Am i right in thinking that as the 3 German teams are in pot 1,2&3 and cant play each other we are guaranteed one of them in our group? That's just 1 scenario that will play out.
Not necessarily. There are Swedish, Finnish, Austrian, Swiss and Czech teams in Pot 1,2,3 also. So just as likely as drawing a German team as a team from those 5 countries.
Seedings for the draw announced - Surprised to see Bolzano up in Pot 1, and Frolunda down in Pot 3.
Pot 1: JYP Jyväskylä (CHLW) Växjö Lakers (SWE1) Kärpät Oulu (FIN1) Kometa Brno (CZE1) ZSC Lions Zurich (SUI1) Red Bull Munich (GER1) HC Bolzano (ITA/EBEL1) Djurgården Stockholm (SWE2)
Pot 2: TPS Turku (FIN2) HC Pilsen (CZE2) SC Bern (SUI2) Eisbären Berlin (GER2) Vienna Capitals (AUT/EBEL2) Skellefteå AIK (SWE3) Tappara Tampere (FIN3) Mountfield HK (CZE3)
Pot 3: EV Zug (SUI3) Nuremberg Ice Tigers (GER3) Red Bull Salzburg (AUT/EBEL3) Malmö Redhawks (SWE4) IFK Helsinki (FIN4) Oceláři Třinec (CZE4) HC Lugano (SUI4) Frölunda Indians (SWE5)
Pot 4: HC05 Banská Bystrica (SVK1) Neman Grodno (BLR1) Storhamar Hamar (NOR1) Cardiff Devils (GBR1) Aalborg Pirates (DEN1) Rouen Dragons (FRA1) GKS Tychy (POL1) Yunost Minsk (CCW)
The pots are based on play off winners and league position. Bolzano are in pot 1 because they won EBEL play offs; Frolunda in pot 5 because although they finished 3rd in the league they got knocked out at 1/4 final stage of the playoffs.
