Arlan Kokshetau from Kazakhstan, the Cardiff Devils from Great Britain, GKS Katowice from Poland and Les Brûleurs de Loups de Grenoble from France are off to the IIHF Continental Cup’s final round. Those are the teams that advanced from Groups E and F, which wrapped up on Sunday in Žilina, Slovakia and Aalborg, Denmark.
Cardiff had already qualified from Group E on Saturday and Aalborg led Group F on home ice, but still needed a result on home ice Sunday to advance.
The final round will be played Jan. 16 to 19 at the home of one of the four finalists – the IIHF will announce the host at a later date.
Group E (Žilina, Slovakia)
Arlan Kokshetau (KAZ) 6 – Cardiff Devils (GBR) 3 (1-1, 2-2, 3-0)
With a spot in the final round already secured, the Cardiff Devils led 3-1 halfway through this game. But Arlan from Kazakhstan stormed back with five unanswered goals to claim top spot in the group and the group’s other spot in the final round – eliminating host Žilina in the process. Dmitri Arkhipov and Stepan Sannikov had three points each to lead Arlan’s offence.
Tied 3-3 with late in the third period, Sannikov scored the game-winner with 2:03 to play and then Arkhipov added two late ones – the last goal on a 5-on-3 as the play got rough in the last couple minutes. Arlan was 3-for-7 on the power play, scoring twice with a two-man advantage.
Vlci Žilina (SVK) 5 – Rittner Buam (ITA) 0 (1-0, 3-0, 1-0)
With their chances of advancing gone thanks to the earlier result, the “Wolves” nonetheless came to play in front of their home fans and put on a dominant performance, beating Ritten 5-0. Nicholas Jones scored Žilina’s first two goals of the game and Michal Dubek made 21 saves for the shutout in the game that wrapped up Group E.
Final Group E standings: 1. Arlan 7 points, 2. Cardiff 6 points, 3. Žilina 5 points, 4. Ritten 0 points.
Group F (Aalborg, Denmark)
Brûleurs de Loups de Grenoble (FRA) 11 – CMS Corona Bracov 2 (5-0, 3-1, 3-1)
Needing a win this game, Grenoble took care of business early with three goals in the first four minutes and a 5-0 lead after one period. When the dust had settled, it was an 11-2 romp. François Beauchemin recorded a hat trick in the first period, Guillaume Leclerc had four assists, and Christophe Boivin and Nicholas Deschamps had three assists each.
Aalborg Pirates (DEN) 1 – GKS Katowice (POL) 4 (1-2, 0-0, 0-2)
Entering Group F’s final game, the host Pirates needed just a single point to secure a spot in the final round and outshot Katowice 35-29 in the game. But they ran into John Murray at the top of his game in goal and a Katowice team that made the most of its opportunities.
The game got off to a flying start with Pontus Englund and Julian Josefsen trading goals in the first 90 seconds. Jean Dupuy’s third of the tournament at 4:06 on a delayed penalty was the eventual game-winner, and then Katowice played a solid defensive game the rest of the way.
Final Group F standings: 1. Katowice 6 points, 2. Grenoble 6 points, 3. Aalborg 3 points, 4. Bracov 0 points.