| Tourney Name: | Champions Hockey League |
| Year: | 2018–19 |
| Num Teams: | 32 |
| Type: | other |
| Winners: |  Frölunda HC[1] |
| Count: | 3 |
| Second: | Red Bull München |
| Games: | 125 |
| Goals: | 738 |
| Attendance: | 425050 |
| Scoring Leader: |  Ryan Lasch[2] |
| Points: | 22 |
| Mvp: |  Trevor Parkes[3] |
| Prevseason: | 2017–18 |
| Nextseason: | 2019–20 |
The 2018–19 Champions Hockey League was the fifth season of the Champions Hockey League, a European ice hockey tournament. The tournament was competed by 32 teams, and qualification was on sporting merits only. The six founding leagues were represented by between three and five teams (based on a four-year league ranking), while seven "challenge leagues" were represented by one team each. One place was awarded to the Continental Cup champion. Unlike in the first three editions, founding teams did not automatically qualify.[4] The group stages began on 30 August 2018, and ended on 17 October 2018.[5] The season had an average attendance of 3,401 per game, one percent increase from the previous season.[6]
Swedish team Frölunda HC won their third Champions Hockey League title, defeating Red Bull München, the first German team to reach the final, 3–1 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg.[1]
A total of 32 teams from different European first-tier leagues participated in the 2018–19 Champions Hockey League. Besides the Continental Cup champions, 24 teams from the six founding leagues, as well as the national champions from Slovakia, Norway, Denmark, France, Belarus, the United Kingdom and Poland qualified.
The qualification for these places was set out in the rules as follows:[7]
| Team | City/Area | League | Qualification | Participation | Previous best | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 JYP | Jyväskylä | SM-liiga | 2018 CHL winner | 5th | data-sort-value="1" | Champion | |
| Växjö Lakers | Växjö | Swedish Hockey League | play-off champion | 5th | data-sort-value="2" | final | |
| Djurgårdens IF | Stockholm | Swedish Hockey League | regular season runner-up | 4th | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
| Skellefteå AIK | Skellefteå | Swedish Hockey League | play-off finalist | 4th | data-sort-value="3" | semi-finals | |
| Malmö Redhawks | Malmö | Swedish Hockey League | play-off semi-finalist | 2nd | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
| Frölunda HC | Gothenburg | Swedish Hockey League | regular season third place | 5th | data-sort-value="1" | Champion | |
| Kärpät | Oulu | Liiga | play-off champion | 4th | data-sort-value="2" | final | |
| TPS | Turku | Liiga | regular season runner-up | 5th | data-sort-value="4" | quarter-finals | |
| Tappara | Tampere | Liiga | play-off finalist | 5th | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
| HIFK | Helsinki | Liiga | play-off semi-finalist | 5th | data-sort-value="4" | quarter-finals | |
 Kometa Brno | Brno | Czech Extraliga | play-off champion | 2nd | data-sort-value="4" | quarter-finals | |
| HC Plzeň | Plzeň | Czech Extraliga | regular season winner | 2nd | data-sort-value="6" | round of 32 | |
| Mountfield HK | Hradec Králové | Czech Extraliga | regular season runner-up | 2nd | data-sort-value="7" | group stage | |
| Oceláři Třinec | Třinec | Czech Extraliga | play-off finalist | 4th | data-sort-value="3" | semi-finals | |
| ZSC Lions | Zürich | National League | play-off champion | 5th | data-sort-value="4" | quarter-finals | |
| SC Bern | Bern | National League | regular season winner | 5th | data-sort-value="4" | quarter-finals | |
| EV Zug | Zug | National League | regular season runner-up | 5th | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
| HC Lugano | Lugano | National League | play-off finalist | 2nd | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
| Red Bull München | Munich | Deutsche Eishockey Liga | play-off champion | 4th | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
| Eisbären Berlin | Berlin | Deutsche Eishockey Liga | regular season runner-up | 4th | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
| Nürnberg Ice Tigers | Nuremberg | Deutsche Eishockey Liga | play-off semi-finalist | 1st | data-sort-value="8" | ||
 HC Bolzano | Bolzano | Austrian Hockey League | play-off champion | 2nd | data-sort-value="7" | group stage | |
 Vienna Capitals | Vienna | Austrian Hockey League | regular season first round winner | 5th | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
| Red Bull Salzburg | Salzburg | Austrian Hockey League | regular season pick round runner-up | 5th | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
 Yunost Minsk | Minsk | Belarusian Extraleague | Continental Cup winner | 2nd | data-sort-value="6" | round of 32 | |
| Neman Grodno | Grodno | Belarusian Extraleague | play-off champion | 3rd | data-sort-value="7" | group stage | |
 HC '05 Banská Bystrica | Banská Bystrica | Tipsport Liga | play-off champion | 2nd | data-sort-value="7" | group stage | |
