The final game on game day one sees the Cardiff Devils play host to Mountfield HK, with both sides coming into the Champions Hockey League for their third straight campaign, while both are looking to break their unwanted streaks of finishing bottom of the group, one of the sides are guaranteed to break that and they can get off to a good start with a win on Friday night.

It was another fantastic year for the Cardiff Devils despite being unable to retain the EIHL league title for a third consecutive campaign, but they did manage to retain their playoff success for a second season. With Head Coach Andrew Lord renewing his contract for another five years, the future looks bright in Cardiff, and the Devils will be hoping to start things off with a bang if they can secure a home win in their opening game. Once again, a similar core group of players have returned for the side, most importantly in the crease as netminder and Team GB star Ben Bowns is back for another year, and his performances will be vital to help the Devils as they attempt to potentially become the second EIHL club to make it to the knockout rounds after the Nottingham Panthers did it two seasons ago.

Mountfield HK from the Czech Republic will be hoping for more success than their last visit to an EIHL arena in the CHL, following a loss to the Panthers in the 2017/18 season. Over the past few seasons, Mountfield have enjoyed repeated success, with consistently high finishes in the regular season, helping them earn three consecutive Champions Hockey League places. The side made a big move over the summer to bring in netminder Marek Mazanec who returns to the Czech Republic after spending most of the last six seasons in North America where he featured mostly for the NHLs Nashville Predators and their AHL affiliate the Milwaukee Admirals. They’ve also retained the services of point scoring defenseman Petr Zámorský who’s 38-points were a team lead last season, while their highest goal scorer Tomáš Vincour is also back after his 21-goal season last year. After a lengthy pre-season that has seen the side play eight games, they’ll be in fine shape when the puck drops on Friday night.