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 SSE Arena will play host to the Giants as they welcome the reigning ICEHL champions, EC Salzburg, along with HC Bolzano from Italy and HC Dynamo Pardubice from the Czech Republic.
Belfast will also travel to Finland and Austria, where they will face off against Lukko and HC Innsbruck, respectively.
The Champions Hockey League will follow a revised format next season, scrapping the group stage 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.
“The process to develop rule innovations was part of an overall strategy review in which the relevant stakeholders decided that the CHL shall project its capacity for innovation from other areas to the game and consider new or different rules and implement them as a first mover.
“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 shocked by Belfast’s quality.
A fortnight earlier, the Northern Irish outfit beat Ocelari Trinec in a shootout.
Adam Keefe’s Belfast Giants take to the ice versus Skellefteå in the Champions Hockey League (Image: Brian Kidd)
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.
