The upcoming EBEL playoffs promise to be highly competitive, made more so by the fact that three big prizes are up for grabs by possibly three different clubs – or maybe one will win all three. The league trophy, championship of Austria, and one remaining Champions Hockey League berth are available to be won – Red Bull Salzburg, EHC Linz and the Vienna Capitals have already qualified for the latter.

by Luke Fisher

The EBEL playoffs start tonight, with eight teams having come through both a hard-fought regular season and middle round to take their place in the post-season. But how did we get this far?

In most leagues it’s a simple affair, with a set number of teams advancing to the playoffs after the regular season. But in the EBEL, the top six teams automatically qualify for the ‘Pick Round’, where they play each other once home and away to determine the playoff seedings. The bottom six teams enter the ‘Last Hope Round’, playing once home and away against the others for one of the two final places in the post season – plus bonus points are awarded for league positions. 

Confused? Don't worry, we'll clear it up for you. After each team played the others four times, here is how the regular season finished:

So, as you can see, the top six teams broke off into the ‘Pick Round’ with bonus points awarded for league positions, while the last six were put into the ‘Hope Round’ also with bonus points awarded.

After each team played 10 games against the other teams in their own mini-conference, the final standings were determined. Teams that have so far qualified for the 2015–16 Champions Hockey League are shown in bold, along with their corresponding license – Red Bull Salzburg and the Vienna Capitals have A-Licenses as founding members, while EHC Linz qualify with their second-place finish. One more position is still to be determined in the playoffs. 

So the final two playoff places went to HC Bolzano and Klagenfurt AC, just as they would have done in the regular season. But over in the ‘Pick Round’, there were some big changes. Vienna had a disastrous start and replaced coach Tom Pokel with Jim Boni after losing at home to  Alba Volan 19 Székesfehérvár. Salzburg and Linz continued to dominate, but Orli Znojmo were the surprise package by finishing third. 

After that, the EBEL allows the top three seeds for the playoffs to choose their opponents out of the four lowest seeded teams. This meant that Salzburg could pick any one of Vienna, Villach SV, Bolzano, or Klagenfurt to play in the quarter-finals. They chose to play Villach, while Linz then picked reigning champions Bolzano. Znojmo chose to play lowest seeds, Klagenfurt, which means that Székesfehérvár were left with a series against Vienna – not only the closest team to them geographically, but a club they beat both times in the ‘Pick Round’.

So tonight sees the start of the four best-of-seven quarter-final series, with games scheduled to take place every Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday until the round is over. 

Regular season winners Salzburg will be heavy favourites to beat Villach, having taken 10 points out of a possible 12 in their games against the Adler so far this season. The Red Bulls dominated both the regular season and Pick Round, and in Thomas Raffl have a player who gets goals. Jean-Philippe Lamoureux will be key for Villach, with a save percentage of 93.20, as the best way to keep Salzburg out.

Linz vs. Bolzano on paper looks to favour the Black Wings; however, in their four meetings this season the home side has won every time – with Linz losing one of the games in overtime. The Italians sacked their coach before their ‘Last Hope’ round began, and will hope to continue to momentum that saw them ease through that stage into the playoffs.

Orli Znojmo probably didn’t think they would be going into the playoffs as third seeds, let alone playing the lowest-ranked team left in the competition, but that’s the situation they find themselves in. It was two wins each for these clubs in the regular season, but the Czech side scored some big wins in the middle round and are a difficult prospect on home ice. Goaltending may well be key in this series, with neither side boasting a netminder with a save percentage over 91.5. If either goalie steps up, that could be key.

Finally, Hungary’s premier team Székesfehérvár probably felt very fortunate to be “left” playing the team they later admitted was their playoff preference. The little-under-three-hour journey to Vienna is the shortest they would need to do in the playoffs, and they play a team with only one win in their last eight games. Fehervar are notoriously good at home, with a very vocal crowd that gets behind them even before the puck is dropped. Vienna won the regular-season series three games to one; however, Fehervar recorded home and away wins over the Capitals in the Pick Round. Goaltending will also be key here too, with Vienna’s Matt Zaba and Székesfehérvár’s Christian Engstrand both having the pedigree to backstop their teams to wins.

So those are the match-ups that begin tonight, as the post-season finally gets under way. And remember, there are actually three prizes up for grabs in these playoffs: league champions, Champions of Austria, and a Champions Hockey League B-License. These might all be claimed by one team, or by three different ones. Last season, Salzburg lost out in a game-seven overtime thriller to Bolzano, but still picked up the Champions of Austria trophy after the game, while Bolzano won the league title and earned a spot in the CHL. 

All of these factors at play will make this post-season incredibly interesting to follow. Find the playoff schedule and up-to-date results here at the league website.