Red Bull Salzburg begin Champions Hockey League round of sixteen against Lahti Pelicans

EC Red Bull Salzburg begin their Champions Hockey League round of sixteen campaign in Finland on Tuesday. The Austrians face Lahti Pelicans away in Lahti, Finland (17:30, ORF SPORT +). The return leg follows a week later on Wednesday, 20 November, in Salzburg (20:20, ORF SPORT +).

11 November 20241 min read

Following a successful CHL group stage, the Red Bulls finished the regular season in 8th place out of 24 teams. With four wins from six games, including victories over high-calibre opponents ZSC Lions and Växjö Lakers, the Austrian champions head into the round of sixteen with confidence. However, Lahti Pelicans are no less impressive: they too won four games and demonstrated their attacking strength with an impressive 10:1 victory over Rouen Dragons. Despite these successes, the Pelicans are currently struggling in Finland's top-tier Liiga, where they sit only 12th out of 16 teams after 18 games.

Revenge against the Pelicans

The fixture holds particular significance for the Red Bulls, as they narrowly missed out on the playoffs only last year, when they suffered a bitter 1:5 defeat against the Pelicans with a depleted squad in their final CHL group-stage game.

Lahti Pelicans are among the established teams in the Finnish Liiga and have repeatedly produced strong performances in recent years. After finishing third in the Liiga under coach Ville Nieminen in 2018/19, the Pelicans qualified for the CHL for the first time.

CHL playoff format

The top 16 teams from the 24-team field contest the playoff round of sixteen. 1st plays 16th, 2nd plays 15th, and so on. This determines the playoff bracket through to the final. Playoff ties are decided over two legs, with aggregate score deciding if the teams are level on points. Only the final is played as a winner-takes-all match.