Continental Cup Day 3 – HC Asiago And Donbass Donetsk Qualify!!

The afternoon games in both Group D and E didn’t equate towards the outcome of the qualifiers as Both HC Asiago of Italy and Donbass Donetsk finished off the evening games with the wins that they needed.

Dunaujvaros Acelbikak of Hungary could still qualify from Group D if they beat the Sheffield Steelers of Great Britain in the afternoon face off and they put the pressure on the Italians to win the evening game as they won their game 6-3. Sheffield ran into penalty trouble again towards the end of the 1^st and at the start of the 2^nd. The Hungarians capitalised and scored 6 times before Sheffield pulled 2 back in the 3^rd to make the scoreline more respectable.

This meant Herning couldn’t qualify whatever the outcome of their final game but HC Asiago needed at least a point and they got it despite losing in overtime against their Danish Hosts.

It seemed over the 3 game weekend that HC Asiago had the tougher games but pulled through when they needed to. Their games weren’t decided by refereeing decisions and they fully deserve their place in the Super Finals come January.

Joining them from Group E are the hosts Donbass Donetsk of the Ukraine as they won their evening decider against Rubin Tyumen 3-1. It looked a close game as the 3^rd goal came on an empty net with just 5 seconds left. That means the line up for the Super Final will be Donetsk, Rouen, Asiago and Minsk and will be played over the weekend 13^th – 15^th of January.

Cracovia beat Liepaja 3-1 in the afternoon game of Group E, meaning the Polish team gained some pride and bragging rights against their Latvian counterparts.

- Adam Yates

Continental Cup Day 2 Round Up - HC Asiago, Rubin Tyumen, Donbass Donestsk all Notch Wins

HC Asiago took control of Group D as they got their 2^nd win of the weekend so far. They let their Hungarian opponents, Dunaujvaros take a 2 goal lead – just like they let the Steelers in the 1^st game but this time came back and won the game in regulation 3-2. It was hat trick hero from game 1, Bentivoglio who got the game winning goal with just 1.38 left in the 3^rd period.

Hosts Herning Blue Fox kept their campaign alive with a 3-0 win over the Sheffield Steelers in the evening game from group D. The British team held their Danish hosts in the 1^st period but ran into penalty trouble for the rest of the game as they took numerous 2 minute minors and 10 minute misconducts. Sheffield had to fend off numerous 5 on 3’s but already short benched compared to their opponents they eventually succumbed to the Danish teams pressure and couldn’t get back into the game.

HC Asiago need to win against hosts Herning Blue Fox to secure their place in the Super Finals on Sunday evening. If they lose in overtime or on penalty shots I believe Herning would go through on the same points but with having beaten their opponents. This, of course depends on how Dunaujvaros have done in the afternoon game against Sheffield. If the Hungarians win they can still go through but would need Herning to win in regulation. All very complicated stuff but none the less exciting.

Group E saw both teams who won Friday pick up their 2^nd wins of the weekend on Saturday as well. Rubin Tyumen left it late to beat Liepajas Metalurgs 4-3, with the game winning goal coming from Bezrukov with 37 seconds left. Liepajas had held 2-0 and 3-1 leads in this game but allowed the Russian team back into the game and eventually had their campaign ended with that cruel late goal.

Hosts Donbass Donetsk won their evening game against Cracovia Krakow 3-1 and set up a Sunday showdown against Rubin. It will be the evening game from the group to finish the weekend and it will be whichever team can hold their nerve and get the win that will go through to the Super Finals in Rouen come January.

- Adam Yates

Herning Blue Foxes Fall @ the IIHF Continental Cup

Group D and E had games face off in the evening with the hosts of both groups getting into the action.

Group D saw hosts Herning Blue Foxes start their campaign with a shock loss on home ice to Hungarian team Dunaujvaros. Despite taking a 1-0 1^st period lead and having 7 powerplay chances to their opponents 1 the Blue Fox couldn’t take advantage and the team from Hungary took the game 3-1.

This makes for an interesting afternoon Saturday as both Dunaujvaros and HC Asiago will go out in their clash knowing that a win for either of them in regulation should put them in pole position for first place and a spot in the Finals.

Gropu E saw hosts Donbass Donetsk take the game comfortably with a 6-2 win over Liepajas Metalurgs. Both games in this group have been somewhat battering so far with Rubin and Donbass getting 6 a piece. They exchange opponents for Saturday’s matches and then face each other on Sunday in what could be the telling game of Group E.

- Adam Yates

Cracovia Krakow falls 6-1 to Rubin Tyumen in IIHF Continetal Cup Play

Group E’s opening game of the Continental Cup saw Rubin Tyumen of Russia beat Cracovia Krakow of Poland 6-1.

