Last week in Czech Silesia, Oceláři Třinec defeated Lausanne HC 2-1 in overtime. It was a hard-fought, evenly-matched and entertaining game and there’s every reason to believe we’ll see more of the same this time around on the northern shore of Lake Geneva. There’s certainly a lot riding on this game, as the winner will top Group D and be guaranteed a spot in the Round of 16. The loser might also advance, depending on the score and the result of the game between Yunost Minsk and the Lahti Pelicans, which will end earlier. At the end of this game, the group will be finished and all four teams will know their fate.

All of Lausanne’s games have been tight so far – all five have been decided by one goal and four have needed extra time. They’ve lost both games that have been decided in overtime and won both that went to a shootout. Christoph Bertschy is the team’s top scorer in the CHL with five points, while he’s second in National League scoring to Cody Almond, who has nine in 11 games. Since last Tuesday’s overtime loss in Třinec, Lausanne have won back-to-back domestic games and have surged to third place in the National League.

Třinec started this competition by getting shut out in back-to-back road losses but stormed back to win three straight at home, taking eight out of nine points, putting themselves in this position but now they’re probably going to have to win away from home if they want to go any further. Matěj Stránský’s two-point effort in last week’s game – which included the overtime-winning goal – has him leading the team with six points in the CHL. He’s one ahead of previous leader Tomáš Marcinko, who still leads domestically with 11 points in 10 games. After a slow start, the Steelers are on a roll in the Czech Extraliga with four straight wins and they are now tied for top spot in the lead with Kometa Brno.

This will be the first CHL game at the brand-new Vaudoise Aréna, which opened three weeks ago and will co-host the 2020 IIHF World Championship.