Ice Hockey Continental Leagues 2017 - 2018 Discussion Thread

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IIHF Continental Cup 2017/18

 

Final Round in Minsk (BLR)

Final Day Schedule (14th January 2018)

GMT +3

 

15:00  Sheffield Steelers    vs   Ritten Sport

19:00  Yunost Minsk    vs   Nomad Astana

 

*Yunost Minsk vs Nomad Astana will be the direct match for the Continental Cup 2017/18 win. The winner of the match will win the 21st season of this competition. The winner of the match between Sheffield and Ritten will finish in 3rd place in the Final-four.

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IIHF Continental Cup 2017/18

 

Final Round in Minsk (BLR)

Final Day Results (14th January 2018)

GMT +3

 

15:00  Sheffield Steelers     2 - 0    Ritten Sport

19:00  Yunost Minsk     5 - 2    Nomad Astana

 

 

Final-Four Final Standing:

1. Yunost Minsk 9 pts, 2. Nomad Astana 5 pts, 3. Sheffield Steelers 3 pts, 4. Ritten Sport 1 pt.

 

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MEN'S

IIHF CONTINENTAL CUP 2017

Final Round

 

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Yunost makes it three!

Minsk team claims Continental Cup

 

For the third time after 2007 and 2011 Belarusian club Yunost Minsk won the IIHF Continental Cup after beating Nomad Astana 5-2 in the deciding game.

 

Yunost got the winners’ plate back after seven years and like last time the club won on home ice in Minsk as host of the final tournament.

Like the recent Continental Cup winners Yunost Minsk will earn a wild card to next season’s Champions Hockey League pending formal approval by the CHL board. Yunost is currently also the leader back home in the Belarusian Extraliga.

 

Despite being outshot 33-29 by Nomad, the Belarusians had the upper hand during two periods and went up early in the game. Pavel Razvadovski contributed with two goals and an assist to the win. Dmitri Milchakov was a big help in the net saving 31 of 33 shots on goal.

 

“It was a hard victory. It’s a tough team, everybody has good skill, young, fast. But we were better. Thanks to the guys. They gave 100 per cent,” said Razvadovski.

 

“It’s a huge victory for us. We were preparing a lot. We played six games in this competition. Each of us wanted to win. I think we deserved this victory,” Milchakov said.

 

Yunost Minsk opened the scoring already with the first scoring chance with 6-on-4 skaters during a power play with second delayed penalty and a strong skating performance of Razvadovski. The forward skated on the left behind the goal line, turned back to skate around Nomad defenceman Roman Rachinski to the crease and then beat goalie Vladimir Kramar for a goal of the tournament candidate at 3:24.

 

Yunost missed out on capitalizing on the second penalty, Nomad became stronger and the game heated. With Yunost defenceman Klemen Pretnar already in the penalty box, Sergei Sheleg was assessed a penalty for roughing. Nomad seized on the opportunity and tied the game with 5-on-3 players on the ice. Artemi Lakiza sent off a long shot, Yunost goalie Milchakov made a block save and Valeri Gurin was on the spot to net the puck with a high wrist shot.

 

There were also disciplinary issues on the other side that led to a two-man advantage for Yunost for the last 43 seconds of the opening frame. With Georgi Dulnev in the sin bin for holding, Yegor Petukhov had a breakaway but saw his shot saved and was then assessed a penalty for slashing goalie Milchakov.

 

“Our team was not able to use the emotions in the right way. 10 minutes of penalties in the first period was a crucial part in Yunost’s success and afterwards it was very difficult to get back into the game,” said Nomad head coach Georgi Vereshagin.

 

After half a minute Yunost converted the situation to regain the lead. After a blocked shot from Razvadovski it was Konstantin Zakharov, who netted the puck. The video review showed the puck was in before bouncing back from the goal. A 2-1 lead for Yunost.

 

“We knew who we were going to face in the final game. We realized we need to have the lead as fast as possible in the beginning and not to allow any more goals. They played great in the slot, had good chances and some players have great puckhandling skills,” Yunost head coach Mikhail Zakharov said.

 

“The Continental Cup is an important tournament for us and it allows us to play in the Champions Hockey League next season, which inspires many teams to take part and win the Continental Cup.”

After killing the penalty early in the second period, Nomad Astana had the opportunity to play on power play themselves but the penalty expired and 26 seconds later Alexei Yefimenko ended a counter-attack with a precise shot from the left face-off circle to give Yunost a 3-1 lead. Nomad reacted with changing goaltenders. Dmitri Malgin came in for Kramar. But the next to score a goal was Yunost’s Razvadovski. With a lot of traffic around the crease and shots on Malgin it was him, who managed to push the puck into the next to make it 4-1 with 2:15 left in the second period.

 

Nomad Astana was rewarded for its effort early in the third period. After battling back the puck in the neutral zone Dmitri Gurkov found Nikita Mikhalis whose shot was saved by Milchakov but Gurkov capitalized on the rebound and it was a two-goal game at 1:48. Nomad tried come one closer but a counter-attack led to Maxim Parfeyevets’ 5-2 goal and brought Yunost one step closer to gold.

 

Beside the medals there were also individual honours. Vladimir Kramar of Nomad Astana was named Best Goaltender of the tournament, the Sheffield Steelers’ Mark Matheson won the Best Defenceman award and Nikita Mikhailis of Nomad Astana was voted Best Forward.

 

Yunost Minsk vs Nomad Astana Highlights

 

Yunost Minsk Celebrations

 

Results Thread

 

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JYP win in shootout, on to Final!

