In the last 16 of the Champions Hockey League, the EVZ will meet an old acquaintance: the three-time German champions and current league leaders Red Bull München.
The draw for the first knockout round in the European club competition took place on Thursday afternoon in Zurich. The eight group winners with the EVZ were placed in pot 1, the group runners-up in pot 2. The group winners play the first game away and have home advantage in the decisive second leg.
The third match to be drawn by ZSC defensman Mikko Lehtonen and CHL CEO Martin Baumann was the encounter between the EVZ and EHC Red Bull München. An exciting duel between two top teams, which will arouse revenge hopes on the Zug side: In the 2021/22 CHL competition, they missed out on qualifying for the last 16 with a 1:6 home defeat to the Munich side in their final group game, while in the 2018/19 campaign, a 0:2 loss to the Bulls at the BOSSARD Arena saw them advance to the quarter-finals. But there are also positive memories: The EVZ prevailed in both away games at the Olympic Ice Stadium: 4:3 in the 2021/22 group stage, 3:2 in the 2018/19 round of 16 first leg. In preparation for the current season, the two teams met at the Red Bull Salute tournament in Kitzbühel: the EVZ narrowly won 5:4 after leading 4:0.
Head coach of Red Bull Munich since 2014 is Canadian legend Don Jackson (66). Last season, his team was only stopped in the DEL (1:3 against Eisbären Berlin) and in the Champions Hockey League (0:3 against Tappara Tampara) in the play-off semi-finals. In the current DEL championship, the Munich team is at the top of the table with 22 points from 9 games. With the second place in Group C behind Tappara Tampere, they qualified for the round of 16 in the Champions Hockey League.
With the round of 16 pairings, the entire tournament tree and the potential path to the final has also been defined. If EVZ qualifies for the quarter-finals, they will meet the winner of Mountfield HK against Färjestad Karlstad there.
