After a second-place finish in the Group Stage, Djurgården Stockholm advanced through to the Round of 16 where they met fellow Swedish rivals Skellefteå AIK. Following an indecisive but intense 3-3 draw away from home, Djurgården produced the goods and were awarded their first-ever CHL Quarter-Finals qualification thanks to a 4-1 win. With their home fans behind them, Djurgården put on a decisive performance worthy of a Quarter-Final contender whilst also living up to their pre-season claims of wanting to return amongst Europe’s elite.

Currently, the eighth-placed team in the SHL has enjoyed a mid-season burst of new energy and is slowly climbing back up the table after a slow start to the season. In the CHL they have been a solid performer and have already vastly improved on last year’s Group Stage elimination. Since securing their Quarter-Finals spot a few weeks ago against Skellefteå they have played four domestic games, only losing one. Djurgården are currently on a three-game winning streak that they will certainly be looking to carry on and with their home fans behind them and Munich’s troubles on the road throughout the course of the season – could they just about pull it off?

Red Bull Munich have been left as the sole representatives of German ice hockey after both the Augsburger Panther and Adler Mannheim crashed out of the Round of 16 two weeks back. Coming into the season off the back of a finals loss the year prior is always hard, but it hasn’t seemed to bother Munich one bit. They won their opening two games of the season without conceding a single goal and advanced to the elimination rounds from top spot of Group G. In the Round of 16 they faced an unpredictable Yunost Minsk side and after just edging past them on the road, they finished them off at home with a 6-0 battering that cemented their Quarter-Finals spot.

They have also been hard at work in their domestic league – 23 games in they sit top of the table with 57 points second-placed Straubing trailing 10 points behind. While they have their amazing September and October form to thank for that, November has proved a challenge as the rest of the pack have caught up. Since that 6-0 win over Minsk, Munich have played four DEL games – winning and losing two. Their most recent match took place on Sunday and was especially interesting as it saw them lose 5-2 to now eliminated Augsburg. Can they return to winning ways in Sweden?