The Round of 16 brings with it the fresh excitement of two teams who have not yet gone into battle. Top Austrian side KAC Klagenfurt will host Swedish rivals Leksands IF in an epic match.

With their 5-1 win-loss record compared to Leksands 4-2, the Austrians are skating into the upcoming game with both confidence, and the backing of their fans on home ice. For Leksand, Klagenfurt are an unknown challenge. On the one hand, the Swedes performed flawlessly against Czech side Oceláři Třinec, and Slovan Bratislava during the Group Stage games, but faltered twice to Swiss challengers, Fribourg-Gottéron. Will the Austrian style of hockey rattle them, or will the Swedes rise to the challenge? 

As the two teams feel each other out, and jostle for the upper-hand, they'll both be looking to improve their conversion on the powerplay. Both sides struggled during the Group Stages to find the back of the net with the man-advantage. Leksand have proven more efficient with 17.39%, compared to Klagenfurt's 15%, but its swings and roundabouts. 

Klagenfurt dominated the dots, and are currently the fourth best team in the league with 53.64% for faceoff wins, while the Swedes lag behind slightly with 50.75%. As for goaltending, Sebastian Dahm has been outstanding for the Austrians, with a GAA of 1.40. In comparison Leksand, have split the netminding duties equally between Kasimir Kaskisuo (2.00) and Aksel Brage (3.05).   

In addition, and with a PK% of 83.33%, compared to Leksand's 76.92% the statistics lean in the favour of Klagenfurt when it comes to penalty killing effectiveness, but there's a catch, the Austrian's are yet to notch a win against a Swedish team. To be fair they faltered twice to heavyweights Frölunda Gothenburg in both meetings back during the 2017/18 CHL season, but that was a long time ago and it might be time to get that monkey off the back.

Defensively Klagenfurt topped the league, and have been superb allowing just 1.50 goals per game, compared to 2.67 for Leksand.

Offensively the two teams are similar, with a differential of just two goals separating them. Klagenfurt have netted 19 goals compared to Leksands 17. Nicholas Petersen (3G,4A), Lukas Haudum (2G,3A) and Rok Tičar (2G,3A) have been leading the charge for Klagenfurt, while Mikael Ruohomaa (3G,4A)  Justin Kloos (1G,5A) and Matt Caito (1G,5A) have been the go to men when it comes to lighting up the scoreboard. 

With three seasons of CHL experience under their belt, and the stats slightly in their favour, Klagenfurt will be looking for a positive result, but nothing is a certain in the game of hockey, and after a strong performance in the Group Stage, Leksand may just be a rising dark horse.