Playoff race heating up heading into the final two Game Days

As each team have now played their first four games of the 2021/22 Champions Hockey League season, the road into the Playoffs is getting clearer.

In some groups, teams have already secured their spot, but when Game Days 5 and 6 roll around in October, the final spots will be fiercely contested for.

So let’s take a look at who’s already in, and what other teams need to do to get in.

Pinguins Bremerhaven sit top of Group A after four games (Photo: Jasmin Wagner)

Group A

As things stand, Pinguins Bremerhaven sit top of the standings in this group, but they’re not quite away to the races.

With nine points to their names, they’re closely followed by the Växjö Lakers and Sparta Prague who both have seven points, while TPS Turku not only need to have a strong end to the Group Stage, but also hope results go in their favour in order to keep their hopes of progressing alive.

Bremerhaven have a tough end to their group stage as they faceoff with Sparta, while Turku need two regulation wins against Växjö to try and keep their season alive.

Group B

Over in Group B, it’s the reigning champions Frölunda Gothenburg expectedly top, but it’s a close end in store for all teams still in the hunt.

BK Mladá Boleslav are out of the running with two games to go, with one-point taken from an overtime loss against IFK Helsinki, meaning it's a three way shoot to progress to the next round in Group B.

Frölunda have had their struggles, with two very tight contests against ZSC Lions Zurich, which ended in a Zurich win in the first meeting, and an overtime win for Frölunda in the second.

Zurich are currently third, behind Frölunda and IFK Helsinki of Finland with both sides on eight points and Zurich on seven.

Reigning champions Frölunda Gothenburg are currently top of Group B (Photo: Michael Erichsen)

Group C

Group C is one of the tightest groups heading into the final two games of Group Stage action, right now Adler Mannheim lead the way with eight points, tied with Lukko Rauma.

Lausanne HC of Switzerland are third with five points, while the Cardiff Devils have three points to their name, meaning each team has a real chance of progressing to the next round.

Adler Mannheim will hope they remain with two good results against Lausanne, while Lukko Rauma could potentially leapfrog them with two wins against Cardiff, who are looking for a late surge to become just the second EIHL side to make it out of the Group Stage.

Group D

In Group D, there are three teams still in the running, with one confirmed exit. SønderjyskE Vojens of Denmark are out, but if they finish their group strong and manage to take points against Rögle Ängelholm, then it could make this very interesting to see who moves on to the next stage.

Right now, Rögle are second with eight points, just one point behind Red Bull Munich, but just one point ahead of EV Zug who are in third, so with just two points separating top spot from a non-qualifying spot heading into the final two games, Game Days 5 and 6 in this group should be highly competitive.

Group E

Over to Group E and it looks like Tappara Tampere are in the drivers seat to make it to the next round, but they’ll have to hope they can continue to perform strong against Skellefteå AIK who currently sit third in the group.

One win in the first meeting would secure Tappara’s passage into the next round, and then it’s down to Skellefteå and HC Lugano to decide who joins them, however, Eisbären Berlin have a big task ahead of them to join that Playoff hunt, but they’re not mathematically out of the equation, with two regulation wins and results going in favour of them being what they need to complete a heroic effort to progress.

Fribourg-Gottéron are already through to the Playoffs (Photo: Adrien Perritaz)

Group F

There’s still two games to go for all four teams in this group, but the qualifiers are confirmed. Both Fribourg-Gottéron and Leksands IF will advance to the Playoffs after both having a 100% record through the opening rounds of games.

But as both sides played Oceláři Třinec and Slovan Bratislava, it means it’ll be a battle for top spot when Fribourg and Leksand play each other in October.

Group G

In Group G it looks like it’s going to be a very tight race to the next round. All four teams still have a chance, with KAC Klagenfurt able to secure their place with a win in either regulation or overtime on Game Day 5 when they take on HC Donbass Donetsk.

The Ukrainian side have had an impressive debut so far and are currently sat second in the group, but tied on points with Rungsted Seier Capital, and just one point ahead of the Rouen Dragons of France.

Klagenfurt look likely to secure their spot, but it’s anyone's guess who joins them.

Group H

In a similar fashion to Group F, the qualifiers are confirmed in this group, and the two qualifiers are still to play each other. Red Bull Salzburg have a 100% record with four regulation wins against Frisk Asker and JKH GKS Jastrzębie, while HC Bolzano will challenge them for top spot as they sit on nine points currently with two wins in regulation, one in a shootout, and a shootout loss to Frisk Asker.