Grizzlys Wolfsburg and Lorenskog IK have claimed the last CHL spots available in Germany and Norway, respectively. Still to be decided are one qualifier each from Denmark and Slovakia.
CHL News
One week ago, 44 of the 48 teams that will compete in the 2016–17 edition of the Champions Hockey League were known. That number is now down to two. This past weekend, Grizzlys Wolfsburg from Germany and Lorenskog IK from Norway qualified. That still leaves two spots available – one from Denmark and one from Slovakia, and in both cases is will be the winners of the upcoming league finals.
Two spots were decided this past weekend:
Germany
Grizzlys Wolfsburg have earned the last CHL spot available to Germany by winning their DEL semi-final series with the Nuremburg Ice Tigers on Saturday by a 2–1 score, ending the series in six games. They now head to the league finals against Red Bull Munich, who already qualified by finising 2nd in the regular season.
Norway
The Norwegian Ligaen finals will begin on Tuesday between the two teams that will be next season's CHL representatives – the Stavanger Oilers and Lorenskog IK. Stavanger, who will be making their third straight CHL appearance, have already qualified as regular-season winners. By winning their semi-final against Valerenga Oslo, Lorenskog are in too – that's because even if they don't win the league title, they will qualify as regular-season runners up.
There are still two more spots to be decided:
Denmark
The Danish Ligaen final between Esbjerg Energy and Blue Fox Herning begins on Tuesday, with the winner earning Denmark's CHL spot. Two-time representatives and regular-season winners SonderjyskE Vojens were eliminatd in the semi-finals by Esbjerg, while Herning knocked off the regular season's second-place club, Fredrikshavn IK.
Slovakia
The best-of-seven final series for the Slovak Extraliga is between HK Nitra and HC '05 Banska Bystrica, with the winner getting the final CHL spot from Slovakia. Nitra won their semi-final with a Game 7 win on Saturday, while Banska Bystrica completed a 6-game upset of HC Kosice on Wednesday. Kosice have already qualified for the CHL as regular-season winners.