2008–09 Champions Hockey League

The 2008–09 Champions Hockey League was the only season of the Champions Hockey League (2008–09), an IIHF-organized ice hockey tournament for the best club teams in Europe. The season was played with 12 teams from seven countries (two teams each from Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland, one team each from Switzerland, Germany and Slovakia and a 12th team from one of these three countries, determined in a qualification tournament).[1] Every participating team was guaranteed an appearance fee of 300,000 euro and the winner received 1,000,000 euro. Prize money was also be awarded for winning group stage matches (50,000 euro), for the semi-final appearance (200,000 euro) and for the other finalist (500,000 euro). In total, 10 million euros were distributed, the largest prize sum ever in a European hockey club competition. [2] The ZSC Lions from Switzerland won the competition by beating Russia's Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the finals.

2008–09 Champions Hockey League
LeagueChampions Hockey League (2008–09)
SportIce hockey
Duration8 October 2008 – 28 January 2009
Number of teams14 (12 in group stage)
Season MVP Ari Sulander (ZSC)
Top scorer Jean-Guy Trudel (ZSC)
Finals
Champions ZSC Lions
  Runners-up Metallurg Magnitogorsk

In December 2013, the IIHF officially announced that they had launched a new tournament with the same name, born out of the European Trophy, starting in the 2014–15 season.[3]

Participating teams

The 2008–09 edition of the Champions Hockey League is played with twelve teams from Europe's top seven hockey leagues. Ten teams qualified directly for the group stage due to their performances in the domestic leagues. The field was completed with the winner of last season's Champions Cup and one team from the qualifying tournament. The tables below lists these teams together with the reasons for qualifying.[4]

Directly qualified for group stage
Metallurg Magnitogorsk Magnitogorsk, Russia 2008 IIHF European Champions Cup winner
Salavat Yulaev Ufa Ufa, Russia Russian Superleague champion
Kärpät Oulu, Finland Finnish SM-liiga champion
Espoo Blues Espoo, Finland Finnish SM-liiga playoff finalist
HC Slavia Praha Prague, Czech Republic Czech Extraliga champion
HC České Budějovice České Budějovice, Czech Republic Czech Extraliga regular-season winner
HV71 Jönköping, Sweden Swedish Elitserien champion
Linköpings HC Linköping, Sweden Swedish Elitserien regular-season runner-up
HC Slovan Bratislava Bratislava, Slovakia Slovak Extraliga champion
ZSC Lions Zürich, Switzerland Swiss National League A champion
Eisbären Berlin Berlin, Germany Deutsche Eishockey Liga champion

Note: Because the Swedish regular-season winner (HV71) also won the play-offs, Linköpings HC as the runner-up of the regular-season will participate.

Participating in qualifying tournament
HC Košice Košice, Slovakia Slovak Extraliga regular-season runner-up
SC Bern Berne, Switzerland Swiss National League A regular-season winner
Sinupret Ice Tigers Nuremberg, Germany Deutsche Eishockey Liga regular-season winner

Note: Because the Slovak regular-season winner (Slovan Bratislava) also won the play-offs, HC Košice as the runner-up of the regular-season can participate in the qualifying tournament.

Qualifying tournament

Three teams played a qualifying tournament on 12–14 September in Nuremberg, Germany. A win was awarded 3 points, 0 points for a loss.[5] SC Bern won the tournament and qualified as the second team from Switzerland for the group stage of the Champions Hockey League. Bern's Ramzi Abid was the top scorer of the tournament with 3 goals and 1 assist. The matches were attended by an average of 3,426 spectators.[6]

Team GP W SOW SOL L GF GA PTS
SC Bern 22000956
Sinupret Ice Tigers 21001673
HC Košice 200027100
September 12, 2008
19:30 CET		Sinupret Ice Tigers 1–4
(0–0, 1–1, 0–3)		 SC BernNuremberg Arena, Nuremberg
Attendance: 7,658
September 13, 2008
18:30 CET		SC Bern 5–4
(2–0, 2–3, 1–1)		 HC KošiceNuremberg Arena, Nuremberg
Attendance: 1,859
September 14, 2008
18:30 CET		HC Košice 3–5
(0–2, 2–2, 1–1)		 Sinupret Ice TigersNuremberg Arena, Nuremberg
Attendance: 3,373

Group stage
Location of teams of the group stage in 2008–09 Champions Hockey League.
Yellow: Group A, Red: Group B, Blue: Group C, Green: Group D.

