Photo Source: polskihokej.eu
After a year’s absence, the Polish champions are again included in the Champions Hockey League. Like the famed soccer league, the Champions Hockey League (CHL) is a competition of the best hockey clubs and champions from around Europe. Polish clubs first gained access to the league in the 2017 season, with Cracovia Krakow representing Poland. The Tauron Hockey League peaked with two clubs during the 2023 season: GKS Katowice and Craocovia Krakow. Cracovia had qualified by winning the Continental Cup tournament. Poland lost its guaranteed spot in the CHL after the league sought to shrink its number of clubs for the 2024 season.
The Polish league will take a spot away from the Slovak league. According to the announcement from the CHL, “The decision is made by taking several criteria such as sportive competitiveness, management structure, infrastructure, and attendance figures into careful consideration.” The poor performance of Slovak clubs over the past three tournaments also played a huge role. Last season, Slovak club HC Kosice finished dead last among the 24 teams with a record of 0-6 and a goal differential of -13. The league intends to rotate the spots for the challenger league passes. For 2024, the spots belong to Denmark, France, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom. It is likely Slovakia will regain a spot in the future.
Polish clubs have never been at the top of the league, but they have been able to keep it competitive. Here are the records of Polish clubs at the event. They mostly improved their performances year after year. In 2022, JKH GKS Jastrzebie managed to finish third in their group after victories versus Norwegian club Frisk Asker.
| Club Name | Year | Games Played | Wins | Losses | Overtime Wins | Overtime Losses | Points | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Differential |
| Cracovia Krakow | 2016-17 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 24 | -17 |
| Cracovia Krakow | 2017-18 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 31 | -23 |
| GKS Tychy | 2018-19 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 30 | -14 |
| GKS Tychy | 2019-20 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 23 | -13 |
| JKH GKS Jastrzebie | 2021-22 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 21 | -4 |
| Cracovia Krakow | 2022-23 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 23 | -10 |
| GKS Katowice | 2022-23 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 21 | -11 |
While Poland doesn’t stand to likely win the whole event, this is a great chance to show Polish talent to the rest of the world. It also gives Polish fans a chance to see some of the top clubs and players of Europe. The most memorable Polish game, in my opinion, was last year when GKS Katowice upset top Swiss club ZSC Lions with an overtime win.
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