Champions Hockey League: Nottingham Panthers hope to continue European fairytale

Formed in 1946, Nottingham Panthers are the oldest ice hockey club in England and this week they take centre stage in Europe for the biggest game in their 71-year history.

Ranked 32nd out of 32 teams in the Champions Hockey League (CHL) - the ice hockey equivalent of football's Champions League - Panthers defied the odds to win Group F and reach the knockout stages of the competition.

They now face Swiss side ZSC Lions from Zurich in a two-legged last-16 tie, with the first leg in the 11,000-seater Hallenstadion in Switzerland on Tuesday. Think Maribor against Liverpool in the Champions League, this is the task that the Panthers face.

"It is one of sport's fairytales," said Panthers general manager Gary Moran. "Our budget and the budgets of teams we have been playing just don't compare. In some cases, one player earns more than our entire roster put together.

"It has been a run which has got the whole of European ice hockey talking and has been fantastic not just for the club, but the Elite League as a whole. People are now sitting up and really taking notice."

To underline the difference in budget, defenceman Kevin Klein left a multi-million dollar contract with NHL side New York Rangers to join Zurich in the summer. The Swiss side have a mini injury crisis and solved it last week by signing forward Lauri Korpikoski, who has played 609 games in the NHL and spent last season with Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Most players in the Elite League, where Panthers play domestically, earn only hundreds of pounds per week.

Nottingham became the first UK team to win a game in the CHL when they beat Hamburg in the group stages of the inaugural competition in 2014-15, but their journey to this season's knockout stages has been a thing of fantasy.

Panthers won four of their six group games, including a 4-2 win over the tournament's fourth seeds Bern and a 2-0 shutout against Finnish side TPS Turku.

"Our performances in the CHL have been absolutely outstanding," said head coach Corey Neilson. "We have a brilliant set of guys and they are so focused.

"They know how much this means to the fans and it has been a pleasure to coach them. They don't seem fazed by anything and that is important when playing the best teams in Europe."

Panthers secured their place in this season's CHL when they became the first UK side to win a European trophy by winning the second-tier Continental Cup in Italy back in January.

But their Zurich-based opponents have been one of the best teams in Europe for years and have appeared in all four editions of the Champions Hockey League.

To put it into perspective, back in 2009 ZSC Lions beat six-time Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in the Victoria Cup - a game which pitted the best team in Europe against a side from the NHL.

"We know we are up against it once again," added Neilson. "But we don't mind that one little bit. It has been fantastic journey so far and everyone connected with the club wants to keep it going."

Both legs will be streamed live on the BBC Sport website, BBC Sport app and Connected TVs on Tuesday, 31 October and Tuesday, 7 November.