Unlike previous years, the Euro Hockey Tour will not feature a Russian team, nor will the traditional Channel One Cup take place. It is a decision of the world hockey federation, which excluded Russia from all hockey competitions due to the invasion of Ukraine.
The traditional three-leaf clover formed by Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic will thus be newly completed by Switzerland, which will also organize its own Swiss Hockey Games tournament as part of the EHT series.
Karjala Cup 2022 program and results
The first of the European hockey tournaments is hosted by Finland, this time in the Gatorade Center sports hall in Turku. The only exception, to the delight of Czech hockey fans, is the match between the Czechia and Sweden.
It will take place in Budejovice Budvar Arena, a to ve Thursday, November 10 from 6:30 p.m. After that, the Czech team will move to Finland, where they will challenge the home team on Saturday, November 12, and a day later they will then face Switzerland.
Last year’s Karjala Cup was not successful at all for the Czech teams. The Czech hockey players lost all three matches and scored only five goals in the entire tournament. Even in the historical tables, the Czech team did not do very well at this tournament, they managed to dominate it only twice, in 2012 and 2019.
Nomination for Karjala Cup
| Nominations for Karjala Cup 2022 |
|---|
| Attackers |
| Ondřej Beránek (Karlovy Vary), Roman Červenka (Rapperswil/Switzerland), Adam Musil (Pardubice), Jiří Smejkal (Oskarshamn/Sweden), Filip Chlapík (Ambri-Piotta/Switzerland), Hynek Zohorna (Oskarshamn/Sweden) , Pavel Kousal (Mladá Boleslav), Radan Lenc (Frölunda/Swed.), David Vitouch (Sparta), Michael Špaček (Ambri-Piotta/Switzerland), Patrik Zdráhal (Litvínov), Jiří Černoch (Karlovy Vary), Luboš Horký ( Brno), Marek Zachar (Hradec Králové), Petr Kodýtek (Pilsen) |
| Defenders |
| Dominik Mašín (Ilves Tampere/Fin.), David Sklenička (Brynäs/Swed.), Tomáš Dvořák (Pardubice), Jan Ščotka (Brno), Jan Košťálek (Pardubice), Libor Zábranský Jr. (Jukurit/Fin.), Martin Jandus (Sparta), Vojtěch Mozík (Rögle/Swed.), David Němeček (Sparta), Tomáš Kundrátek (Brno) |
| Goalkeepers |
| Aleš Stezka (Vítkovice), Roman Will (Pardubice), Marek Langhamer (Ilves Tampere/Fin.) |
It was already clear in advance which players would definitely not get into the nomination. These are those who signed a contract with the KHL even after the Czech Hockey Association decided to ban their participation in the national team. For example, Czech hockey will lose forward Dmitri Jaškin.
Program Euro Hockey Tour 2022/2023
| Tournament | Datum |
|---|---|
| Karelia Cup (Finland) | 10 – 13 November 2022 |
| Swiss Ice Hockey Games (Switzerland) | 15 – 18 December 2022 |
| Swedish Ice Hockey Games (Sweden) | 9 – 12 February 2023 |
| Czech Hockey Games (Czechia) | 27 – 30 April 2023 |
Last year’s championship will be defended within the EHT by Sweden, which won a total of 23 points. The lead over second place Finland and third place Czech Republic was in the form of five and six points, respectively.
Interim table of EHT 2022/2023
| The team | Z | V | VP | P | PP | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Czechia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Finland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sweden | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
In the historical tables on the EHT, the Czechs are fourth. They managed to dominate the European tour only three times, namely in the 2019/2020, 2011/2012 and 1997/1998 seasons. Both the Finns and the Russians were significantly more successful, both teams were able to win the EHT nine times.
| Historical ranking of countries according to medals at the EHT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The team | Number of medals | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Finland | 24 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Mask | 20 | 9 | 6 | 5 |
| Sweden | 17 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| Czechia | 17 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
