2016–17 Champions Hockey League


The 2016–17 Champions Hockey League is the third season of the Champions Hockey League, a European ice hockey tournament launched by 26 founding clubs, six leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation. The season started on 16 August 2016 with the [|group stage] and ended with the final game on 7 February 2017 with Frölunda defeating HC Sparta Praha, 4–3 in overtime.

Team allocation

A total of 48 teams from different European first-tier leagues participated in the 2016–17 Champions Hockey League.

Team license

The teams were selected based on different licenses for the founding teams, leagues and wildcards.
  1. National champion
  2. Regular season winner
  3. Runner-up, regular season
  4. Play-off finalist
  5. Best placed semifinal loser
  6. Worst placed semifinal loser
Notes:
The format remained the same as in the previous season. The group stage began on 16 August and finished on 11 September 2016. The 48 teams were divided into 16 groups of three teams each. Each team played a double round-robin in their group, facing each team at home and on the road, giving 4 games per team. The 16 group winners and the 16 runners-up qualified for the playoffs.

Group stage draw

The 16 groups were determined by a draw taking place on 3 May 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland. The 48 teams had been ranked and placed into three pots of 16 teams each. Following the draw, each group consisted of one team from each pot. The seedings were as follows:
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3

Frölunda HC

Tappara

Bílí Tygři Liberec

SC Bern

Red Bull München

Red Bull Salzburg

Skellefteå AIK

HIFK

HC Sparta Praha

ZSC Lions

Luleå HF

Kärpät

HC Plzeň

HC Davos

Växjö Lakers

JYP
BK Mladá Boleslav

HC Lugano

Linköpings HC

SaiPa

Vítkovice Steel

EV Zug

Färjestad BK

Lukko

Dynamo Pardubice

Fribourg-Gottéron

Djurgårdens IF

TPS

HV71

KalPa

HK Nitra

HC Košice
Eisbären Berlin

Orli Znojmo

Grizzlys Wolfsburg

Vienna Capitals

ERC Ingolstadt

Black Wings Linz

Adler Mannheim

Krefeld Pinguine

Stavanger Oilers

Esbjerg Energy

Yunost Minsk

Dragons de Rouen

Sheffield Steelers

ComArch Cracovia

Lørenskog IK

Rapaces de Gap

Tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points. If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied in the order given to determine the rankings:
  1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
  3. higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  4. higher number of wins in regular time in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  5. higher number of goals scored in one match in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  6. if, after having applied criteria 1 to 5, teams still had an equal ranking in a two-way tie, criteria 1 to 5 were reapplied against the third team in the group. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 7 to 10 applied;
  7. higher number of wins in overtime;
  8. higher number of goals scored in shootout ;
  9. if two teams still remained tied and they met in their group's final game, they played a shootout to determine which team is ranked higher;
  10. higher pre-draw rankings.

    Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Group J

Group K

Group L

Group M

Group N

Group O

Group P

Playoffs

In the playoffs, the teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis with the team with the better standing after the group stage having the second game at home, except for the one-match final played at the venue of the team with the best competition track record leading up to the final.
The mechanism of the draw for playoffs was as follows:

Bracket

Note:
  1. The teams listed on top of each tie play first match at home and the bottom team plays second match at home.
  2. The order of the legs in the future rounds may be changed as the team with best record should have second match at home.

    Round of 32

The draw for the entire playoff was held on 12 September 2016. The first legs were played on 4 October, and the second legs on 11 October 2016. The seeded teams played the last match at home.

Round of 16

The first legs were played on 1 November, and the second legs were played on 8 and 9 November 2016.

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 6 December, and the second legs were played on 13 December 2016.

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 10 January, and the second legs were played on 17 January 2017.

Final

The final was played on 7 February 2017.