Karpat Oulu continue their tour of Central Europe with a stop in Krefeld to play Die Pinguine.

After failing to get out of their group in either of their first two CHL campaigns, the team captained by the venerable Daniel Pietta doesn't have an easy task in its first game – perennial European powerhouse Karpat Oulu. In the two games between the two teams in the 2015-16 group stage, Karpat won both by a total score of 6-1. If Krefeld can take any consolation from that, it's that they scored the only goal on Karpat in their first six CHL games last season.

Krefeld head coach Franz Fritzmeier stated that his team has one key aim in the CHL for now. "My team is prepared. Our aim is to get out of the groupe stage for the first time.” To do that, they'll probably have to take the majority of the points in the two games against Vitkovice Otrava, but whaterver they can manage from Karpat would be a bonus.

Karpat already have one CHL game under their belt this season, but it wasn't easy – a 3-2 victory against a feisty Vitkovice squad in Ostrava on Tuesday. 

Karpat coach Kai Suikkanen seems to be expecting a physical game: “When you consider German teams, they are typically large in size and play physically. It is said that Canadians run the German hockey world, and they have adopted a lot of influences from Canada. Krefeld is in that way a typical German team. In the CHL they are always tough, especially at home.”