The Champions Hockey League is kind of weird. Technically speaking, the league’s games count and count for a whole hell of a lot as they determine playoff seeding for a set of playoff games which award a big, honking trophy and money…
But as far as “league play” is concerned, they’re essentially exhibition games between some of Europe’s best teams.
Today, two Red Wings prospects’ Champions Hockey League play got underway, and Noah Dower Nilsson finished at +1 with 2 shots in 13:59 played as Frolunda HC won 4-0 over HC Bolzano…
And Michal Svrcek had an assist in 11:36 played, registering his assist on the 3-1 goal, as Brynas IF won 4-1 over Kometa Brno.
I’ll post the highlights when they’re uploaded to YouTube, but for now, you can watch Svrcek’s assist here.
Update: Full game highlights:
Elsewhere, in preseason SHL hockey, both Hockeysverige.se’s Simon Eld and Hockeynews.se report that Red Wings prospect and Leksands IF defenseman Anton Johansson took a 5-minute major for hitting 18-year-old Loke Krantz into the Linkopings HC bench early on in Linkoping’s 3-0 win over Leksand.
Linkoping didn’t score during the 5-minute major penalty. And, as we might expect, Red Wings Prospects on Twitter has a clip of the rough hit:
5+ game for boarding. I love Anton’s physicality but this is a rough one. pic.twitter.com/kgl9xuLQcj
— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) August 29, 2025
At 6’4″ and 196 pounds, Johansson is a moose out there on the ice, but he does have a tendency to take bad penalties when his physicality gets the best of him. I’m assuming that Anton will either be suspended for the start of the SHL season or fined for this hit. Leksand opens its regular season on Saturday, September 13th vs. Eddie Genborg and Timra IK.
