New season is almost here and Champions Hockey League comes with it
By Radoslav Vavřina, Lead Writer, The Czech List
The pre-season is in full flight and soon, a pinnacle of the European part of it, the newly-formed Champions Hockey League, will be, too. Starting on Thursday, August 21, the brand-new competition will provide top prospects of its participating teams with an opportunity to showcase their skills in jerseys of professional clubs.
In the inaugural season, six Czechs teams will compete in the Champions Hockey League: Liberec, Sparta, Pardubice, Vítkovice, Zlín and Třinec. Each of them will be facing an international mix of organizations, including eight from each Sweden and Finland, six from each Switzerland and Germany, one from each Italy, France, Great Britain, Denmark and Slovakia and in addition, three Austrian and two Norwegian teams.
Following the departure of Pavel Zacha to OHL’s Sarnia Sting, the top youngster from the Czech teams might be Pardubice forward Michael Špaček whose appearance, however, isn’t clear yet due to a surgery he underwent not long ago. Also deserving attention will be Vítkovice prospects Jan Štencel, Lukáš Klok and Patrik Zdráhal, Sparta forwards Jiří Černoch and Daniel Schwamberger and also Třinec junior Marek Růžička.
The Champions Hockey League provides live play-by-play from each game. You can watch them right here at the official website of the competition.
