Yesterday, Eisbaren Berlin captured the DEL Championship, sweeping regular season champion Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg in the final. The result was significant, not only because Berlin won the championship in the same year they won the first ever pre-season European Trophy tournament, but because it officially marked the end of the European club hockey season. All that's left now are a couple of international tournaments, most significantly the IIHF World Championships in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia. I'll be doing recaps for the top leagues as part of my off-season coverage, but I figured I'd get a head start on this by simply offering up a list of the champions for the various leagues. The plan is to give each team a full feature as well (playoff champions only).
As you can see, three teams won their league's coveted 'double' this year, while Eisbaren Berlin pulled off a unique one (and so did HV71, although I'm not sure the European Trophy group stage really counts). If there were a Champions Hockey League, in front of you you'd be seeing a majority of the participants for next year. Instead, it's just a list of what were the best teams on the continent this season, and nothing more.