Due to the myriad of changes to this year’s Euro Hockey Tour, the Euro Hockey Challenge has been impacted as well, with only two legs in this year’s competition, rather than the usual three. The participants of the Euro Hockey Tour (Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czechia) will face off against four rising European squads (Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia and Norway) in a series of two-game challenges, giving the lower ranked squads the chance to compete against the top teams in Europe.
These games will count for four total games in the standings, with the former teams having Euro Hockey Tour matchups count for these standings, while the latter four squads will compete in a third leg along with four other squads (Belarus, Denmark, France and Latvia) to round out the Euro Hockey Challenge standings.
The EHC has proven to be quite a success, leading to some remarkable upsets of the top European powerhouses – in fact, the last few Euro Hockey Challenges with the IHLC on the line saw the likes of Switzerland, Norway and Belarus, with Switzerland’s win propelling them into the 2013 Worlds with the IHLC, which they held undefeated all the way to the Gold Medal Game. Final dates and locations will be released soon, and will be updated here as soon as they become available.
Schedules for the Euro Hockey Challenge are as follows:
First Leg, 1-6 April
๐ท๐บ Russia @ Germany ๐ฉ๐ชย (5 and 6 Apr @ Oberhausen)
๐จ๐ฟ Czechia @ Norway ๐ณ๐ดย (3 and 4 Apr @ Lillehammer)
๐ซ๐ฎ Finland @ Switzerland ๐จ๐ญ (1 Apr @ Kloten, 3 Apr @ Basel)
๐ธ๐ช Sweden @ Slovakia ๐ธ๐ฐ (2 Apr @ Trenฤรญn, 4 Apr @ Bratislava)
๐ฑ๐ป Latvia @ Belarus ๐ง๐พ (2 Apr @ Molodechno, 4 Apr @ Lida)
๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark @ France ๐ซ๐ท (3 Apr @ Courchevel, 4 Apr @ Megรจve)
Second Leg, 8-12 April
๐ฉ๐ช Germany @ Finland ๐ซ๐ฎ (9 Apr @ Lahti, 10 Apr @ Espoo)
๐ท๐บ Russia @ Switzerland ๐จ๐ญ (8 Apr @ La Chaux-de-Fonds, 10 Apr @ Geneva)
๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia @ Czechia ๐จ๐ฟ (9 and 10 Apr @ Jihlava)
๐ณ๐ด Norway @ Sweden ๐ธ๐ช (10 Apr @ Oskarshamn, 11 Apr @ Norrkรถping)
๐ง๐พ Belarus @ Denmark ๐ฉ๐ฐ (9 Apr @ Aalborg, 11 Apr @ Odense)
๐ซ๐ท France @ Latvia ๐ฑ๐ป (10 and 11 Apr @ Rฤซga)
Third Leg, 16-19 April
EHT: ๐ท๐บย Russia @ Finland ๐ซ๐ฎ (16 Apr @ Tampere, 18 Apr @ Helsinki)
EHT: ๐จ๐ฟย Czechia @ Sweden ๐ธ๐ช (17 Apr @ Umeรฅ, 19 Apr @ Timrรฅ)
๐ง๐พ Belarus @ Slovakia ๐ธ๐ฐ (16 Apr @ Koลกice, 18 Apr @ Poprad)
๐ฑ๐ปย Latvia @ Norway ๐ณ๐ด (17 and 18 Apr @ Bergen)
๐ซ๐ท France @ Germany ๐ฉ๐ช (16 Apr @ Fรผssen, 18 Apr @ Ravensburg)
๐จ๐ญ Switzerland @ Denmark ๐ฉ๐ฐ (16 Apr @ Rungsted, 18 Apr @ Rรธdovre)
Fourth Leg, 22-26 April
EHT: ๐ธ๐ชย Sweden @ Russia ๐ท๐บ (24 and 25 Apr @ Mytischi)
EHT: ๐ซ๐ฎย Finland @ Czechia ๐จ๐ฟ (22 Apr @ Znojmo, 24 Apr @ Brno)
๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia @ Latvia ๐ฑ๐ป (24 and 25 Apr @ Rฤซga)
๐ณ๐ด Norway @ Belarus ๐ง๐พ (24 Apr @ Minsk, 25 Apr @ Salihorsk)
๐ฉ๐ช Germany @ Denmark ๐ฉ๐ฐ (24 and 25 Apr @ Vojens)
๐จ๐ญ Switzerland @ France ๐ซ๐ท (24 Apr @ Grenoble, 26 Apr @ Lyon)
This will be the first opportunity for a new team removed from the Euro Hockey Tour to win the IHLC, and potentially hold on to the title and bring it to the 2015 World Championships. We can’t wait until April to find out where the chips will fall, and who will march into May with the IHLC!
Photo Credit: Pekka Rautiainen