Färjestad Karlstad will face Czech side Mountfield HK in the first round of the knockout phase of the 2022/23 season. The Swedes and the Czechs have never faced each other on the ice, despite playing in a combined seven seasons of the Champions Hockey League and if stats are anything to go by, this is going to be one evenly matched two-game series!

Both of these teams have plenty of CHL experience , with Mountfield HK participating for the fourth time and Färjestad Karlstad for the fifth. Both are competing in the Round of 16 for the second time and interestingly, both previously made it in 2019/20 and were eliminated by eventual champions Frölunda Gothenburg. In that year’s Round of 16, Frölunda overcame a five-goal deficit on aggregate to beat Färjestad, and then beat Mountfield 3-1 in the one-game Final.

This year, both teams comfortably qualified for the Playoffs. Färjestad finished second in Group F with 12 points with 25 goals for and 12 against, advancing by a six-point margin. Mountfield topped Group G with 15 points with 29 goals for and 17 against.

Both of these teams are strong on faceoffs, with Färjestad winning at a CHL-leading 60.00 percent rate and Mountfield at 55.87. Neither are notably physical and their powerplays and penalty-killing are average by CHL standards.

Färjestad’s top scorer is centre Marcus Nilsson with eight points, all assists. The team has four players with three goals, including Linus Johansson with seven points, but domestically their top scorer is defenceman Theodor Lennström. For Mountfield, Kevin Klíma leads with nine points and Radek Smoleňák has five goals, although Jakub Lev is their top scorer domestically. Mountfield’s Oliver Okuliar is tied for a CHL-leading +10.

In goal, both Dennis Hildeby for Färjestad and Jan Růžička for Mountfield played in four out of their teams’ six Group Stage games, although Canadian Matthew Tomkins has had the majority of Färjestad’s SHL starts and Jan Růžička has shared Mountfield’s Extraliga crease quite evenly with Finn Henri Kiviaho.

Domestically, Färjestad have been up near the top of the SHL standings all season, while Mounftield have struggled in the middle of the pack in the Extraliga.

All in all, there is very little to choose between two teams and they, on paper at least, appear quite evenly matched - we'll just have to wait and see!