CHL starts today. Finnish teams in the renewed competition include Tappara, Ilves, Pelicans and Lukko.
Tappara won the CHL last season. Mika Kylmäniemi / AOP
The most interesting game of the day
This season, the Ice Hockey Champions League will be played with a new series system. There are also changes in the match-specific rules.
In the new series system, the initial groups are omitted and all 24 teams play three home and three away matches. After this, 16 teams continue to the playoffs on the principle that the number one in the series meets the sixteenth. The reform is very good and it will reduce the unnecessary matches familiar from the group stages.
From the match rules, the superiority game will be completely new. The two-minute cooldown no longer ends with a possible goal of the superior team, but the superiority continues for the entire two minutes, regardless of the number of superior goals. Only the goal of the underpowered team ends the superiority situation. Also, a “superiority goal” created during the postponed penalty no longer cancels the upcoming penalty.
In terms of betting, this should be taken into account in that the reform increases the number of goals in matches on average and favors teams whose superiority game works. The exact effect of increasing the number of goals – and the effect on the teams’ underpowered playing methods – remains to be seen. The rule changes are to some extent a matter of taste, but I am really looking forward to these experiments.
Four teams from Finland are participating in the competition. In advance, all Finns are ranked in the top eight at least based on Veikkaus’ championship coefficients. Last season’s CHL champion Tappara is the number one favorite this season as well. I myself am much more skeptical about that, because Tappara is inevitably facing a time-consuming change process after the coaching change.
Finnish matches on the opening day are HC Dynamo Pardubice–Ilves, Pelicans–Växjö and Aalborg Pirates–Tappara.
HC Dynamo Pardubice–Ilves
In their opening match, Ilves will face HC Dynamo Pardubice, who won the regular season of the Czech League last season (lost in the semi-finals 3-4 to the eventual champion Trinec). Pardubice is even an exceptionally tough and seasoned team. The group has five players who played in the NHL and three who played in the KHL.
Ilves starts its first full season Antti Pennanen in coaching. Last season, the team came to the CHL matches loosely prepared, but for this season, the goal has been tightened in relation to the CHL, and the training matches have mainly seen strictly defensive Ilves. In the three previous matches, only four goals have been scored in Ilves’ net.
Pardubice has won all three of its preparatory matches of the season, so the mood can be assumed to be at a sufficient level there as well. In the last two matches, only one goal has been scored. Initially, the most palatable idea for this match seemed to be a low number of goals, despite the new rules, but Veikkaus’ main goal line of 5.0 goals is so low that there are no bets. Pardubice–Ilves starts at 18:30.
Pelicans–Växjö
Last season’s colorful Pelicans will face the reigning champion of the SHL, Växjö, in their CHL opener. In the Pelicans, the player turnover has been so great that the coach has settled into the game Tommi Niemelän demanding gameplay takes its time. I don’t think the team is particularly ready to face one of the CHL’s toughest teams yet, although basically the underdog position is made for the Lahti people’s way of playing. At their best, the Pelicans are a really tight team. Växjö is also a low-scoring team by nature. Still, it is precisely this first match that, in terms of betting, now tastes like a generous goal. Pelicans–Växjö starts at 18:30
Aalborg Pirates–Tappara
On the opening day, Tappara will face the easiest opposition of the Finnish teams when they face the local pirates in Aalborg. Denmark’s champion team from last season has six foreign reinforcements, so Pirates plays with quite a lot of domestic forces. The team belongs to the tail end of the CHL in terms of strength, and in a normal case, Tappara should be a huge favorite in this match, even away from home.
Tappara is a bigger question mark from the beginning of the season than before due to the change in coaching and probably the entire coaching culture (including the players). In this “easy” game, however, I don’t count the people from Tampere as a minus, because in this match the desire for the screen (for the new coach) makes up for the possible deficiency of the game system. In terms of betting, Veikkaus has correctly set Tappara as a big favorite and at the end of the match with plenty of goals.
Aalborg–Tappara starts at 20:00.
CHL 2023-2024, top-10 based on championship odds (Betting):
Tappara 6.00
Växjö 6.00
Skellefteå 6.50
Färjestad 8.00
Lynx 12.00
Napkins 16.00
Lock 17.00
Pelicans 17.00
EHC Munich 19.00
Biel 22.00
The best betting tip of the day
The best CHL search of the day is the Pelicans–Växjö match over 5.0 goals (final result) with a promised 1.71 multiplier. The offer is only a marginal multiplier, but let’s still qualify it up to the coupon.
Games of the day: Pelicans–Växjö, over 5.0 goals (coefficient 1.71).
Total balance of the day’s games for the year: 72/125/99%
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