“The element of surprise is gone,” said Cardiff Devils head coach Andrew Lord, who was part of the Draw. His team was drawn together with Red Bull Salzburg, SC Bern and the Växjö Lakers, whom they faced last year as well. After the teams were drawn together, Lord and Lakers coach Sam Hallam made a friendly wager about this coming season, with a nice dinner at stake. “I’m really excited to play Sam’s team again after hanging out with him all day getting ready for this Draw.”



As for the other two teams, Lord said: “I played with (Bern forward) Mark Arcobello years ago and we know all about that arena there, so that’ll be fun, and Salzburg’s a beautiful spot so that’ll make the fans happy.”



Markus Meraner, CEO of improbable EBEL champions HC Bolzano said: “We’re happy with what we’ve got and we’re just happy to be in this big tournament.”



His team has a tough assignment against Skellefteå AIK of Sweden and IFK Helsinki of Finland. However, after being in last place in the EBEL in November and just making the playoffs on the last game of the season before going all the way, Bolzano doesn’t seem to be a team that shies away from challenges. “We want to go as far as we can – that’s always our aim. We’ve got two top teams from top European leagues so it won’t be easy, but this past season wasn’t easy either.”