ZURICH – The revamped Continental Cup approaches the final stretch with the third preliminary round starting today in Ritten, Italy, and Angers, France.

The best two teams from each group will advance to the 2015 IIHF Continental Cup Super Final that will be staged from 9th to 11th January 2015 and hosted by one of the finalists. The host will be selected in early December.

This year’s final will have some extra incentive added in as the winner will qualify for the Champions Hockey League next season with the exception of Bremerhaven, which was exceptionally allowed to play after missing the Continental Cup last season but won’t be eligible to enter the Champions Hockey League as a second-tier team.

In sunny Ritten, located within Italy’s mostly German-speaking region of South Tyrol, Italian champion Ritten Sport hosts Group D of the Continental Cup that also includes Denmark’s Herning Blue Fox, Kazakh champion Yertis Pavlodar with a roster that includes two Czech and 12 Slovak imports, and German qualifier Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven.

In western France the Angers Ducs will play host to Group E with Belarusian champion Neman Grodno, which participated for the second straight time in the third round, Polish champion KH Sanok that won its tournament in the second round and the Belfast Giants, the champion of the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League that entered the group as the “lucky loser” due to the withdrawal of Ukrainian champion Kompanion Kyiv, which has ceased operations.

Click on the above links for the schedules, rosters and the live ticker during the event.

MARTIN MERK