The Russians had period scores of 2-0, 2-1 and 2-0 to beat their Eastern European counterparts comfortably. Former LA King and Nashville Predator star Vitali Yachmenyov was amongst the goals as was 2004 Minnesota Wild draft pick Roman Voloshenko.

Hosts Donbass Donetsk will be looking for a big result tonight against their Latvian opponents  Liepajas Metalurgs to try and keep pace with the Russians, who have flown out of the blocks this afternoon with that 6-1 result.

- Adam Yates

HC Asiago Beats Out The Sheffield Steelers

Group D’s action started early afternoon with group favourites HC Asiago of Italy facing Great Britain’s Sheffield Steelers.

Sheffield faced a major set back on D coming into this game as 1^st Rod Sarich was ruled out of action last weekend when suffering an injury in a league game against Nottingham Panthers and then Steve Birnstall was taken ill as the team arrived in Denmark. RG Flath had already been practicing to cover as a 5^th defenceman for the team but it looked like the team would go into the game with only 3 fully fit recognised D men. Steve Birnstill iced but how fit he was is anyone’s guess Mark Thomas took an early holding call which put the Steelers on the back foot to start but a good penalty kill saw the British team kill of the first powerplay chance for the Italians.

DeCaro made the first big save of the game on a one on one to keep the score level as HC Asiago started to put on some pressure as the game started to settle into a pattern. Chad Huttel took a 2^nd holding penalty of the period as the Steelers found themselves on the back foot again but DeCaro stood strong as did Sheffield’s PK unit as they killed off the penalty again.

The Steelers took a 1-0 lead at around 12 minutes of the 1^st as Steve Birnstill picked up a loose puck and put it into an open net. RG Flath and Matt Stephenson picked up the assists. This was against the run of play but the under the weather defenceman would have been more than happy with his effort to give his team the lead. With just over 2 minutes of the period left HC Asiago took their 1^st penalty of the game, again a holding call and the Steelers had their 1^st powerplay chance of the game. DeCaro pulled off another great save shorthanded as the 1^st period ended with Sheffield 1-0 up but the Italians outshooting them 14-10.

Tom Squires gave the Steelers a 2-0 lead with around  minutes gone in the 2^nd period as the young British player gave Lerg in the HC Asiago net no chance as he put a screamer past him into the back of the net. Chad Huttel got the sole assist on the goal.

Sheffield were growing as the game went on and a slashing penalty gave the Steelers their 2^nd powerplay chance.  Good possession for the Steelers didn’t lead to any chances and a penalty for too many men led to the powerplay being cut short and would eventually give HC Asiago over minute of 5 on 4 time themselves. Decaro pulled off some more great saves and the Steelers penalty kill stood firm as another penalty was killed off.

Another powerplay chance led to HC Asiago pulling the score back to 2-1 as Sean Bentivoglio fired the puck high past John DeCaro with just over 5 minutes left on the period. HC Asiago made it 2-2 before the end of the period as DeCaro made the 1^st save but Bentivoglio buried the rebound as the Italians stunned the British team with 2 quick goals. Colt King regained the Steelers the lead as HC Asiago somehow managed to give the puck away to the Sheffield forward right infront of the net and he buried the puck into the net.

HC Asiago got an early equaliser in the 3^rd as Chad Huttel sat another 2 minutes and the Italian’s levelled at 42.22. The game remained close as Sheffield had a powerplay chance with 12 minutes left but couldn’t convert it into another lead. It was a very even 3^rd period with Tom Squire and Colt King both coming close to giving Sheffield back the lead as the game headed into the final 2 minutes of the game.

A penalty was called on HC Asiago in the last 2 minutes with a delay of game call being made but Sheffield couldn’t make it count as the game went into an overtime period to see if the teams could finish it off.

Sheffield seemed to have the better of the 5 minute 4 on 4 OT period but neither team could break the tie and the 1^st game of the group headed into penalty shots.

Jeff Legue started the Shoot Out for Sheffield and he put his shot wide of the net. Vigalante took HC Asiago’s 1^st penalty shot and he scored past DeCaro to give the Italian’s the advantage in the shoot out.

Mike Ramsay was then stopped by Lerg leaving DeCaro needing to make a save but HC Asiago buried the 2^nd penalty shot as well and they took the extra point in the game. Sheffield put up an enormous effort but fell short at the end. HC Asiago will need to improve and build on this result against the Hungarian entrants tomorrow night but Sheffield should be proud of how they played. With a shorter bench they were never behind in this game and apart from a 3 minute spell in the 2^nd where they allowed HC Asiago back into the game they were solid defensively.

