ZSC Lions vs Färjestad CHL final a Swiss-Swedish rematch
It’s once again time to crown the champion of European club hockey as the Champions Hockey League final is set to go – with the ZSC Lions hosting Färjestad Karlstad at a sold-out Swiss Life Arena in Zurich, Switzerland.
Back in October 2021, the E.H.C. Alliance visited the arena under construction as part of a three-day event in Zurich and Zug that included the European Hockey Awards and Hockey Business Forum. Swiss Life Arena opened a year later, hosted Game 7 of the National League finals last spring, and in the future will be the primary venue for the 2026 IIHF World Championship.
The #EHCForum weekend kicked off in Zurich with a tour of the under-construction #swisslifearena, future home of the @zsclions. pic.twitter.com/pbJlznJwoC
— EuropeanHockeyClubs (@EHCAlliance) October 22, 2021
This is the 10th CHL final, with each and every one of them featuring two teams that are members of the E.H.C. Alliance. This is also the second year in a row that a Swiss team is hosting a Swedish team in the final. Last year, Genève-Servette defeated Skellefteå AIK 3-2, which was the first time a Swiss team reached the final in the modern incarnation of the CHL.
Last year, we speculated that Genève’s win might have been “the first of many” for Swiss clubs, and that trend may indeed be continuing this year. Last year’s championship squad boasted a roster of high-priced imports that included several big-name Finns, including Triple Gold Club member Valtteri Filppula, who went on to win the Warrior Career Excellence Award.
This year’s Zurich squad also contains a lot of star power, especially from abroad, including Czech goaltender Šimon Hrubec, Finnish defenseman Mikko Lehtonen, and forwards Juho Lammikko from Finland, Rudolfs Balcers from Latvia, Jesper Frödén from Sweden, Vinzenz Rohrer from Austria and Swiss ex-NHLers Dean Kukan, Denis Malgin and Sven Andrighetto.
But before we award this thing to Zurich, let’s not forget that Swedish teams have by far the most dominant in the CHL’s history, sending at least one team to the final every year. This year’s Färjestad team has assembled some of the top talent available in Europe, including Czech David Tomášek, Slovak Marián Studenič and Swedes Oskar Steen, Viktor Lodin, and young talents Lucas Forsell, Joel Nyström and Norwegian first-round draft pick Stian Solberg.
As these two teams finished first and second in this year’s Champions Hockey League regular season and both are among their leagues’ top contenders to win domestic titles later this season, whoever wins this game will be able to rightfully claim the title of European champion.
