Champions Hockey League R16 return leg - 21 November 2023

For the return legs of the round of 16 pairings, another few interesting flights happened across Europe. Time to look into the details of those ties and of course the travel arrangements. Notably the rather small airport of Ostrava in the Czech Republic saw some good action once more, with two of the competing teams coming from the closer surrounding area.

Vitkovice Ridera vs. Lahti Pelicans

The Pelicans are seemingly on a mission to nowhere, having been defaulted 0-3 in the first leg due to a bad ice surface back home in Finland. Just like their opponents last week, they counted on Buzz, the Polish branch of Ryanair, to take them South to Ostrava, just a few kilometers away from Vitkovice.

RR9095 HEL 1030-1120 OSR B738 SP-RKW
RR9096 OSR 2330-0240(+1) HEL B738 SP-RKW

A Buzz (Ryanair Sun) Boeing 737-800 seen at Corfu in June 2023

Skellefteå AIK vs. Ocelari Trinec

The Czech visitors take a 4-3 lead to the far North and will look to defend this there. For their trip, one of only two Boeing 737-700s in the fleet of Smartwings was ferried from Prague to Ostrava.

QS4382 OSR 1030-1325 SFT B737 OK-SWW (20/11/23)
QS4383 SFT 2235-0125(+1) OSR B737 OK-SWW

Färjestad Karlstad vs. EHC Biel-Bienne

Just like Färjestad used a turboprop plane last week to get to Basel, Biel-Bienne uses a Saab 2000 to fly from Berne to Karlstad. Notably, the Saab is way faster than the ATR-72, making the trip in roughly under two and a half hours.

OJ720 BRN 1115-1355 KSD SB20 ES-NSF (20/11/23)
OJ721 KSD 0900-1120 BRN SB20 ES-NSF (22/11/23)

Champions Hockey League R16 1st leg - 14 November 2023

The IIHF's Champions Hockey League goes into its knock-out phase with the round of 16 taking place over two weeks. In home and away matches, the remaining 16 teams will decide about who will continue in the quarter-finals. From the travel perspective, there were some nice turboprop journeys as well as other teams using LCCs for their away trips.

Lahti Pelicans vs. Vitkovice Ridera

The visitors from the Czech Republic only had to play part of the game before being awarded a 3-0 forfeit win by the league organisation. The ice surface at the Pelicans' arena had deteriorated beyond immediate repair and therefore the game had to be abandoned. A "cheap" win for the Ridera from Vitkovice, who travelled to Finland with Ryanair of all airlines:

RR9091 KTW 1400-1700 HEL B738 SP-RSY (13/11/23)
RR9020 HEL 2350-0045(+1) KTW B738 SP-RSY (14/11/23)

Ocelari Trinec vs. Skellefteå AIK

One of the teams to travel by turboprop plane was Skellefteå from Sweden. They used a good old Amapola (nowadays branded as populAir) Fokker 50 all the away to the Czech Republic, where they met Ocelari Trinec. The flight time from Skellefteå to Ostrava was no less than 3 hours and 45 minutes.

HP5171 SFT 1400-1745 OSR FK50 SE-LIO (13/11/23)

HP5172 OSR 2130-0130(+1) SFT FK50 SE-LIO (14/11/23)

ERC Ingolstadt vs. Växjö Lakers

Strong Swedish outfit Växjö Lakers was another team to hire a turboprop plane for the mid-week away trip down south to Germany. They used a Saab 2000 of Nyxair to travel from their home-base in Småland down to Bavaria. Their way home did not lead directly to Växjö, but straight away to their next road destination, Skellefteå.

OJ730 VXO 1300-1500 IGS SB20 ES-NSH (14/11/23)

OJ731 IGS 1400-1710 SFT SB20 ES-NSH (15/11/23)

A Nyxair Saab 2000 seen at Zurich in January 2023, also on hockey charter duty.

EHC Biel-Bienne vs. Färjestad Karlstad

The Swedes had a daring plan, arriving at Basel-Mulhouse only about 4 hours before the puck-drop in this round of 16 match. With the prevailing weather conditions, this could easily have gone astray. But as things went, the ATR-72-600 touched down pretty much on time. Perfect for a good away win it seems.

TF8689 KSD 1200-1515 BSL AT76 SE-MKE (14/11/23)

TF8690 BSL 1100-1405 KSD AT76 SE-MKE (14/11/23)

Champions Hockey League Semifinals - 7 January 2020

The Champions Hockey League is coming towards the pinnacle for this season as well. No less than three teams from Sweden have made it to the penultimate stage: Djurgarden, Frölunda and Luleå.

7 January 2020

Djurgårdens IF vs. Mountfield Hradec Kralove

The Czech team is based near Pardubice, so they are leaving from there on a direct flight that will take them right to Arlanda.

ENT505 PED 1200-1355 ARN B738 SP-ESC (06/01/2020)
ENT506 ARN 0105-xxxx PED B738 SP-ESC (08/01/2020)