Two teams from the DEL joined our line-up for the 2021/22 Champions Hockey League season last week, meaning only seven qualification places remain. Here’s our weekly CHL qualifiers update:
Eisbären Berlin, who were predicted to qualify last week, were officially confirmed as our second DEL participants for 2021/22 on Monday. They were shortly followed by fellow countrymen Red Bull Munich, who have now qualified for seven CHL seasons in a row! With the playoffs underway in all major leagues across Europe, who could join them in the coming weeks?
Denmark’s Metal Ligaen looks most likely to provide our next CHL qualifier. The playoff finals between Rungsted Seier Capital and the Aalborg Pirates are already underway and could end as early as this Friday! Rungsted are currently leading the finals series 2-0 after an important 3-2 win on away ice on Sunday.
Both teams have prior CHL history – Rungsted participated in the 2019/20 season and Aalborg featured in the 2018/19 season. Who will return for 2021/22? We’ll keep you updated!
The Czech Extraliga is also close to giving us its final CHL qualifier. After two intense Semi-Finals series that were both decided with do or die game sevens, the Extraliga now has its pair of finalists – BílÍ Tygři Liberec and Oceláři Třinec.
In terms of CHL qualification, Liberec need to win the championship to qualify for 2021/22. If they don’t, BK Mladá Boleslav qualify as the third-placed regular season team.
Sweden’s SHL is nearing the playoff semi-finals. The league currently has three semi-finalists – the Växjö Lakers, who knocked rivals Färjestad Karlstad out of the fight for the championship and ended their chances of qualifying for the upcoming CHL season, Örebro HK, who have never competed in the CHL and Rögle Ängelholm, who beat four-time CHL Champions the Frölunda Indians 4-0 in their quarter-finals series.
The last remaining semi-finals place will go to the winner of the Skellefteå AIK and Luleå Hockey tie. Luleå are currently winning the series 3-2 and need to not only win their quarter-finals and semi-finals series, but the entire championship in order to qualify for the 2021/22 CHL season.
The same applies for Örebro – if they are to make their debut in the CHL later this year, the must win the national title to qualify.
If neither Örebro or Luleå win the title and it is won by a team already qualified for the upcoming CHL season, the final SHL qualification place goes to the fourth-placed team in the regular season – Skellefteå. We’ll keep you updated!
The Slovak Extraliga is also in its semi-finals stage. All four semi-finalists have no previous CHL experience, as previous CHL participants HC05 Banská Bystrice were eliminated in the round of 16. The finalists will be determined this week and we could have a qualifier as early as next week!
Germany’s DEL, Finland’s Liiga and the Swiss NL are all in their playoffs quarter-finals stages, meaning there is still a long way to go before any of them produce their final qualifiers for the upcoming CHL season.
The fighting is especially fierce in the Swiss NL – three rounds into the quarter-finals, all four series are at 2-1. The hockey is intense, emotions are running high and small mistakes are deciding games. We have a lot to look forward to in the Champions Hockey League later this year!
That's all for this week - follow our social channels to keep up to date about any new CHL qualifiers and tune in again next week for a comprehensive update on Europe's top leagues.