2023–24 Champions Hockey League

The 2023–24 Champions Hockey League was the ninth season of the Champions Hockey League, a European ice hockey tournament. The tournament was competed by 24 teams, with qualification being on sporting merits only. Apart from the reigning champion, the six founding leagues were represented by three teams each, while five "challenge leagues" were represented by one team each.

Swiss team Genève-Servette HC won their first Champions Hockey League title, defeating Swedish team Skellefteå AIK 3–2 in the final. This made Genève-Servette HC the first Swiss side to win the title. The title holders Tappara finished 18th in the regular season and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Czech left forward Dominik Lakatoš from Czech team Vítkovice Ridera became the top scorer with 12 points.

Format changes

Starting from the 2023–24 season the format was changed. The number of teams was reduced from 32 to 24 teams. The group stage was replaced with the regular season in which teams played six games each, with the teams being ranked in overall standings and 16 best-ranked teams advancing to the playoffs.

In the regular season draw, teams were allocated into four pots featuring six teams each. The seeding depends on the teams’ achievements in their national leagues and the respective league’s standing in the CHL league ranking. Each team was drawn against two teams from each of the other three pots.

In the playoffs, teams formed pairs based on the overall regular season standings.

For the first time since the 2015–16 season, the IIHF Continental Cup winners did not get a wild card spot.

Team allocation

A total of 24 teams from different European first-tier leagues were scheduled to participate in the league. Besides the title holders Tappara, 18 teams from the six founding leagues, as well as the national champions from Denmark, France, Norway, Slovakia and the United Kingdom participated.

The qualification criteria for national leagues was based on the following rules:
# CHL champions
# National league champions (play-off winners)
# Regular season winners
# Regular season runners-up
# Regular season third-placed team

Note: the national league champions of the United Kingdom are distinct from the national champions, who are determined in play-offs following the regular season. In 2023, Belfast Giants won both competitions.

Teams

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows.

Regular season

In the regular season the 24 teams were combined into one table. Each team played home and away against six different opponents once. The best sixteen teams qualified to the round of 16.

The draw of the regular season took place on 24 May 2023 in Tampere, Finland.

Pots

The participating teams were seeded into Pots A to D according to their achievements in their national leagues and their respective league’s standing in the CHL league ranking. The reigning CHL champions Tappara were the top seeded team and therefore given a place in pot A. The top pot also contained the reigning champions of four of the top five founding leagues according to the league rankings (Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and ICE Hockey League), as well as 2022–23 Liiga regular season runners-up.

Grid

Teams were allocated their opponents based on a pattern in connection to the positions in the regular season grid. They played the teams on the left-hand side at home and the ones on the right-hand side away excluding teams from the same row. Teams from the last column played teams from the first column away, and teams from the first column played teams from the last column at home.

League table

Regular season tie-breaking criteria

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win in regulation time, 2 points for a win in overtime, 1 point for a loss in overtime, 0 points for a loss in regulation time). If two or more teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria was applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (see 8.4.4. Tie breaking formula group stage standings):
#Greater number of wins in regulation time (3 point wins);
#Greater number of wins in total (regulation time wins + overtime and shootout wins);
#Better goal difference;
#More goals scored;
#More away goals scored;
#The higher position in the CHL Draw pot allocation.

Results

Playoffs

Format

In the playoffs, pairings were formed based on the positions of the teams in the regular season as follows: the team finished 1st in the regular season face the team finished 16th, the team finished 2nd face the team finished 15th, and so on. There were no play-off draw or any reseedings for the quarter-finals and semi-finals. In each round except the final, the teams play two games and the aggregate score decides which team advances. The first leg was hosted by the team with the lower seed with the second leg being played on the home ice of the other team. If aggregate score was tied, a sudden death overtime follows. If the overtime was scoreless, the team who wins the shoot out competition advances.

The final was played on the home ice of the team with the higher accumulative ranking across the entire campaign, including play-off games.

Bracket

Round of 16

The first legs were played on 14 and 15 November with return legs played on 21 and 22 November 2023.

(1) Adler Mannheim vs. (16) SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers

----

(2) Växjö Lakers vs. (15) ERC Ingolstadt

----

(3) Lukko vs. (14) HC Innsbruck

----

(4) Färjestad BK vs. (13) EHC Biel-Bienne

----

(5) Skellefteå AIK vs. (12) Oceláři Třinec

----

(6) Ilves vs. (11) Dynamo Pardubice

----

(7) Genève-Servette HC vs. (10) Red Bull München

----

(9) Vítkovice Ridera vs. (8) Pelicans

----

Quarter-finals

First legs were played on 5 and 6 December with return legs played on 12 December 2023.

(2) Växjö Lakers vs. (7) Genève-Servette HC

----

(3) Lukko vs. (11) Dynamo Pardubice

----

(4) Färjestad BK vs. (5) Skellefteå AIK

----

(9) Vítkovice Ridera vs. (16) SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers

----

Semi-finals

First legs will be played on 9 January with return legs played on 16 January 2024.

(3) Lukko vs. (7) SC Genève-Servette HC

----

(5) Skellefteå AIK vs. (9) Vítkovice Ridera

----

Final

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points.

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in save percentage, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes.

Awards

Team of the Regular Season

The Team of the Regular Season was announced on 2 November 2023.

MVP

The winner of the LGT MVP Award was announced on 20 February 2024.

Team of the Season

The Team of the Season was announced on 11 March 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hockey, Champions League, 2023-24
2023
Champions