Lahti Pelicans, who qualified for the CHL for the first time by finishing third in the Liiga Regular Season, are one of Finland’s more inexperienced teams. They have no NHL experienced and only two players – defenceman Topi Jaakola and forward Juhamatti Aaltonen, who have represented Finland at the World Championships. Aaltonen joined the team late last season and Jaakola in the off-season, and both will be counted on for their international experience. Tomi Karhunen in goal is also a big recent pick up.

The most familiar name on this Pelicans team might be head coach Ville Nieminen, who heads a young squad. Some of the young players to watch include Jesse Ylönen, who was on the Finnish team that won last year’s World Junior Championship, and two forwards who have a great chance to make this year’s team: Samuel Salonen and Alex Haatanen. Also look for 16-year-old defenceman Matias Rajaniemi making his professional debut. At the very least, this should be a fun team to watch, and they get a big test right away against a very experienced team.

Oceláři Třinec are playing in the CHL for the fifth time in six years and are two years removed from a Semi-Final appearance. What’s more, many of the players on their current roster have been through all of that. Martin Růžička, Jiří Polanský and Martin Adamský have all been with the club for close to a decade, and former NHL defenceman Lukáš Krajiček is entering his fourth straight season with the team, giving them a level of stability rarely seen in European club hockey. One notable departure from the team is netminder Šimon Hrubec, the 2017/18 CHL MVP. However, with the acquisition of Patrik Bartošák, who performed well for the Czech Republic in this spring’s IIHF World Championship, goaltending shouldn’t be a problem.

After dropping their first two games last season and never recovering, Třinec know the importance of a good start in this tournament. This Group D is another case where a good team and maybe two will be on the outside looking in at the end of the group stage, so every game is important, right from the start.