Credit: LHL
The Luxembourg Hockey League (LHL) has announced it will hold a final event for this season on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 April 2024 at the Patinoire Kockelscheuer.
This event called “Weekend of Hockey” will crown the new ice hockey champion of Luxembourg. LHL noted that 1,500 spectators are expected throughout the weekend, with an estimated 1,000 spectators at peak on Sunday for the grand finale.
The LHL has two divisions, namely D1 with five teams and D2 with six teams (more information about this is available at www.lhl.lu). During the “regular season” between September 2023 and March 2024, local teams teams have competed to determine their final ranking before the event. At this final event, teams will play the semi-finals on Saturday, and the finals on Sunday. The winner of Division 2, and that of Division 1, who will be crowned champion of Luxembourg, will both be determined on Sunday during the finals.
LHL added that ice hockey has experienced significant growth over the last years, with spectator numbers growing (an average of over 400 spectators per game throughout the season for several teams). Clubs have also been taking children and adults on board more and more. For several years now, all the country’s clubs have competed in foreign leagues. Last year’s final event attracted more than 1.500 spectators, LHL noted.
For context, in 2022, three of the eight teams were in the race to become champions and until the very last game day of the regular season, until the last 20 minutes of play, all three teams could still have won the league, according to LHL. The event ended with a win by the Beaufort Knights. Luxembourg City’s main club, the Tornado Luxembourg, had been reigning champion for over 20 years until that year, when the rising star Beaufort Knights defeated the favourite team within the last fifteen minutes of the last regular season game and claimed the title of Champion of Luxembourg. The Puckers had finished in second place and the Tornado in third place.
In 2023, The Tornado Luxembourg beat the Beaufort Knights in a tense final in front of many spectators and public figures.
This year, according to LHL, the Beaufort Knights are “up for revenge”, while the Tornados will try to defend their title, and the Puckers will aim to be the rising underdog this year as they have been a strong competitor for the last two years, missing their ticket to the final by a small margin twice in a row. The Tornado Luxembourg has been ruling the regular season this year. After the weekend matches only one team will emerge victorious.
In the second division, there will also be promising games, as all five teams are in “almost equal shape”, LHL added. The winner of D2 will get a relegation game against the last-placed team of the first division (called Grands Ducs Luxembourg) to fight for a spot in the first division.
