- Geneva finished 7th in Regular Season, Fribourg 10th
- Fribourg are reigning Swiss champions
- Geneva won CHL in 2024
An all-Swiss Round of 16 match-up between past CHL Champions Genève-Servette and reigning Swiss champions Fribourg-Gottéron will start in the Patinoire des Vernets, where Geneva are unbeaten so far this season.
Geneva beat three national champions across the opening six games of the European calendar and came out on top in OT over in-form Kölner Haie in a heated back-and-forth 4-3 game.
Heading into what will surely be an intense game against domestic rivals Fribourg, Geneva could do better in their scoring productivity and efficiency as well as improving on their sub-optimal PP (13.04%), but have otherwise been pretty strong overall. Some of the big names on their roster could really shine in the Playoffs spotlight - keep an eye on them!
Fribourg started their 2026/27 season with back-to-back wins on the road before stumbling slightly against some stronger opposition at home (4-2 loss to HC Pilsen and a close 4-3 loss to Adler Mannheim). They picked up another win against HK Nitra to make the Playoffs, but fell to Herning Blue Fox on Game Day 6 in OT. In general, they've suffered a bit with discipline and let game momentum slip by clumsy mistakes and unnecessary penalties.
Positives of their season so far include the fact the reigning Swiss champions have scored in every game they've played in and when scoring opportunities appeared, they took them. PP play has been a strong part of their identity (nearly 26%) and their PK hasn't been bad either (82.61%). Point productivity runs deep through their roster with a lot of forwards and D-men pitching in throughout the season - a balanced team will do well for them against Geneva.