Some big games in domestic leagues this weekend will see at least two more CHL qualifiers coming from Germany, along with possibly one or two from the Czech Republic and one from Finland.

As the domestic leagues around Europe near their finish, teams from the Champions Hockey League's six founding leagues have extra incentive for a good finish – the top two teams from the national leagues of Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany and Austria will qualify for the 2017-18 edition of the CHL. In addition more teams will come from the playoffs of those leagues, as well as 10 teams from the challenger leagues.

The CHL learned four of its qualifiers on Tuesday when Red Bull Salzburg and the Vienna Capitals finished first and second in the EBEL, and SC Bern and ZSC Lions Zurich secured the top two spots in the Swiss NLA. Counting CHL champions Frolunda Gothenburg and Continental Cup champions Nottingham Panthers, that brings the total number of teams qualified so far to six. That number will increase this weekend.

By Sunday night, the German DEL's regular season will be finished and we will know both qualifiers there. As well, we will probably know one and possibly both regular-season qualifiers from the Czech Extraliga. There's also a chance we will get our first Finnish qualifier on Saturday.

Germany

The DEL is the next league to be decided, with its regular season wrapping up on Sunday. However, we could know both CHL qualifiers by the end of Friday's games, if both Adler Mannheim and Red Bull Munich manage to put enough clearance between themselves and the Nuremberg Ice Tigers and Kolner Haie. The most interesting game is Munich hosting Cologne, with Die Haie able to either overtake the Red Bulls by winning, or falling out of CHL contention (for now) by losing. As for league-leading Mannheim, two points from their game in Augsburg will be enough to qualify, regardless of what else happens. Even if they lose, they could still qualify on Friday if neither Nuremberg nor Cologne manage to come within three points of them. It is possible, however, that we could go into the last day of the regular season on Sunday with both spots still up for grabs.

Friday: Augsburg – Mannheim, Munich – Cologne, Nuremberg – Bremerhaven. 

Sunday: Bremerhaven – Munich, Ingolstadt – Cologne, Mannheim – Straubing, Schwennwinger – Nuremberg. 
 

Czech Republic

The Czech Extraliga will be the next league to finish, with four rounds left. No teams have qualified for the CHL yet, but Bili Tygri Liberec will probably join the group this weekend. Their magic number is 1 – one point gained by Liberec or lost by third-place Sparta Prague means the White Tigers are in. On Friday, Liberec visit Vitkovice Ostrava, while Sparta visit Mlada Boleslav. As for second-place Ocelari Trinec, they could qualify as early as Sunday if things go their way. First up for them is a visit to Brno on Friday, followed by a home game against Mountfield Hradec Kralove on Sunday. Depending on the outcome of their home game against Olomouc on Friday, Mountfield could either be in a position to tie Trinec in points on Sunday, or be eliminated from CHL contention.

Friday: Vitkovice – Liberec, Litvinov – Pilsen, Kometa – Trinec, Mountfield – Olomouc, Mlada Boleslav – Sparta. 

Sunday: Sparta – Litvinov, Trinec – Mountfield, Liberec – Kometa.

Finland

Tappara Tampere are the defending Finnish champions and they are the class of the league this year so far. They still have seven games left to play, but they could secure a CHL spot as early as Saturday. To do that, they need to win twice and for third-place KalPa Kuopio to lose twice. On Thursday, Tappara host fourth-place JYP Jyvaskyla – who are still very much in the hunt for second place – while KalPa host Lukko Rauma. Meanwhile, TPS Turku host Pelicans Lahti, hoping to close the gap on Tappara and put some ground between themselves and chasers KalPa and JYP. On Saturday, TPS host JYP in a game that could go a long way to deciding the second qualifier from Finland – depending on what happens on Thursday, the difference between the two teams after Saturday's game could be a minuscule  two points or a nearly insurmountable 14. Meanwhile, if things go their way on Thursday, Tappara could be looking to qualify on Saturday when they visit Assat Pori, with KalPa hosting Karpat Oulu.

Thursday: KalPa – Lukko, Tappara – JYP, TPS – Pelicans.

Friday: HPK – IFK Helsinki.

Saturday: Jukurit – HPK, JYP – TPS, KalPa – Karpat, Assat – Tappara. 

Sweden 

Nobody's going to qualify from Sweden this weekend, but if the Vaxjo Lakers win both of their games they could be very close. On Thursday they visit the Redhawks in Malmo and on Saturday they visit Brynas. The battle for second place is still very much up in the air with five teams within six points, meaning we could see the already-qualified Frolunda, along with HV71, Skelleftea, Linkoping and Brynas in almost any order by the end of the weekend. Friday will be especially big in determining second place, with HV71 hosting Skelleftea and Frolunda beginning a home-and-away against Lekand.

Thursday: Brynas – Rogle, Malmo – Vaxjo, Linkoping – Orebo. 

Friday: HV71 – Skelleftea, Frolunda – Leksand.

Saturday: Farjestad – Linkoping, Leksand – Frolunda, Vaxjo – Brynas.