For the first time, a CHL playoff game will be played in Italy. The home team, EBEL champions HC Bolzano, aren’t merely content to make it this far – the Foxes want to go farther. Their visitors are from the western Czech Republic, and HC Pilsen have made it this far before. Now they want to take a step beyond.

This trip to the South Tirol couldn’t come at a better time for Pilsen, who could really use the break from their domestic competition. The Indians have lost four Extraliga games in a row, most recently 3-2 in a shootout at home to Vítkovice Ostrava on Sunday. Last year’s regular-season winners have fallen to eighth in the standings after 16 games. That’s a far cry from their near-perfect CHL record, where they’ve won all six games so far and dropped only one point, so one of those streaks will have to give way on Tuesday.

As for Bolzano, they seem to be in fine form domestically. They’ve won three in a row, most recently a 3-1 home win over Fehérvár AV19, and now sit second in the 12-team circuit after 17 games.  Back in their first CHL run, they managed two wins against Czech club Dynamo Pardubice, and have shown they can perform well against clubs from Europe’s top leagues in the Group Stage this year.