Seven games give us a Super Saturday today in the Champions Hockey League!
ERC Ingolstadt vs. ZSC Lions
Saturn Arena; Group D, 16:30
Having met already earlier this week on the opening night of the CHL, Ingolstadt and the ZSC Lions play their reverse match tonight in Germany. With the Lions having won the first meeting, the Panthers will know that losing is not an option – unless the want to have it all to do against Lukko Rauma, their other group opponents.
“Zurich has a good team but we were really close to getting some points on Tuesday. We have got home ice this time, our fans are going to give us extra energy," says defenceman Patrick McNeill. "It is going to be a pretty fast game, both teams are fast. At ZSC, I know Mattias Sjogren. with whom I played in Hershey in the AHL. It is fun to see familiar faces in the CHL.”
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Stavanger Oilers vs. HC Pilsen
DNB Arena; Group J, 18:00
Stavanger overcame HC Nitra in a tight opening game to get themselves off the mark in Group J, and now face HC Pilsen who make their debut in the Champions Hockey League this season as they look to make it two wins out of as many matches on home ice.
"I was pleased with our performance against Nitra earlier this week. You always have questions about your team at the start of the season, and that game answered many of them," says Pal Gulbrandsen, Oilers' head coach. "Pilsen tonight will be another big challenge for us, and I think they'll be another level up from Nitra. But for us it's all about high intensity and speed at both ends of the ice."
On the opposite bench Ladislav Cihak, assistant coach of HC Pilsen, added: "It's not a friendly game at all! Pre-season ended with the game against Klatovy for us and this will be the first tough match of the season. We are not going to Stavanger just to have fun, we want to get three points!"
Krefeld Pinguine vs. Vitkovice Ostrava
Konig Palast; Group E, 19:00
Having been shut out at home to Karpat, Krefeld host Vitkovice as both sides look for their first points of this year's competition.
"Czech teams are always very strong. That is going to be an interesting encounter," said Krefeld head coach Franz Fritzmeier ahead of the game. Patrik Bartosak, goaltender for Vitkovice admitted that he doesn't know a lot about tonight's opposition. "Personally, I don't know much about the Krefeld team and I am going to prepare like for every other important game. If we can stick to our system and play disciplined, I believe than we can earn some points in Krefeld," he stated.
KalPa Kuopio vs. Skelleftea AIK
Data Group Areena; Group N, 18:00
After a surprise overtime loss in Vienna, Skelleftea complete their road trip in Finland visiting KalPa. The Finns have never made it through the group stage in their two CHL seasons so far.
"We are really looking forward to the CHL game against Skelleftea AIK. We have had a great off-season and we’ve trained hard. Skelleftea is a very good team, who skate well and they give pressure and don’t stop the puck when behind the net. We are expecting high intensive hockey, we really need to be ready," said KalPa defenceman Juuso Riikola before his team's first CHL game this season. "Our last game was a pre-season game against Jokerit last week and we won that 4-2. We controlled the game and we need to be able to play even better now, when playing in the CHL. The Champions Hockey League is a great league and the games are something we’re really excited about. It’s fantastic to play against a top Swedish team."
HC Kosice vs. Black Wings Linz
Steel Arena; Group M, 19:30
Both of these sides meet having lost their opening matches to SC Bern. With that in mind, this game could go a long way to deciding who will finish behind the Swiss side and advance to the next round.
"We have to play more disciplined than against Bern, but there were also some positives in our first game. We played well on the power play and we hope that we can stick to that on Saturday," said Kosice forward Marek Bartanus, looking ahead to the game tonight.
Red Bull Salzburg vs. Sheffield Steelers
Eisarena Salzburg; Group P, 19:30
Having come very close to taking a point off HV71 in their opening game, Sheffield head to Salzburg knowing that they are able to compete in the CHL if they can stay out of the box. The Red Bulls have made it through the group in both of their CHL adventures so far, while Sheffield have still get to record a point as they take part in their second season.
Captain Matthias Trattnig warned not to underestimate Sheffield though: "Last year's defeat to SonderjyskE from Denmark proved to us just how strong and motivated every one of the Champions Hockey League teams are. Sheffield are an experienced team and we're going to have to pull out all the stops." The Red Bulls, who have bolstered their ranks with a total of nine new players, have yet to fully gel after two weeks of training, "but preparations have gone very well and we're making good progress in terms of implementing the new system with our new coach. But essentially it's the same for all the teams and I think we're already playing pretty well together. We'll continue to play aggressive ice hockey and put our opponents under as much pressure as possible. I believe we can expect to see an even faster pace than last year, since we're intending to play with four lines," he added.
"There were many, many positives from the game against HV71," said Steelers' coach Paul Thompson, "but we're a club that doesn't like to lose – we don't take it lightly. We know the reasons why and we have to improve of that."
Fribourg-Gotteron vs. Red Bull Munich
BCF Arena; Group F, 19:45
The evening's final game sees Munich visit Fribourg-Gotteron, with the NLA side hoping to continue the tradition of all Swiss teams having won their opening games so far.
“I think it is a good group – hopefully for us," says GM Christian Dube. We have the champion of Germany here, but if we play our game we have a good chance.”
Don Jackson, coach of Munich, added, “We expect two very challenging games against Fribourg. They are used to competing on a high level and showed a strong performance in the CHL last year against very skilled teams.”