Group F has provided the most surprises of any group so far in the competition, and with just one gameday left, three teams are still in contention for second place and nobody has been eliminated. At the outset, nobody was predicting the Nottingham Panthers to advance, let alone secure top spot in the group with a game to spare, but they travel to Turku with 1st place sewn up. The team hosting them, TPS, is in a tough position, needing a regulation win and an SC Bern overtime or shootout win over Mountfield HK to advance. As for Bern and Mountfield, they can both control their own destiny insofar as they know they can advance if they win in regulation time. Mountfield are on the road but they have the most margin for error, as they will also advance with an overtime or shootout win, and even might with an overtime or shootout loss because they would advance in the event of a three-way tie.
| Group F | Pts | GP | W | OW | L | OL | GF | GA | Dif |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Nottingham Panthers — Q1 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 12 | + 4 |
| 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 16 | 0 | |
3. SC Bern | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 14 | + 2 |
4. TPS Turku | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 13 | – 6 |
What's at stake:
Nottingham
- have already qualified and will finish 1st.
Mountfield
- will qualify and finish 2nd with a win of any type, or with an OT/SO loss combined with TPS failing to win in regulation.
- would win a tiebreaker over Bern by virtue of getting more points (4-2) in their two head-to-head meetings, and over TPS by out-scoring them 6-4 in their head-to-head meetings.
- would win a three-way tiebreaker over TPS and Bern by virtue of getting more total points in the six games involving those three teams (Mountfield 7, TPS 6, Bern 5).
Bern
- will qualify and finish 2nd with a regulation win.
- would win a tiebreaker over TPS by virtue of outscoring them 5-3 in their two head-to-head meetings, but would lose a tiebreaker to Mountfield by virtue of getting fewer points (2-4) in their two head-to-head meetings.
- would not advance from a three-way tiebreaker with Mountfield and TPS by virtue of total points in the six games involving those teams.
TPS
- will qualify and finish 2nd with a regulation win combined with a Bern OT/SO win over Mountfield.
- would lose a tiebreaker to Mountfield by virtue of being outscored 6-4 in their two head-to-head meetings, and would also lose a tiebreaker to Bern by virtue of being outscored 5-3 in their two head-to-head meetings.
- would not advance from a three-way tiebreaker with Mountfield and Bern by virtue of total points in the six games involving those teams.
Gameday 6:
TPS Turku vs Nottingham Panthers, Tuesday 10 October, 18:00 CET/19:00 EET/ 17:00 BT, Gatorade Center.
SC Bern vs Mountfield HK, Tuesday 10 October, 19:45 CET, PostFinance Arena.