- Adam Yates

IIHF Continental Cup Action in Denmark and and the Ukraine

This weekend sees the IIHF Continental Cup hit the later group stages in Herning, Denmark and Donetsk, Ukraine.

There will be 2 groups of Hockey played – each group consisting of 4 teams that won their respective countries league last season.

Group D consists of HC Asiago of Italy, Sheffield Steelers of Great Britain, Dunaujvarosi Acelbikak of Hungary and hosts Herning Blue Fox.

Dunaujvarosi Acelbikak have already played through one group back in October, knocking out the champions of Belgium, Spain and The Netherlands to land their position in the group. The other 3 teams come straight into these latter stages, which is almost a semi final group stage.

Group E Consists of Rubin Tyumen of Russia, Cracovia Krakow of Poland, Liepajas Metalurgs of Latvia and hosts Donbass Donetsk.

Like their group D counterparts Dunaujvarosi Acelbikak, Liepajas Metalurgs have also already faced another qualifying group. They defeated the champions of Slovenia, Kazakhstan and Romania to get this far. Both groups kick off Friday and each team plays against each other once, with the team on top of the group come Sunday evening winning through to the Final group stage which is to be held in Rouen, France in January. Rouen Dragons and Yunot Minsk of Belarus are already in that final group so these groups are going to be extremely competitive with only the top spot seeing a team through to the final group. This is a tough weekend for all teams involved as all of them will play 3 games in 3 days.

Whilst bringing you up to date with results from both groups my main focus will be on Group D and Great Britain’s entrant to the competition, The Sheffield Steelers.

Their hosts, Herning Blue Fox have go into the weekend with a roster of 3 Netminders, 10 defencemen and 16 forwards to choose from. In comparison to this, Sheffield go to their Danish Hosts with 2 Netminders (1 being a young upcoming British player who is unlikely to see any ice time), 4 Defencemen and about 11 forwards.

An injury to star defenceman Rod Sarich (Brother of Calgary Flames Corey Sarich) picked up last weekend has seen the Steelers short benched in that area for the weekend. With the team usually running at 5 D, don’t be surprised to see RG Flath moved back there to help out this weekend.

Looking at the Hunarian champions roster, they boast 35 players to have iced already this season and Italy’s HC Asiago have 3 Netminders, 7 Defencmen and 14 Forwards on their books ready to play.

Sheffield certainly head into this tournament with the likelihood of burning out come Sunday.. However, 2 years ago with a similar size roster this Sheffield team surprised a lot of European Hockey fans by winning their group at this stage and headed to the final. That team contained some of the same players who face of in Denmark tomorrow and they have experience and heart which they hope will see them through.

For Sheffield to have any chance of finishing in that top spot again there will be certain players that need to shine this weekend and hopefully they will.

John DeCaro

John DeCaro is the man who will lead the Steelers inbetween the pipes. He is likely to play all 3 games and will huge performances to go with his huge stature in goal. It is DeCaro’s 1^st season in Sheffield after spending his 6 professional years to date in the ECHL, CHL or AHL. The last 2 seasons he spent at Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs before coming over to The Elite League In Great Britain. He currently has a save percentage of 0.935% and a GAA of 2.01 in the 21 games he has played so far.

Jeff Legue

Jeff Legue played the 2005-2006 season in the ECHL for South Carolina Stingrays and Dayton Bombers before heading to Germany the season after for his 1^st taste of European Hockey. He signed for Sheffield in the 2007-2008 season and is now in his 5^th year with the club. That first season brough him 43 points and he has improved on that year after year. He racked up 40 + 40 last year in 56 games and has 29 points in 22 games already this season. This guy has speed and an eye for both a great pass and the back of the net. He will be the Steelers go to guy up front.

Ashley Tait

Tait, like Legue had signed for the Steelers back in the 2007-2008 season. He did move for 1 season over to Ritten Renon in Italy but came back last season and is now the assistant player coach of the team. Tait has played for 20 seasons now in the UK and his experience will be key on the ice if games are close ones. Sheffield have 3 or 4 younger players in the team who have not experienced anything like this and Tait will be the one to keep them going and playing to the best of their ability.
 

Tait is also a point scorer. He has racked up over 50 points in all 3 seasons on the team and is one of the top scorers this year so far as well.

If these 3 players are on their game all weekend and the rest of the team are too, who knows what the outcome of the group will be.

Sheffield are probably the 3^rd favourites going into the group but this is a team that has only lost twice in 16 league games so far and are heading to the tournament with no pressure being put on them to qualify. HC Asiago are have the pressure of being favourites and Herning have the pressure of the home fans. Maybe, just maybe this will play into the Steelers hands.

- Adam Yates