It’s no surprise at all that Ryan Lasch is one to watch for Frölunda. The veteran forward is the tournament's top scorer of all time, and earlier in the season registered his 100th ever point in the competition. Once again he is top of the point-scoring standings with 16-points and a CHL leading 13 assists included.

It’s his seventh CHL season and Lasch is one person playing on one team that knows what it takes to win this competition. With his vision on the ice, Lasch is going to be a huge threat for Rögle to contend with when the Semi-Finals begin on January 4th.

If Lasch is the playmaker, then Patrik Carlsson is the goalscorer. He's among the leaders on the season for goals with seven to his name already, and had a great Quarter-Fiinals, scoring twice in the first game against Leksands IF. Frölunda know how to win this competition, and they're showing that they've got what it takes to do it for a fifth time if they can get through the next round.

Rögle Ängelholm have no shortage of options themselves heading into the next round. Against Sparta Prague, a three-point night by Lucas Ekeståhl Jonsson helped Rögle to victory in the First Game, which allowed them to progress despite losing the Return Game. It’s Jonsson’s second season in the CHL after playing for Färjestad BK in the 2019/20 season.

That year the defenseman only managed one point in seven games, this year however is a completely different story, with the 25-year-old boasting 12 points in 10 games so far, the most amongst all defensemen in the CHL so far.

In a similar vein to Lasch, Jonsson’s main threat comes as a playmaker with 10 assists so far, but with a player like Adam Tambellini scoring five times, and four goals coming from Ludvig Larsson, Rögle have plenty of targets for Jonsson to pick out.

Another player to keep an eye on is the youngest player on the team, Austrian forward Marco Kasper. The 17-year-old who is touted to be a first round selection in next years NHL Entry Draft has an impressive six-points already this season, and is really turning into a hot prospect to keep your eye on for the rest of not just the CHL season, but domestically as well.

When Frölunda and Rögle meet, it could be an interesting goaltending matchup. Both Matthew Tomkins of Frölunda and Calle Clang of Rögle have featured seven times so far, producing not too dissimilar numbers. Tomkins has the statistical edge with a save percentage of 2.15 compared to the 2.52 of Clang, and a save percentage of 92.57% over the 89.73% shown by Clang, but when the puck drops in a crucial Semi-Finals game, both of these goaltenders will likely give their team as many chances to go on and win as they possibly can.

In the other Semi-Final matchup, it’s Tappara Tampere of Finland taking on former CHL finalists Red Bull Munich.

With the first game in Munich, Trevor Parkes will be a key component on home ice to get off to a good start. Parkes was the CHL MVP in the 2019/20 season, and is certainly trying to be in contention for the award once again. The tall 6’3” forward has an even spread of six goals and six assists so far, but it’s his teammate Frederik Tiffels who has emerged as Munich’s most lethal scoring option.

Nobody in the CHL has scored more than Tiffels so far who has eight goals to his name, and he likes to put the puck on net as well with 30 shots, scoring on 26.67% of his shots, the third most in the CHL among players who have registered 20 shots or more. Second on that list is Parkes, so for Munich they have got two great goalscorers that they can turn to up top.

On the back end, Zachary Redmond is enjoying a brilliant CHL debut season. After most of his career in North America, Redmond is in his second season with Munich, and his first in the CHL, and with 10-points already and some great defensive work to his credit as well, Redmond is proving himself as complete package when it comes to a well-rounded defenseman who can really drive a team forward.

This is new territory for Tappara Tampere, who have never made it this far before in the tournament. In fact, prior to this season, they had never made it past the Round of 16, but they’ve put those days behind them as the last remaining Finnish team in the tournament.

A common theme among the remaining four is the presence of a top quality playmaker.

For Frölunda it’s Lasch, for Rögle it’s Ekeståhl Jonsson, for Munich it’s Redmond or even Ben Street.

When it comes to Tappara, look no further than Kristian Kuusela. The Finnish forward may not have found the back of the net himself, but it’s his 11 assists, second-most in the CHL, that make him such a threat.

His vision on the ice has been a huge part of Tappara’s successful run so far, and it’s a run they’ll hope to continue, and Kuusela has the ability to make that happen.

While their opponents Munich have two of the tournaments top goal scorers, goals are more spread around the Tappara lineup, with Kyle Platzer leading the team so far with four goals, including one in each game of their Quarter-Fiinal matchup against the Rouen Dragons.

In net, as it is always at this late stage of the competition, it’s set to be a great clash between the goalies.

Both Danny aus den Birken of Munich and Christian Heljanko of Tappara have faced a barrage of shots, with the 206 faced by aus den Birken being the second most of the season, and the 186 faced by Heljanko being the fourth most.

Similar to the other matchup, both goalies have done well at keeping scoring down, both showcasing an average goals against of below three, but it's going to be a tough two games in store for the men between the pipes with both sides showing they can find the back of the net with either great goalscorers in Munich or scoring depth in Tappara.

With just a few days until it all gets underway again, there is plenty to be excited about when the puck drops in early January as we're closer to discovering who will be the last two teams standing in this years Champions Hockey League.