The draw for the group stage took place on Friday, 25 April 2008 in Zürich, Switzerland.[7] The twelve teams were drawn into groups of three. Each group played a double round-robin. If the games were decided after 60 minutes, the winner was awarded 3 points and the loser 0 points. In case of a tie, both teams got 1 point and a penalty shoot-out was staged with the winner being awarded a second point. The best team of each group – the two Russian teams Ufa and Magnitogorsk, Espoo from Finland and the ZSC Lions from Switzerland – advanced to the semi-finals.

Group A

Eisbären Berlin played their two home games at the new O2 World in Berlin in front of 13,000 and 13,500 spectators, respectively, a Champions Hockey League record. Magnitogorsk qualified for the semi-finals on gameday 5 after winning their first three games. Metallurg's Jan Marek was the top scorer in group A with 2 goals and 5 assists.

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 430011159
Eisbären Berlin 4210110108
Kärpät 400135111
October 8, 2008
19:30 CET		Eisbären Berlin 3–2
(1–1, 1–0, 1–1)		 KärpätO2 World, Berlin
Attendance: 13,000
October 22, 2008
20:30 EET		Kärpät 0–2
(0–0, 0–1, 0–1)		 Metallurg MagnitogorskOulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 6,614
October 29, 2008
20:00 YEKT		Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5–2
(4–0, 0–1, 1–1)		 Eisbären BerlinMagnitogorsk Arena, Magnitogorsk
Attendance: 7,701
November 12, 2008
20:30 EET		Kärpät 2–3 (GWS)
(1–0, 0–1, 1–1, 0–1)		 Eisbären BerlinOulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 4,619
November 19, 2008
20:00 YEKT		Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3–1
(0–0, 2–0, 1–1)		 KärpätMagnitogorsk Arena, Magnitogorsk
Attendance: 7,593
December 3, 2008
19:30 CET		Eisbären Berlin 2–1
(1–0, 1–1, 0–0)		 Metallurg MagnitogorskO2 World, Berlin
Attendance: 13,500

Group B

Espoo won all 4 of their games and qualified for the semi-final after gameday 5. The top scorer in group B was Bern's Christian Dubé with 5 goals (and 0 assists).

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
Espoo Blues 4400013412
HV71 4100313183
SC Bern 4100311153
October 8, 2008
19:30 CET		HV71 6–2
(1–0, 2–0, 3–2)		 SC BernKinnarps Arena, Jönköping
Attendance: 6,903
October 22, 2008
19:30 CET		SC Bern 1–3
(0–2, 0–0, 1–1)		 Espoo BluesPostFinance Arena, Berne
Attendance: 6,756
October 29, 2008
20:30 EET		Espoo Blues 3–2
(2–1, 0–0, 1–1)		 HV71LänsiAuto Areena, Espoo
Attendance: 6,083
November 12, 2008
19:30 CET		SC Bern 7–5
(1–3, 3–0, 3–2)		 HV71PostFinance Arena, Berne
Attendance: 7,057
November 19, 2008
20:30 EET		Espoo Blues 2–1
(2–1, 0–0, 0–0)		 SC BernLänsiAuto Areena, Espoo
Attendance: 6,247
December 3, 2008
19:30 CET		HV71 0–6
(0–3, 0–1, 0–2)		 Espoo BluesKinnarps Arena, Jönköping
Attendance: 5,028

Group C

Salavat Yulaev was the first team of the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League to qualify for the semi-finals after winning their first three games. The top scorer in group C was Ufa's Alexander Radulov with 1 goal and 4 assists.

