After KHL Sisak from Croatia and Energija Elektrėnai from Lithuania advanced from the first round of the 2024-25 Continental Cup in September, those two teams joined Groups C and D, respectively, in the second round, which began Friday in Ritten, Italy and Bracov, Romania. The two advancing teams both lost their openers while the hosts won dramatically in the nightcaps.
Group C (Ritten, Italy):
Acroni Jesenice 3 (SLO) – KHL Sisak (CRO) 1
Group C opened with a tight game between teams from neighboring countries who were tied 1-1 with three minutes to play, but Martin Bohnic scored the eventual game-winner with 2:25 to play. A late empty-netter rounded out the scoring. Vilim Rozandic held his team in it for as long as he could, stopping 41 of 43 Jesenice shots.
Ritten Baum (ITA) 5 – Sokil Kyiv (UKR) 4
In a wild game, visiting Kyiv scored twice in the third period to tie it but Simon Kostner’s power-play goal with 4:30 remaining in regulation time was the difference, sending the home Italian crowd home happy. Ethan Szypula had four assists for Ritten and for Kyiv, Viktor Zakharov scored twice and Denis Boradai had three assists for Kyiv
Group D (Bracov, Romania)
Ferencvarosi TC (HUN) 6 – Energija Elektrenai (LTU) 0
The Hungarian team went to work right away and scored five goals in the first period, then cruised the rest of the way to a 6-0 win. Adam Brady led the offense with five points, while Michael Keranen was the only player to score twice. Elektrenai fired 27 shots on goal but Laszlo Foldes stopped them all for the shutout.
Mogo Riga (LAT) 3 – CSM Corona Bracov (ROU) 4 [OT]
In a very even game in which Bracov outshot Riga 30-29, David Levin’s second goal of the game was the winner 55 seconds into overtime for host Bracov. In addition to Levin, Yevgeni Skachkov had two points for Bracov and Kārlis Ozoliņš scored twice for Riga.
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