Follow @BetNHLWe’ve still got just over a month until the NHL season starts – but that doesn’t mean we are starved for hockey.
Over in Europe the Champions Hockey League has just kicked off for its inaugral season, and we’re going to be doing our best to provide Champions Hockey League Betting Tips – both before the NHL season starts, and along with the NHL season.
It started just on the weekend there, and you probably heard a buzz about it if you live outside of Europe. There were some awesome highlights and some fun games.
In anticipation of our CHL Betting Tips starting this weekend, I wanted to write up this article covering any questions and answers you may have about it.
What Is The CHL?
CHL stands for the Champions Hockey League – the name is clearly taken from the UEFA Champions League, and the IIHF are behind it. This was initially tested out a few years ago but there were issues that caused it to end after one season. They’re back at it, and it looks to have a lot more interest than the previous incarnation.
It features 44 different hockey teams from all over Europe, and in theory features the best hockey team from all over Europe. There are teams from the Austrian Hockey League, Czech Extraliga, Liiga(Finland), Deutsche Eishockey Liga, National League A(Switzerland), the Swedish Hockey League and various other leagues and countries.
If you’re looking for a team to support, the Nottingham Panthers are a good option. The only UK team in the league, they feature a wide variety of Canadians and some Americans too.
Where To Bet The CHL?
The best place we’ve found is B365.
B365 offer a good variety of options for betting on the CHL, as well as in-play betting.
So sign up at B365 and be prepared for our CHL Betting Tips coming soon.
(Note: I don’t know of any sportsbook that accepts Americans that offer CHL Betting but I will be checking that out this week).
When Does The CHL Take Place?
The regulation season started on August 22nd, 2014. Every team plays over the course of 2 days and that’s considered a “Game Day”. Here are the dates for the game days:
Game Day 1: August 21st, August 22nd.
Game Day 2: August 23rd, August 24th.
Game Day 3: September 4th, September 5th.
Game Day 4: September 6th, September 7th.
Game Day 5: September 23rd, September 24th.
Game Day 6: October 7th, October 8th.
Sweet Sixteen: November 4th, November 11th.
Quarter Finals: December 2nd, December 9th.
Semi-Finals: January 13th, January 20th.
Final: February 3rd, 2015.
How Does The League Work?
There are 11 groups of 4 teams each. Groups A through K.
Win the group, you qualify for the playoffs. That’s 11 teams. Then the top 5 runners up will also get into the playoffs. Everyone else is out.
When it gets to the knockout stages, it is a single elimination tournament. So one game, and you are out.
Where Can I Watch The CHL?
You can watch CHL games over at http://www.championshockeyleague.net/ – their official website. If you click on “Schedule” there’s a link to watch the games. You can watch live, or on demand.
Please note that you need to buy a CHL Gamepass to watch live. It’s actually a pretty sick price – just 4.99 Euros for a Game Day. So if you’re craving hockey it’s pretty neat being able to do it.
You can also watch highlights of the games free at their website.
Hey I Have More Questions!
Then send us an e-mail at betnhl.ca@gmail.com or comment below and we’ll be happy to answer.
We’ll be back in a couple of days with Champions Hockey League Betting Tips for Game Day 3 and Game Day 4.
Is There A Wayne Gretzky of the CHL?
Yes.
Now sign up at B365 and hopefully we’ll make some money on the CHL this weekend!
That’s a nice addition, didn’t think you guys would care about Champions League as most of the NA hockey fans whine how there is no hockey going on and how they want NHL to start already so they can enjoy hockey 🙂 respect!
Pinnacle Sports should accept Canadians, not sure about USA guys though. They usually have the best odds for hockey also. For Europeans I recommend MarathonBet as well, similar odds to Pinnacle, sometimes even better, but your account gets limited soon if you win too much 😛
Well I(Graeme) am Scottish, so I’ve always had a passing interest in European hockey. And I LOVE the idea of the CHL – really hoping it will take off as it’s such a great concept. Been very excited for it, and I watched a bunch of it over the weekend and going to watch more next week.
Unfortunately I was slipping in terms of the bookies – I noticed Bet365 had it but that was it. And they’re the only ones with futures up right now. I contacted a few American bookies to ask and they were like “What’s the CHL?” haha. I’ll keep checking and see though this weekend. Pinny don’t accept Americans unfortunately – wasn’t sure they did it but if anyone wants to sign up here’s the link: http://www.betnhl.ca/go/pinnacle-sports.php Looking forward to attempting to handicap it this weekend 🙂 And it was nice just throwing on random hockey games the past few days.
CHL is actually a replacement of European Trophy so while it is a totally new amazing thing for many, it might not be that shocking for some 😉 I also love the new version of the contest but I don’t like the idea it’s being played as a preseason so many clubs are far away from their league form or take the contest for training purpose – starting backup goalies, mixing the lineup, giving young players chance to play. Too bad you didn’t open this discussion prior to the first playing day, I could give you some tips. For example Bolzano, the team is playing in a league which is close to me – EBEL, so I had information about them. They have assembled their team on ice for the first time in this season very late, on August 15, that is one week before their CHL matches, so they weren’t prepared at all as they also didn’t play any friendlies prior to CHL. TPS on the other side was training for 4 weeks already and also played 5 friendlies during that period. Odds for home team were low, 1.40 in regulation, but given the info about Bolzano that was still pretty good and there were also some nice handicap offers. Result was 9-0 for home team which seems to have shocked many people. On the same day Pardubice team got stuck in Stockholm traffic jam on their way to the match against Linkopings so the match got postponed for a bit. I made a smaller bet on home team which has won in the end, though this one was really close. But that’s what I love about European leagues and teams, sometimes bookies don’t have all the information since the coverage is not as big as with NHL 🙂 looking forward to see what you come up with your writeups!
Pretty much all common bookies for Europe offer CHL (bwin, bet at home, betsson, marathonbet, pinnacle etc.). I find the best odds at pinnacle and marathonbet but pinnacle’s offer is pretty limited. Marathonbet offers nice livebetting possibilites but they tend to limit your account quite fast. As much as I have seen Bet365 was offering good odds for CHL as well. Here you can find the list of all the bookies once they open the offer: http://www.oddsportal.com/hockey/ (but I think most of them, if not all, are for European players).
Not sure if it works for NA guys though.
(For some reason I’m not able to reply to your other comment – posting this here)
Yeah I just really like the usage of “Champions League” in the name – gives it that insta-prestige right off the bat.
Agreed about preseason – we see that in football too for the qualifications which is frustrating – you’ll have teams who have played 1-2 friendlies, then teams who are halfway through their season. But oh well – it gives us something to tide over till NHL so I can’t complain too much 🙂
Didn’t feel comfortable doing anything prior to the opening weekend as really wanted to soak everything in, watch the games and get an idea of it all etc. I know what you mean about the odds – used to kill WNBA years ago as it was the same with the bookies and lack of info etc.
If you have any information about the upcoming games at any time feel free to e-mail us 🙂 betnhl.ca@gmail.com I’m doing my best to keep up on everything but it’s not as easy as NHL obviously.
Thanks for that link – I’ll probably end up just paying for the gamepass though always feel better that way.