On the day before the start of the 2016-17 CHL season, representatives from the league, the Czech Extraliga and the seven Czech-based clubs that will compete met the media in Prague. 

by Derek O'Brien

PRAGUE – The seven Czech-based clubs that will participate in the 2016-17 Champions Hockey League gathered at the Czech Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday afternoon. They include the six entrants from the Extraliga as well as EBEL qualifier Orli Znojmo. 

In the first CHL season, only Sparta Prague advanced to the Round of 16. In year two, they were joined by Bili Tygri Liberec and HC Litvinov. Now in year three they hope at least one of the seven are able to break into the elite eight.

Sparta have been close both years, surrendering aggregate-deciding goals in the last minute of the Round of 16 both years. Head coach Jiri Kalous wants more this year. “We want to confirm and prove that Sparta are among the European elite,” he said. 

Sparta's CHL journey this year gets off to an interesting start, as they will play the first ever CHL game in Poland on Wednesday, in front of what is expected to be a large and lively crowd in Krakow against Cracovia. 
 
Liberec might also want to show that they are among Europe's elite, after having beaten Sparta in last year's Czech league finals. They also performed well in the CHL, eliminating Linkoping HC in the Round of 32, and drawing over 7000 fans to their Round of 16 home game against HC Davos.

“Last year we were successful thanks to the start of the season in the CHL,” said general manager Ctibor Jechl. “We want to contribute to the growth of Czech hockey at the international level and competing internationally like this is of great importance.”

Vitkovice Ostrava made it to the Round of 32 and gave Red Bull Munich a tough battle. This year they will open at home against CHL Finalists Karpat Oulu on Tuesday in the very first game to face off in the new season.     

Dynamo Pardubice have not fared well in the first two CHL seasons, but they look to change that this year. “We are glad that we are part (of the CHL) and take it seriously. So far we have failed to advance, so that will be our goal,” said general manager Pavel Rolik.  

HC Pilsen and BK Mlada Boleslav are both competing in the CHL for the first time, having qualified by making the Extraliga semi-finals. 

“We are very pleased that we managed to qualify. We have a young team and we believe that playing international games will help them progress,” said Pilsen head coach Michal Straka. “For this reason we want to advance as far as possible but we certainly have a very difficult group with the Slovak champions,” he added, referring to HK Nitra.   

“We are delighted that we can participate. In Mlada Boleslav this is a big step,” said recently retired captain David Vyborny, who is now the team's head coach. “We hope that we can once again have a good season in the Extraliga so we get in there next year.” As for the team's goals this year he said, “We definitely want to advance – this is a valuable experience not only for our young players.”

The seventh team present, Orli Znojmo, was represented by CEO Petr Vesely. On Tuesday, he will also be at the EBEL meeting in Salzburg.  

“We are novices on the European stage, so this is prestigious for us. We have respect for the opponents but we want to work hard and advance from our group,” Vesely said.     

The biggest topic that the media was interested in was the new playing format that will begin in the 2017-18 season, which everyone seems to be in favour of – even the teams that might lose their automatic qualifying spot.     

“We've playing for three years and we understand that to continue we must qualify as one of the best teams,” said Pardubice's Rolik. “That won't only help the CHL, but all of hockey.”    
         
Vitkovice CEO Petr Handl noted the positive affect it is already starting to have on fan interest. “In the first season the fans perceived (the CHL) as pre-season games, but now that image is behind us and the whole Ostrava region is starting to see how seriously we're taking this competition.”

CHL CEO Martin Baumann noted that as a general trend throughout Europe. “The interest from fans is really growing, we have observed. For example, in Germany, and now it seems that Krakow will break the attendance record. We hope that trend continues in this country too.”

With the change in format, the number of Czech league clubs will be reduced to four for next season, but Extraliga Director Josef Reznicek also noted the importance of Czech teams getting good results in the CHL, as that number could change. “Next year there should be four places in the CHL for Extraliga clubs, and Czech clubs need to produce decent results this season, because they will count toward the rankings.”   
         
As for this season, two Czech teams are in action on Tuesday – Vitkovice hosting Karpat and Mlada Boleslav visiting Yunost Minsk.