The Grenoble Brûleurs de Loups defeated GKS Katowice 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday in the second of three games this weekend in Cardiff, Wales that will determine the winner of the 2024-25 IIHF Continental Cup.

Grenoble’s Adel Koudri scored the lone goal of the first period but Katowice responded with two goals in the second – by Santeri Koponen and then veteran Polish national team center Grzegorz Pasiut on the power play – to take the lead. The “Wolf Burners” only had three shots on net in the third period, but one of them was a power-play goal by Matias Bachelet with 5:29 remaining in regulation time to tie the score.

Katowice dominated overtime, thanks to a power play, and outshot Grenoble 5-0 but the game was decided in a shootout. Benjamin Sokay scored on Katowice’s first shot but that was the only one to beat Matija Pintarič. Damien Fleury tied it in the third round and, finally, in the seventh round, Aurelien Dair scored to give Grenoble the lead and Sokay shot wide to end the game.

On Thursday, Katowice fell 6-3 to the host Cardiff Devils. With one point in two games, Katowice’s tournament is finished – the Polish team will finish in third place, matching its best-ever finish in the tournament in 2018-19.

On Sunday at 18:00 British time, 19:00 CET, Les Brûleurs de Loups will face the Cardiff, with the winner to be crowned Continental Cup champion. Although the Devils have one more point, that won’t affect what’s at stake. If Grenoble wins in extra time to create a tie in points, the French team will win the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Regardless of the outcome, this will be both teams’ best-ever finishes in the tournament. Cardiff finished third in each of the last two Continental Cups.

The Nottingham Panthers are the only Britsh team to ever win the Continental Cup, doing so in 2016-17. Les Dragons de Rouen are the only French team ever to win it and they did so twice – in 2011-12 and 2015-16.