In the third men's elite group, the last year's winners from Dalen and the Swiss Grünenmatt are joined by two Czech teams. Sparta Praha and Bulldogs Brno, the quarterfinalists of the past Extraliga season.
Brno has gone the farthest at Chance Czech Open two years ago, when they met the Swedish Dalen in the quarterfinals. On the other hand, Sparta managed to reach the fifth position back in 1998.
Last year, Sparta participated in the non-elite men's category and they nearly triumphed. However, they lost the final against the Finnish team SBS Kings by one goal only. A year ago, Bulldogs were eliminated in the round of 32 by Grünenmatt from Switzerland, for which they can repay them in this year's preliminary group stage game.
In their cruise for the success, the team from Brno will rely on the talented goalie Lukáš Bábíček, the strong national team defender Michal Kotlas, the last season's most productive Bulldog Petr Kadlec and the creative forward Martin Koutný.
Sparta Praha then relies on quick saves of Vladan Dřízhal in the goal, ingenious passes by the defender David Bouša and hard shots by the productive scorer Michal Vrtiška.
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