Both Neman and Vienna will want to get off to a good start if they hope to make it through to the Round of 16.

Belarusian side Neman Grodno make their second appearance in the CHL after winning last year's Belarusian Championship, and are somewhat of an unknown quantity in the group. "We have analysed all teams in our Group and understand that we will face strong competitors," revealed Head Coach Sergei Pushkov. "Vienna Capitals have North American coaches and players, so we need to get ready for some hard hockey with a lot of body checking."

The Capitals were arguably one of the best teams the EBEL has ever seen last year, and as top seeds in the group will be hoping to get through to the next stage. However Head Coach Serge Aubin was equally full of praise for tonight's opponents: "Grodno had an unbelievable last year. They did incredibly well, did not give up many goals and scored a lot. It is a very skilled and fast team that pretty much powered themselves through the playoff and went undefeated to win the championship". "We obviously play a different style of hockey which is going to force us to bring our best. This will be a great test for us" he continued.