The Champions Hockey League (CHL) will start with a new mode next season. Instead of three opponents, each of the 24 teams will face six opponents in the regular round. The Innsbrucker Haie meet four champions in Geneva, Munich, Aalborg and Belfast. The travel costs for the HCI are limited with only one flight.
“We got a really great group,” said head coach Mitch O’Keefe and manager Max Steinacher in Tampere, Finland, after the draw for the Champions Hockey League on Wednesday . With Geneva, Munich, Aalborg and Belfast, the Haie meet four master clubs. Biel and Skellefteå AIK complete the top-class preliminary round. “We can beat one or the other team,” said manager Steinacher. In the new format, the teams only play each other once. There are still no game dates and tickets for the Champions Hockey League, which starts on August 31st. The Innsbruck home games against Geneva, Skellefteå and Belfast should be sold out quickly. “The match against the Swedes will be a very special highlight. Skellefteå is a big player in Europe,” explained head coach Mitch O’Keefe. Munich and Biel can be traveled by bus, the HCI entourage will only have to get on a plane for the guest performance in Aalborg, Denmark: “The travel costs are therefore reasonable for us.” The HCI duo O’Keefe/Steinacher used the date on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Ice Hockey World Championships in Tampere also for networking: “All the important organizations and managers are there.”
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