 

Jarkko Immonen and Antti Suomela scored in the shootout to end a wild hockey game in Třinec and send JYP Jyväskylä to the Champions Hockey League Final. By blowing a two-goal aggregate lead in the last 12:10 of regulation time, they didn't do it the easy way.

 

Down by two goals to start the game after last week's loss in Jyväskylä, it was no surprise that Třinec came out strong at home, looking for the all-important first goal of the game, and it didn’t take them long to get it. After dominating the opening minutes of the game, Martin Růžička one-timed Tomáš Marcinko’s centring pass off the back crossbar to open the scoring at 2:07 and cut the aggregate difference to one.

 

The Steelers had fired 10 shots on Jussi Olkinuora before JYP finally got a couple late on their first power play. Slowly, the momentum seemed to shift in JYP’s favour and just past the midpoint of the opening period, Juuso Vainio ripped a shot over Šimon Hrubec’s shoulder to restore the two-goal difference. JYP owned the rest of the period and Jarkko Immonen potted a rebound on a power-play rush at 17:36 to increase the lead to three with four of six periods played.

 

As they did in the first period, Třinec dominated the early minutes of the second period, and although they didn’t manage to score on a power play chance, Michal Kovařčík did manage to force a loose puck over the goal line following a wild goalmouth scramble just seconds after it ended at 25:07. But despite another power play and several quality scoring chances in the middle frame, Třinec remained two goals down on aggregate with 20 minutes to go.

 

With momentum on their side, Třinec went for it in the third period and carried the play by a wide margin.

They just needed a break and they finally got it with just over 12 minutes to play when David Musil’s point shot deflected off a JYP skate in the slot and beat Olkinuora to bring them back within one again. With that spark, they kept their foot on the accelerator and Ondřej Kovařčík tied it with 9:04 to play, taking a pass from David Cienciala, waiting for Olkinuora to commit and sliding it in the open side.

 

The two teams were back to even since the second period of the first leg.

 

JYP woke up a bit after the equalizer and both teams had some decent chances over the remaining nine minutes of regulation, but with no more scoring, the game went to overtime and eventually a shootout, where it was finally decided in JYP's favour.

 

 

Semifinal Result, Second Leg

 

Ocelari Třinec - JYP Jyväskylä 4-3 (OT), Aggr. 6-7

 

p.s. the game's not over yet, but it's basically already sure that the Final will be played in Växjö between JYP and Växjö Lakers (SWE), since the Swedes are leading with a big margin against Liberec (CZE) with very few minutes to go...

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now it's official...the game in Växjö is over and local Lakers are the second team to make the Final in the 2017/2018 Champions Hockey League...

 

Semifinal Result, Second Leg

 

Växjö Lakers - Bílí Tygři Liberec 6-1, Aggr. 7-2

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Lakers cruise into final and win right to host

 

SHL leaders Växjö Lakers confirmed their place in the Champions Hockey League Final with a commanding victory over Bílí Tygři Liberec.

 

Tied at one each from last week's first leg, the Lakers wasted absolutely no time in a dream start on home ice. Elias Pettersson rocketed the first with 5:50 played as the hosts took advantage of a powerplay; and 36 seconds later the lead was doubled when good passing found Martin Lundberg alone at the far post. It got worse for the visitors before the period was out - 15:35 on the board, White Tigers don't clear their lines on a rebound, and Linus Fröberg eventually scored after a scramble to make it 3-0.

 

Just 1:40 into the middle session, Liberec found themselves four down. On the rush Janne Pesonen found Tuomas Kiiskinen to slot home and put the game comfortably in the Lakers' favour. Liberec however did manage to respond before the period was out.

A shot from the blueline from Petr Jelínek took a fortunate bounce.

 

Pontus Netterberg made it 5-1 with just under eight minutes to play, before Elias Pettersson rounded off the scoring. The Växjö Lakers win 7-2 on aggregate, and will host this year's final.

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Champions Hockey League 2017/2018

 

The Final

 

Tonight, h.18.45 CET, Växjö (SWE), Vida Arena

 

Växjö Lakers vs JYP Jyväskylä

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All set for Champions Hockey League Final

 

JYP Jyväskylä arrived in Sweden last night ahead of the final, as the coaches and captains took part in a special pre-game press conference in the VIDA Area.

The Finnish side have had a busy schedule leading up to this game, but go into the final with a win under their belts - and a big one at that, blanking KalPa 3-0 in the big regional derby over the weekend.

 

They're fourth in the Liiga going into the international break, but with a game in hand and only three points behind Tappara above them.

"We have had a lot of games recently, but that's all in the past.

This is a final.

They're a very skilled team, but we are aware of that and will of course be playing to win this trophy." said Head Coach Marko Virtanen.

Captain Juha-Pekka Hytönen added: "We're all excited to play in this final.

We know they're a good team, we're going to have to skate a lot, battle hard, and find that little bit extra."

 

Växjö have come comforts for the final, as they had the best overall record in the competition from the the two finalists.

Sam Hallam's men have won three straight in the SHL, including road wins in both of their previous outings.

To be 17 points clear at this stage of the season is some feat.

 

"We're in good shape at the moment within th squad, and of course it's nice to play at home.

But we got here from hard work in the previous games, and will need one more big effort again tonight" said Head Coach Sam Hallam.

"We know it's hard to get to this stage, to a final, and everyone is really excited to play in it," added Captain Liam Reddox.

Edited February 6, 2018 by phelps

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Road to the Final: JYP Jyväskylä

 

Check out how JYP made it through their group, as runners up, all the way to the final!

 

 

Edited February 6, 2018 by phelps

[phelps 7,688]

Road to the Final: Växjö Lakers

 

Check out how JYP made it through their group, as runners up, all the way to the final!

 

 

Edited February 6, 2018 by phelps