Bílí Tygři Liberec has competed regularly in the European Trophy since 2011, and is now one of the 26 founding members of the Champions Hockey League. General Manager Ctibor Jech is making it clear that his club isn't just treating this as a pre-season tournament -- the White Tigers will be playing to win.

by Dominik Jakubec

Bílí Tygři Liberec finished seventh place out of eight teams in their European Trophy group last summer, and ninth place during the Czech Extraliga season. This season, they plan to improve their standing in both competitions.

"We're taking this very seriously," general manager Ctibor Jech said about building a competitive team for the Champions Hockey League, the European Trophy's successor.

"The European Trophy focused on the clubs that wanted to play in it. Now, it will be broadened to also include the league champions and regular season winners, which I think is a great step," said Jech "I’d say hockey's been lacking a prestigious European competition, because every other sport has them."

Jech is looking forward to the CHL, as it will bring some recognition to the club and the city. "It will also bring some great and interesting games to the pre-season," he adds. "Even though it’s not a cheap event, we’re glad to be there competing against top European clubs."

The northern Czech club was drawn into Group A together with HC Košice, Kärpät Oulu and Köln Haie, so Liberec fans will get a look at some quality opponents.

"We're satisfied with the draw," says Jech. "We've got the champions from Finland and Slovakia. Plus, we've never played against Košice before, so it will be interesting to watch. It will also bring back some memories from times when we played with the Slovaks in one league."

In addition to facing two national champions, Jech also thinks that the games against Köln will be difficult. "We've learned in recent years, when facing Eisbären Berlin for example, that German clubs play at a high level. It’s also close to Liberec, so I believe it could attract some fans. On the other side, Oulu is far away, but there's no team in the CHL which doesn’t have to travel so far at least once."

With the signing of veteran defenceman Martin Škoula last week, Liberec announced that they intend to be competitive against the stiff competition within their group.

"Nobody wants to lose in a tournament like this. It will start in the pre-season, but we won’t be treating the games like that. We would like to achieve some success." Jech also mentioned the financial rewards for successful teams. "There is prize money for advancing past the group stage, and that could help us build a budget for this event. That’s an important factor as well. We want to impress Europe!"