scores on a minor penalty-kill, their punishment will end.
- If the attacking team scores on a delayed penalty, a two-minute powerplay will still follow.
- If a team concedes will killing a minor penalty, they will remain shorthanded until their two-minute punishment elapses.
“We’ve come up with three simple, but efficient changes that have high potential to add extra excitement to the game,” said Champions Hockey League CEO Martin Baumann.
“All three changes are non-intrusive and very easy for everyone to understand.
“I’m very satisfied with the outcome and think we’ve managed to come up with changes that have the right balance of innovation, excitement and credibility. It will be interesting to see how they change the game.”
Belfast Giants should take confidence from complex Champions Hockey League draw
The Belfast Giants return to the continental stage with three seasons to feel confident about their chances.
They won the Elite League. They won the Challenge Cup. They won the Elite League Playoffs.
They have also made impressive progress in the Champions Hockey League under head coach Adam Keefe. The Giants almost stunned Skelleftea AIK on home ice last season, with beat reporters who cover the Swedish Hockey League outfit stunned by Belfast’s individual quality and tactical resilience. A fortnight earlier, the Northern Irish outfit beat Ocelari Trinec in a shootout.
The Giants have more than earned their spot in the competition, in other words.
With that said, on-ice rule modifications will haunt Belfast if they take too many trips to the penalty box.
The Champions Hockey League’s new regulations are designed to increase scoring, namely by boosting the potency of five-on-four situations. Solution? Stay out of the box – or risk being torn to shreds by high-powered offensive squads, of which Belfast will face plenty.
However, the draw was relatively kind to the Giants aside from a pair of trips to Finland to face Tappara and Lukko.
Belfast should target wins against HC Bolzano and HC Dynamo Pardubice – which, if combined with a shock result elsewhere, could create an unlikely pathway to the knockout rounds.
Chalk that up as a fourth reason for the Giants to feel confident.
