The group stages of the European competition are finally over and the knockout stages will begin on 12 November.
Swedish teams, Luleå HF, Färjestad BK, Djurgården IF, Skellefteå AIK and reigning CHL and SHL champions, Frölunda Indians all made through, whilst Swiss team EHC Biel-Bienne collected the most points only losing one game, away at Tappara Tampere of Finland.
Frölunda's Ryan Lasch again tops out the scoring table with 1G+14A, whilst HC Pilsen's former Färjestad player, Milan Gulas (above) leads the goals scored and with 8G+4A is just behind the American on Total Points.
And the predictions made by A Brit On Thin Ice in June when the draw was made for the Group stages of who would go through almost worked perfectly.
Perhaps the major surprise was the advancement of Belarus team, Yonust Minsk, as the first team from the country to make it out of the group stages. from Group D.
However, my tip for Silver medal this year, Finland's Kärpät Oulu, never made it out of their group of death. Even an overtime win at home to Skellefteå AIK proved not to be enough as SC Bern's win took them into second place knocking the Finns into third, despite the fact that the three teams all finished with 11 points.
Swedish teams have competed in all five CHL finals winning four times. And this year, on current form it might be German side Adler Mannheim or Swiss side EV Zug that can threaten the blue and gold dominance over the trophy. Both teams had strong group match phases and beat tough opposition at home (Djurgården IF and HC Pilsen respectively).
But don't count out a repeat of the first ever CHL final in 2014/5 which was, so far, the only all Swedish final.
@ABritOnThinIce1
