After a major overhaul to the Euro Hockey Challenge in the 2014-15 season, this year’s EHC will retain the current format, in the lead-up to the 2016 World Championships in Russia.
Similar to last year, the last two legs will feature two series each as part of the Euro Hockey Tour, between Russia, Finland, Sweden and Czechia. All 12ย teams from last year’s EHC will join, with the only non-European participant in the World Championships being Hungary (along with non-Euro squads Canada, Kazakhstan and the United States).
Last year’s tournament featuredย two title changes, with the incumbent champions (and last year’s EHC winners) from Czechiaย winning five straight title games (with pairs of wins against Norway and Slovakia) before losing to Sweden, who won three straight to carry the title into the 2015 Worlds in Prague.
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 (with Euro Hockey Tour games noted in parentheses) are as follows:
First Leg, 6-10 April
๐ซ๐ท France @ Belarus ๐ง๐พ
๐ฉ๐ช Germany @ Czechia ๐จ๐ฟ
๐ฑ๐ป Latvia @ Denmark ๐ฉ๐ฐ
๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia @ Finland ๐ซ๐ฎ
๐ณ๐ด Norway @ Russia ๐ท๐บ
๐จ๐ญ Switzerland @ Sweden ๐ธ๐ช
Second Leg, 13-17 April
๐ฑ๐ป Latvia @ Belarus ๐ง๐พ
๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark @ France ๐ซ๐ท
๐ธ๐ช Sweden @ Germany ๐ฉ๐ช
๐ซ๐ฎ Finland @ Norway ๐ณ๐ด
๐ท๐บ Russia @ Slovakia ๐ธ๐ฐ
๐จ๐ฟ Czechia @ Switzerland ๐จ๐ญ
Third Leg, 20-24 April
๐ณ๐ด Norway @ Denmark ๐ฉ๐ฐ
๐จ๐ฟ Czechiaย @ Finland ๐ซ๐ฎย (EHT)
๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia @ France ๐ซ๐ท
๐ฉ๐ช Germany @ Latviaย ๐ฑ๐ป
๐ท๐บ Russia @ย Sweden ๐ธ๐ชย (EHT)
๐ง๐พ Belarus @ Switzerland ๐จ๐ญ
Fourth Leg, 27 April – 01 May
๐ธ๐ช Sweden @ Czechia ๐จ๐ฟย (EHT)
๐ง๐พ Belarus @ Germany ๐ฉ๐ช
๐จ๐ญ Switzerland @ Latvia ๐ฑ๐ป
๐ซ๐ท France @ Norway ๐ณ๐ด
๐ซ๐ฎ Finland @ Russia ๐ท๐บย (EHT)
๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark @ Slovakia ๐ธ๐ฐ
If Canada does not play again until the Worlds in May,ย this means the title will not be up for contention atย this year’s Challenge. However, this tune-up will benefit these squads heading into Saint Petersburg and Moscow, and with a new Canadian lineup taking the ice for the first time, perhaps can wrench away the title early on!