Group H features three teams that qualified for the CHL with strong seasons in their domestic leagues – Red Bull Munich, KAC Klagenfurt and HC Kosice. Kosice are the two-time defending Slovak champions, Klagenfurt are 30-time Austrian champions who went to the semi-finals last year, and Munich finished 2nd in the DEL regular season last year.
Staff Writers
To outsiders, Group H seems like a really tough group to call, with no exceptionally strong teams and yet no weaklings either. It seems as if any of the three clubs could finish 1st and any of the three clubs could finish 3rd. As such, all of the teams have realistic goals of reaching the playoff stage, but they know not to take anything for granted.
What does the Champions Hockey League mean to your club?
Christian Winkler (general manager, Red Bull Munich): “This was one of our goals last season, to reach a spot in the Champions Hockey League. Now we’re really happy that we’ve reached that goal and we’re looking forward to the coming season. It’s going to be good hockey on the ice and a lot of fun for the fans.”
Oliver Pilloni (general manager, KAC Klagenfurt): “You’re playing against the best teams in Europe. That’s good for the players and makes good players want to come and play for your team. It’s also good for the fans – we’ve got about 4,000 spectators who come every game and we’re going to do everything we can to fill the house.”
Juraj Bakos (general manager, HC Kosice): “There are at least two reasons why the Champions Hockey League means such a lot to Kosice. The first one is that we had to qualify for the tournament by winning our national title. And the second one is that we aren’t just representing our club, but along with Nitra also the Slovak Extraliga and our country. That is why we want to be well-prepared and be as successful as we can in the tournament.”
What do you think of the group you've been drawn into?
Winkler (Munich): “With Klagenfurt and Kosice we have two teams that have proven themselves internationally. I’m really happy both from a competitive standpoint and from a travel standpoint, as both cities are reachable.”
Pilloni (Klagenfurt): “I think we’ve got two good teams. For sure we know the Red Bull organization - we play against Salzburg in our league and now we’ll play Munich, so that’s exciting.”
Bakos (Kosice): “We’ve got interesting clubs from Germany and Austria. Munich and Klagenfurt are good teams, but they aren’t typical for their countries as they also have a number of foreigners on their rosters from the United States and Canada. We expect high-level games. This season the chances to qualify for the playoffs are better as there are just three teams in each group so we’ll do as much as we can to reach one of the qualifying places.”
What are your goals for the CHL this season?
Winkler (Munich): “Our goal, for sure, is going to be to survive the first round.”
Pilloni (Klagenfurt): “We want to win every game, just like in the league, so that’s what we’ve told our coach and that’s what we’re building our team for - to win every game - and we’ll see how far it goes.”
Bakos (Kosice): “While last year we just took part in the tournament, this season the system is much better for every single participant. The fact of two clubs out of three reach the playoffs is really motivating for all of the teams.”