In the second round of the Continental Cup this past weekend, Mogo Riga and GKS Tychy won their respective tournaments to qualify for the third round. There are now eight teams left in contention for the Continental Cup title, and with it a chance to be a Champions Hockey League Wild Card entry.

by Adam Steiss and Szabolcs Zavodsky of IIHF.com

MISKOLC, Hungary and TYCHY, Poland – The 2015–16 IIHF Continental Cup continued over the weekend with Miskolc and Tychy hosting Group B and C's round robin tournaments. 

Group B of the second round took place in Miskolc, where Acroni Jesenice, C.H. Jaca and HK Mogo Riga were joined by host team Miskolci Jegesmedvek, with the winner moving on to Group D in Asiago Italy.

All three days during the weekend in Miskolc brought exciting games to the hockey fans of the city as people went out to not only see their team play but to catch the early game as well. But the host team would have to settle for second place, after Riga ran the table and won all three of its games to advance. 

“We really deserved the win and we were the better team, I have to thank the team for a great third period,” said Riga head coach Olegs Sorokins after his team won their third game in three days with a 4–1 win over Jesenice. 

Miks Lipsbergs came up big in the Group B-clinching game as he finished with two goals and an assist. After Jesenice took the early lead the right winger scored the tying goal in the first period and set up the go ahead goal in the second period. 

Thanks to netminder Henrijs Ancs, the Latvian champions gained momentum right from the opening night, a 2–1 win against the host team Miskolci. After a scoreless first period the hometown team took the lead on a Kalvin Sagert power play goal, however Riga flipped the score before the period was out. Edgars Kurmis scored minutes after the Sagert goal and defenceman Andrejis Lavrenovs scored a power play goal from the slot. Both coaches, Peter Mayer from Miskolci and Sorkins credited Ancs, who stopped 40 out of 41 shots, as the difference-maker.

On Saturday there was some unexpected excitement as C.H. Jaca looked to upset Mogo Riga. In just a 22 second span in the opening minutes of the first period Gaston Gonzalez had scored twice. Deep into the second period Jaca still held a 3–2 lead, but in the final two minute of the second period Riga scored twice to take a 43 lead into the last twenty minutes. In the end Jaca could not come back and Mogo Riga held on for a 6–3 win.

On the final day if Jesenice beat Riga, then it would all come down to the Miskolc-Jaca match, but Riga took care of business and the home team put on a goal festival for their fans as they beat Jaca 10–2.

“We didn't come here as winners right away, we knew that it was going to be hard fought games. I actually think that the schedule was in our favour as we only really had three forward units,” said Sorkins, “We started with the strong home team, which was followed up by a slightly weaker Spanish club, and on the third day we had more rest than Jesenice. It will be really hard in the next round, but we will work through our tactics, the games always start at 0–0.”

In Group D Mogo Riga will be playing Herning Blue Fox from Denmark, Yertis Pavlodar from Kazakhstan, along with the host team Asiago in Italy on the weekend of 20 to 22 November. 

Read the complete article on Group B HERE. 

Meanwhile in Group C, although Tychy needed a third period comeback on the final day to win it all, the host team GKS Tychy dominated the ice in Group C, scoring an incredible 35 goals in just three games to move on. Despite the glut of scoring, a single goal from Tychy forward Radoslaw Galant gave the team the key 3–2 win over tournament runners-up the Coventry Blaze from the British Elite Ice Hockey League. 

Playing in the deciding game on Sunday, the Blaze watched an early 2–0 lead in the third period evaporate as Tychy’s offence woke up. First it was defenceman Mateusz Bryk scoring his first goal of the tournament, making is a key one as he cut the lead to 2–1 just over five minutes into the third period. Tychy managed to kill off two consecutive penalties, and with the momentum on their side tied the game with 10 minutes to go thanks to a score from Jakub Witecki. 

The goal set up Galant’s late-game heroics, as the Polish international capped off the comeback with the go-ahead goal with 5:36 remaining on the clock. Tychy held off Coventry the rest of the way to capture top spot in Group C and move on to the third round of the Continental Cup. 

Prior to the game against Coventry, Tychy had had an easy ride. The Polish club opened its Continental Cup campaign with a 26–0 drubbing of Partizan Belgrade. The Serbian club had finished third in Group A, but accepted an invitation to compete after Bulgarian champion CSKA Sofia, which won the first round of the 2015–16 IIHF Continental Cup but had to renounce its participation in the second round due to financial problems. 

The absence of the Bulgarians certainly gave Tychy a smoother path to the third round and the Poles took advantage, following up their big win over Partizan with an 8–3 victory over Romanian club Dunares Galati. 

Tychy’s biggest challenge came on the final day of competition in their game against the U.K. club Coventry Blaze. Both teams came into the game tied in points with the winner advancing to the next round. 

Following an early goal by Coventry forward Jordan Pietrus, the game devolved through the first and second period as a total of 16 penalties were called, including five game misconducts. Coventry looked to have the game in control, following the early third period goal defenceman Michael Quesnele coupled with what had been up to then a stellar goaltending performance by Brian Stewart, who played two shutout periods stopping 36 shots. 

But the reply from Witecki opened the floodgates for GKS Tychy, which scored three unanswered goals. Tychy will move on to the third round, which will be played on 20 to 22 November in Rouen, France. In addition to Tychy and the host Rouen Dragons, Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus and HK Kremenchuk will also compete.

Read the complete article on Group D here. 

The top two teams from each of the tournaments in November will advance to the Continental Cup Super Final on 8 to 10 January. The winner will qualify for a Wild Card position in the 2016–17 Champions Hockey League.