If HC Ambrì-Piotta want to keep their hopes of making the Playoffs in their debut CHL season alive, three points will be an absolute must on Thursday evening. The Valascia Arena welcomes the CHL for the first time, and the raucous home support will be looking to give their side every advantage they can.

The home side went on the road to start their first ever CHL season, but came away with little to show for it. In a highly competitive Group G, which has last season’s CHL Finalists Red Bull Munich and Swedish Regular Season Winners Färjestad, Ambrì-Piotta have really struggled to find the net. Danny aus den Birken saved all 47 shots he faced on GD1, whilst Ambrì-Piotta found the net just once in Sweden in the return leg of this GD3 clash. Nick Plastino scored the only goal of that game for the Swiss sides, and a number of big name forwards need to get firing.

After routing HC05 Banská Bystrica in GD1, Färjestad Karlstad struggled to rekindle the same offensive fire in GD2 against Ambrì. Still, a win in Switzerland could almost certainly guarantee Färjestad a Playoff place with three games still remaining in the Group Stage. Färjestad are blessed with offensive firepower, but Michael Lindqvist has been a revelation so far, recording 1 goal and 4 assists, whilst speedy forward Johan Ryno has 2 goals and 2 assists through 2 games. Färjestad face a much more difficult test on the road, but it remains to be seen if they can match their home form.