This week in European hockey holds the Karjala Cup Tournament, with contestants being the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, and Sweden. While the big four teams in Europe have their own tournament, the "smaller" teams play friendlies and have their own tournaments. Last year it was at this time that Martin Réway showed his skills in the German Cup to earn himself a contract in the Swiss league.
Several players had left their league club prior to games this week to prepare for those internation games, but before the break it was Champions Hockey League night on Tuesday, as the first legs of the Round of 16 were played.