ROUEN, France – The Rouen Dragons celebrated a 6-4 victory against Keramin Minsk after the Belarusians had held a 4-3 lead. The host will challenge MHC Martin for the tournament win on Sunday.

After MHC Martin’s victory over the Bolzano Foxes it became clear that Keramin Minsk (and Bolzano) were out of the title race.

Rouen scored four, third-period goals.

The enthusiastic crowd celebrated early as Rouen’s scored after just seven minutes on a power play. Jean-François David and Julien Desrosiers passed the puck at the blue line and David shot the goal past Keramin’s Slovakian goaltender Matus Kostur.

About five minutes later things improved more. Marc-André Thinel couldn’t defeat Kostur with his first attempt from an sharp angle but he skated towards the goal and both Kostur and defender Alexei Plotnikov couldn’t prevent him from scoring the 2-0 goal.

The 2-0 lead was a wake-up call for Keramin. The Belarusians came out stronger in the second period. Yuri Faikov’s 2-1 goal at 23:11 was just a warm-up. Estonian Toivo Suursoo and Evgeni Kurilin both scored on power-play situations three minutes apart to turn the tables.

Alexander Zhydkikh added a fourth Keramin marker at 38:08 when he was left alone in front of Rouen netminder.

At the beginning of the third period, Rouen countered. Thinel scored his second goal at 42:15 and just 79 seconds later, Finn Mikko Peltola equalized after a shot from behind the goal line by Thinel. The Canadian scored his third goal to regain the lead for Rouen at 47:07.

Keramin didn’t stage a comeback. Coach Andrei Gusov asked for a time out for the last attacks with six skaters but there was just Eric Doucet’s empty-netter four seconds before the end.

Because of Rouen’s first victory, the winner of this year’s Continental Cup is still unknown as the Rouen Dragons could win the tournament by defeating MHC Martin in the last game on Sunday.

Click here for the game’s photo gallery.

Click here for scores and stats.

MARTIN MERK