A week ahead of the return of the Champions Hockey League for the Quarter-Final stage, we take a look at how the remaining eight teams have faired recently in their own leagues.

The two Czech teams left in the CHL are separated in the Extraliga by only three places and four points, as Sparta sit sixth and Vitkovice ninth. The team from Prague had been on a four-game losing streak that saw them slip down the table, however they’ve bounced back and now have four straight wins in a row to be on the climb again – the most recent coming this weekend over Litvinov (3-0) and Karlovy Vary (4-3 after a shootout, Lukas Pech with the decider). For Vitkovice it’s been more of an indifference run, with four wins and losses since the last CHL round. They lost in Pardubice Friday blanked 3-0, but were victorious over Olomouc yesterday to keep themselves seven points safe inside the Top 10.

Over in Switzerland, Bern’s amazing winning streak eventually came to an end when they were hammered by Kloten a week ago, but two wins this weekend over Davos (2-1 OT) and Biel (3-1) keep them just one point behind leaders ZSC with two games in hand. For the Lions, it’s been only one win in the last three games after OT defeats to Fribourg and Lausanne either side of a win over Zug, which keeps them just top of the NLA. Fribourg-Gotteron, meanwhile, remain just one place above last, although a run of three consecutive wins had seen then moving slowly up the table – that came to an end with defeat in Davos (5-3) two nights ago.

Then to the SHL, in which Frolunda have opened up a six-point lead at the top over Brynas, although they have played a game more. The Indians were unbeaten in six straight before losing to Linkoping Saturday, a result which keeps LHC in eighth but only two points outside the top six – and came after Linkoping went down 4-1 in Vaxjo. The Lakers, Sweden’s only other team in the CHL Quarter-Finals, are currently fifth overall in the league with two straight wins of late – the aforementioned over Linkoping, and beating Farjestad 3-1 in Karlstad to keep themselves in the automatic playoff places.

All but one of the SHL teams will play at least twice more (three games for Vaxjo) before the CHL Quarter-Finals take place, while both Sparta and Vitkovice also have just two games before the next round – including facing each other. The NLA teams play three before taking to European hockey again.