Lions & Bears bear their teeth

The regular-season winners from Switzerland face the finalists from Germany in this match-up between ZSC Lions Zurich and Grizzlys Wolfsburg. Zurich, the original CHL champs, are well-versed in international hockey, while this is all new to Wolfsburg, but they showed in the group stage that you can go far on hard work. If both teams stick to their game plans, this will be a low-scoring series. While both teams can score, the Wolfsburg lineup is more top-heavy, whereas Zurich's attack is a lot more balanced, making it harder to stop. Zurich go in as the clear favourites, but after their group-stage, Wolfsburg will certainly have it in mind to slay another giant.

Cohesive team play, stingy defence, great goaltending and timely scoring were the reasons that the ZSC Lions dominated Group D. Their sweep of the home-and-away with ERC Ingolstad by scores of 2-0 and 4-1 didn't shock anybody, but taking five of six points from Lukko Rauma was impressive. First in Finland they built up a 2-0 lead in the first period, then let it get away in the third before winning in a shootout. To prove that was no fluke, they shut out last year's CHL semi-finalists 2-0 back in Switzerland. There's no doubt that they're the favourites against Wolfsburg, but the German club has pulled off a couple of upsets already, so the Lions will have to make sure they stay on their A-game.

Grizzlys Wolfsburg defied the odds by making it to the CHL, much less making the Round of 32. In their first game against defending champions Frolunda Gothenburg, they served notice that they were no pushovers with a surprisingly close 2-1 loss. Next came a bigger surprise with a dominant performance over Dynamo Pardubice and a 6-0 win. They followed that up, however, with a dismal showing in the return encounter in Pardubice, losing 6-1. That set up a situation where they needed a win in their last game in Gothenburg. They got an early 2-0 lead, Frolunda came back to tie it, but Wolfsburg won it on Brent Aubin's late goal. Having beaten a the Swedish and CHL champs, the Grizzlys will be confident against Zurich, but it's going to take a maximum effort, and they can't afford any let-downs like they had in Pardubice.  

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