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 4400022512
HC České Budějovice 410039173
HC Slovan Bratislava 4100311203
October 8, 2008
20:00 YEKT		Salavat Yulaev Ufa 7–1
(1–0, 3–0, 3–1)		 HC České BudějoviceUfa Arena, Ufa
Attendance: 7,835
October 22, 2008
19:30 CET		HC České Budějovice 5–2
(1–0, 2–1, 2–1)		 HC Slovan BratislavaBudvar Arena, České Budějovice
Attendance: 4,250
October 29, 2008
19:30 CET		HC Slovan Bratislava 2–4
(1–0, 1–3, 0–1)		 Salavat Yulaev UfaSamsung Arena, Bratislava
Attendance: 5,238
November 12, 2008
19:30 CET		HC České Budějovice 0–3
(0–2, 0–1, 0–0)		 Salavat Yulaev UfaBudvar Arena, České Budějovice
Attendance: 4,109
November 19, 2008
19:30 CET		HC Slovan Bratislava 5–3
(3–0, 0–0, 2–3)		 HC České BudějoviceSamsung Arena, Bratislava
Attendance: 4,880
December 3, 2008
20:00 YEKT		Salavat Yulaev Ufa 8–2
(1–1, 4–1, 3–0)		 HC Slovan BratislavaUfa Arena, Ufa
Attendance: 8,292

Group D

The winner of group D was not decided until the final game in Prague between Slavia and the ZSC Lions. In front of 8,137 spectators, the Lions won the game 5–1 after scoring 4 goals in the last period. The group's top scorer (and the leading scorer after all group stage games) was Adrian Wichser from ZSC with 9 assists (and 0 goals).

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
ZSC Lions 43010201110
HC Slavia Praha 4210115158
Linköpings HC 4000411200
October 8, 2008
19:30 CET		HC Slavia Praha 4–2
(2–1, 1–1, 1–0)		 Linköpings HCO2 Arena, Prague
Attendance: 4,108
October 22, 2008
19:30 CET		Linköpings HC 2–7
(2–2, 0–2, 0–3)		 ZSC LionsCloetta Center, Linköping
Attendance: 7,961
October 29, 2008
19:30 CET		ZSC Lions 4–5 (GWS)
(0–1, 1–1, 3–2, 0–1)		 HC Slavia PrahaHallenstadion, Zürich
Attendance: 8,220
November 12, 2008
19:30 CET		Linköpings HC 4–5
(0–2, 3–1, 1–2)		 HC Slavia PrahaCloetta Center, Linköping
Attendance: 6,842
November 19, 2008
19:30 CET		ZSC Lions 4–3
(1–1, 2–1, 1–1)		 Linköpings HCHallenstadion, Zürich
Attendance: 8,574
December 3, 2008
19:30 CET		HC Slavia Praha 1–5
(0–1, 1–0, 0–4)		 ZSC LionsO2 Arena, Prague
Attendance: 8,137

Knockout Round
  Semifinals Final
                         
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 3 1 (2)  
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 1 1 (0)  
    Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 0 0
  ZSC Lions 2 5 1
ZSC Lions 6 4 2
Espoo Blues 3 1 0  

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played as two-legged matches. If a game was tied after 60 minutes, it would have been counted as a tie, without a penalty shoot-out taking place. Only if after two games the teams were level on points (i.e. one win each or two ties), a penalty shoot-out was staged to determine the series winner Home ice advantage of the second game went to the teams with the better records in the group stage.

First Semi-final

Because both teams from Russia qualified for the semi-finals, they had to play against each other according to the tournament regulations. Salavat Yulaev won the first game in Magnitogorsk with goaltender Alexandr Eremenko stopping 36 shots. The second game in Ufa, however, was won by Metallurg. Therefore, a penalty shoot-out was staged to determine the series winner, which was won 2–0 by Magnitogorsk.