 Storhamar Ishockey | Hamar | GET-ligaen | play-off champion | 2nd | data-sort-value="5" | round of 16 | |
 Cardiff Devils | Cardiff | Elite Ice Hockey League | regular season champion | 2nd | data-sort-value="7" | group stage | |
| Aalborg Pirates | Aalborg | Metal Ligaen | play-off champion | 1st | data-sort-value="8" | ||
 Dragons de Rouen | Rouen | Ligue Magnus | play-off champion | 2nd | data-sort-value="7" | group stage | |
 GKS Tychy | Tychy | Polska Hokej Liga | play-off champion | 1st | data-sort-value="8" |
For the group stage, the teams were drawn into 8 groups of 4 teams. Each team played home and away against every other team for a total of 6 games. The best 2 teams qualified to the round of 16.[8]
As the reigning CHL champions, JYP were the top seeded team. In the top pot were also the reigning champions of the six founding leagues and the regular season winner of SHL. The 16 remaining teams from founding leagues were placed to pots 2 and 3. The fourth pot included playoff champions of seven challenge leagues and Yunost Minsk, the champion of 2017–18 IIHF Continental Cup.[9]
If two teams were tied in points after the group stage was finished, the teams precedence was decided by head-to-head games. If teams were tied after that, then the team which was ranked higher prior to the tournament took precedence. When comparing head-to-head results, the following criteria were applied:[8]
| Group | Winners (seed) | Runners-up | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Frölunda HC (6) | ZSC Lions | |
| B | Malmö Redhawks (8) | Red Bull München | |
| C | Skellefteå AIK (4) | HC Bolzano | |
| D | EV Zug (2) | Kometa Brno | |
| E | Tappara (3) | Storhamar | |
| F | Kärpät (5) | Dragons de Rouen | |
| G | Red Bull Salzburg (7) | SC Bern | |
| H | HC Plzeň (1) | HC Lugano |
In each round except the final, the teams played two games and the aggregate score decided the team which advanced. As a rule, the first leg was hosted by the team who had the inferior record in the tournament to that point and the second leg was played on the home ice of the other team. If aggregate score was tied, a sudden death overtime followed. If the overtime is scoreless, the team who wins the game winning shot competition advanced.
The final was played on the home ice of the team who had the better record in the tournament on 5 February 2019.
The eight group winners and the eight second-placed teams advanced to the Round of 16. The teams were divided into two seeding groups and group winners were randomly drawn against runners-up. Teams who had faced each other in the group stage could not be drawn against each other in the round of 16. The draw took place in Helsinki, Finland on 19 October 2018.[10]
Note:
The following players led the league in points.[11]
| Player | Team | data-sort-type="number" style="width: 2em;" | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Frölunda HC | 13 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 6 | +4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 19.23% | |
| | Frölunda HC | 13 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 35 | +1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 36 | 16.67% | |
| | Red Bull München | 11 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 24 | +6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 7.69% | |
| | Kärpät | 9 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 2 | +4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 25 | 32.00% | |
| | HC Plzeň | 10 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 8 | +11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 21.05% | |
| | Red Bull München | 9 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 18 | +5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 31.03% | |
| | Tappara | 7 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 2 | +4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 18.18% | |
| | Skellefteå AIK | 10 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 0 | +6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 48 | 14.58% | |
| | HC Plzeň | 10 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 0 | –2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 16.67% | |
| | Vienna Capitals | 6 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 29 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 27 | 25.93% |
The following goaltenders led the league in save percentage, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes.[12]
| Player | Team | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Malmö Redhawks | 4 | 2 | 2 | 108 | 7 | 93.91% | 1.75 | 0 | 240 | |
| | Red Bull Salzburg | 10 | 4 | 3 | 264 | 19 | 93.29% | 1.90 | 0 | 600 | |
| Dragons de Rouen | 8 | 3 | 4 | 290 | 21 | 93.25% | 2.65 | 1 | 475 | ||
| | Frölunda HC | 6 | 3 | 2 | 122 | 9 | 93.13% | 1.69 | 0 | 319 | |
| SC Bern | 8 | 5 | 3 | 203 | 15 | 93.12% | 1.86 | 1 | 483 |