In a competitive Group A, which contains no weaklings, it’s almost wide-open as to which teams will advance, and both Wolfsburg and Banská Bystrica surely have the next round in mind. They both also surely see each other as a team they will have to conquer if they hope to accomplish that. Last year, Wolfsburg showed they can hold their own with anybody by beating Pardubice and Frölunda. While this is Banská Bystrica’s first CHL appearance, Slovak teams have been tough to beat in the past.

Looking at his team’s first CHL opponents of the season, Wolfsburg Head Coach Pavel Gross called Banská Bystrica “a pretty fast skating team as well with good technical skills, too. It is going to be very interesting to play against them.”

“Grizzlys Wolfsburg is currently one of the top ice hockey teams in the DEL,” Banská Bystrica Head Coach Vladimír Országh assessed. “In the past five years, they always reached the semi-finals and for the last two years, they have made it to the league finals. This speaks to the high quality of this club. The team has a good combination of German and North Americans players.”