10 December 2008
20:00 YEKT		Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1–2
(0–0, 0–2, 1–0)		 Salavat Yulaev UfaMagnitogorsk Arena, Magnitogorsk
Attendance: 7,750
7 January 2009
20:00 YEKT		Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1–3 (0–2 GWS)
(0–0, 1–0, 0–3)		 Metallurg MagnitogorskUfa Arena, Ufa
Attendance: 8,500

Second Semi-final

Because the Hallenstadion in Zürich, the home arena of the ZSC Lions, was not available on the semi-final dates, the Lions were forced to play their home game at the Diners Club Arena in Rapperswil-Jona, about 25 km away from Zurich. The ZSC Lions won both their "home" game and the game in Espoo, where they were accompanied by about 600 fans from Switzerland.[8]

10 December 2008
19:30 CET		ZSC Lions 6–3
(1–0, 3–2, 2–1)		 Espoo BluesDiners Club Arena, Rapperswil-Jona
Attendance: 6,100
7 January 2009
20:30 EET		Espoo Blues 1–4
(0–2, 1–0, 0–2)		 ZSC LionsLänsiAuto Areena, Espoo
Attendance: 6,612

Finals

The final was also played as a two-legged match. Home ice advantage of the second game went to the ZSC Lions which had the better record in the group stage. As in the semi-finals, the Lions were forced to play their home game in Rapperswil in an arena with only half the capacity of the Hallenstadion in Zürich. The game in the Diners Club Arena was sold out within 30 minutes, leaving many fans without a ticket for the most important game in their club's history.[9]

The ZSC Lions became the first-ever Swiss team to win a major European club competition by winning the Champions Hockey League. After a 2–2 draw in Magnitogorsk, the ZSC Lions won the return game against Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5–0 to dethrone the 2008 European club champion. ZSC goaltender Ari Sulander was named Champions Hockey League MVP and was the first to hoist the Silver Stone Trophy.[10]

21 January 2009
21:30 (UTC+5)		Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2–2
(0–2, 0–0, 2–0)		 ZSC LionsMagnitogorsk Arena, Magnitogorsk
Attendance: 7,700
28 January 2009
19:30 (UTC+1)		ZSC Lions 5–0
(1–0, 1–0, 3–0)		 Metallurg MagnitogorskDiners Club Arena, Rapperswil
Attendance: 6,200
Champions Hockey League
2008–09 Winners
ZSC Lions
First Title

Statistics

Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals. If the list exceeds 5 skaters because of a tie in points, all of the tied skaters are shown.

Pos Player Team GP G A Pts +/− PIM
1 Jean-Guy Trudel ZSC Lions84913+12
2 Adrian Wichser ZSC Lions811213+44
3 Domenic Pittis ZSC Lions81101106
4 Peter Sejna ZSC Lions85510+80
5 Jan Marek Metallurg Magnitogorsk83710+714

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes
Source: IIHF.com

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played 40% of their team's minutes are included in this list.

Pos Player Team TOI SA GA GAA Sv% SO
1 Alexandr Eremenko Salavat Yulaev Ufa280:0014571.5095.170
2 Ilya Proskuryakov Metallurg Magnitogorsk478:29233151.8893.561
3 Ari Sulander ZSC Lions480:00241172.1392.951
4 Bernd Brückler Espoo Blues299:09136102.0192.651
5 Rob Zepp Eisbären Berlin240:0097102.5089.690

TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots Against; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF.com

References
  1. "Three teams to compete for 12th CHL spot". Archived from the original on 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
  2. "Europe's new Club Competition". Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
  3. New era dawns for Europe Archived December 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Playoffs in Europe's Top-7 Leagues". Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  5. "Champions Hockey League Qualification". Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
  6. "Champions Hockey League Qualification: Statistics". Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
  7. "Champions Hockey League groups drawn". Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  8. "Swiss Invasion?". Retrieved 2009-01-17.
  9. "ZSC game sold out within minutes". Retrieved 2009-01-17.
  10. "ZSC Lions win CHL!". Archived from the original on 20 December 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.