- First-ever meeting between these teams
- Mountfield didn’t escape the Group Stage last season
- Thomas Sabo are playing their first CHL game
This is a match-up between two teams that don’t have much previous experience in the Champions Hockey League. The THOMAS SABO Ice Tigers have none, while Mountfield HK played in the tournament last season but finished third in their group.
In addition to their one previous CHL appearance, Mountfield have also played in the prestigious Spengler Cup tournament the past two seasons in Davos, Switzerland. Additionally, they regularly host a tournament each August at their home rink in Hradec Králové, the Mountfield Cup. This summer, the host team finished third against Sparta Prague, HC Davos and Dynamo Pardubice. Probably the team’s most significant off-season addition was American goalie Brandon Maxwell.
“Mountfield are one of the best Czech teams every year in their league, always finishing in the top three.”Kevin Gaudet (Head Coach, THOMAS SABO Ice Tigers)
The last time fans in Nuremberg got to see their team play for a European championship, it was the 1999/2000 season, when the Ice Tigers beat Dynamo Moscow and HC Lugano before falling to Sparta Prague in the quarter-finals. Now, they’ve qualified for the CHL for the first time by reaching the DEL semi-finals last season. In their debut game, fans in Hradec Králové will be familiar with Czech forward Petr Pohl and Slovak defenceman Milan Jurčina, who have both played in the Czech Extraliga.
“They made it to the semi-finals last season, same as we did, and are one of the best teams in the DEL. The league is definitely getting stronger and the results of Germany on the international level are a clear sign of it. Nuremberg have a number of Canadian players in their squad and they will bring a level of aggression and drive to the game.”Tomáš Martinec (Head Coach, Mountfield HK)