The Nottingham Panthers and GKS Tychy won their groups in the second round of the IIHF Continental Cup, and have advanced to the next stage of the tournament.
CHL News
The second round of the IIHF Continental Cup was held this weekend, with the Nottingham Panthers and GKS Tychy winning their respective groups. They are now among the final eight teams in the tournament, chasing a berth in the 2017-18 Champions Hockey League.
Nottingham swept their three games in Jaca, Spain with the maximum 9 points. After convincing wins over hosts CH Jaca and Turkish club Zeytinburnu Istanbul by scores of 13-2 and 12-1, they met also unbeaten HK Liepaja of Latvia on Sunday afternoon to decide which team would advance.
Imants Lescovs scored early for HKL, but Miika Wiikman was perfect in the Panthers goal after that, stopping 37 shots in total. They then got two goals by David Clarke in the later in the first period and a power-play marker by Matthew Carter in the last minute of the second for a 3-1. Clarke and linemate Brad Moran led the team offensively over the weekend with 8 points each.
Meanwhile, on their home ice in Polish Silesia, Tychy opened on Friday with a 12-0 shutout of Dunarea Galati of Romania, but then lost on Saturday in a penalty shootout to Acroni Jesenice of Slovenia 2-1. That meant they trailed group leaders Jegesmedvek Miskolc of Hungary by 2 points heading into Sunday's action, and would have to win the final game in regulation time.
Despite holding a wide edge in play – they outshot the Hungarian squad 39-17 in the game – it was tied 2-2 entering the third period. Martin Vozdecky's goal early in the final period proved to be the winner, however. Jarolsav Kristek assisted on the goal and scored two others, including a late empty-netter in a 5-2 win. Kristek and teammate Adam Baginski, who had an assist in the game, were the top scorers in the group overall with 5 points each.
Although neither Nottingham nor Tychy have won the tournament before, they have been at least this far before. Nottingham reached the third round in 2013-14. In 2014-15, they participated in the CHL, where they won once and lost three times. Tychy made it to the Final of last year's tournament, finishing in third place overall. They very nearly qualified for the CHL this season, losing the seventh game of the Polish Hockey League finals to Cracovia Krakow.
The third round will take place 18 to 20 November. Nottingham will go to Odense Denmark and face the host Odense Bulldogs, the Angers Ducs of France and HC Donbass of Ukraine. Tychy will go to Ritten, Italy and face hosts Ritten Sport, Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus and Beibarys Atyrau of Kazakhstan.
The top two teams in each group will advane to the Continental Cup Final from 13 to 15 January. The winner of the Continental Cup will earn a berth in next season's CHL.