The best of the rest

Four teams play for the Continental Cup plate in Normandy

15.01.2009
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Ak Bars Kazan captain Alexei Morozov hoisted the Continental Cup plate last year. Photo: Zigismunds Zalmanis

ROUEN, France – While the two-game final of the Champions Hockey League starts in a few days, the clubs who did not have the chance to play with Europe’s elite clubs will play for the Continental Cup from January 16-18, 2009, in Rouen, France.

The history of the Continental Cup started along with the founding of the European Hockey League in the ‘90s and offered a platform for clubs from top nations which didn’t make it to the top competition and for national champions from other nations. During the four years between the folding of the EHL and the start of the European Champions Cup in 2005, it was also the only European club competition.

The plate for the winner of the four-stage competition was won four times by Swiss clubs but Slovakia has the chance to catch up as MHC Martin will participate in the 2009 Super Final. The other teams are the host Rouen Dragons (France), Keramin Minsk (Belarus) and the Bolzano Foxes (Italy).

In total, 19 teams from as many countries participated in the competition that went over four stages, six tournaments and 36 games.

Last year, Russia’s Ak Bars Kazan won the Continental Cup in the final tournament in Riga, Latvia.

Rouen Dragons, France

The club from the Normandy was founded as late as in 1982, but quickly became a top address in French hockey. They appeared for the first time in the highest league in 1985 and mainly the arrival of two players from Canada boosted them to become a top team.

Larry Huras, who later became a successful coach in Switzerland, came as a player-coach in 1988 and at the same time, French-Canadian Guy Fournier, who is now the General Manager of the club, arrived. Fournier became the second-best scorer all-time behind Franck Pajonkowski, who also works in the club’s administration.

Rouen won the first of nine championships in 1990 and the last one in the spring of 2008. After having won the regular season, the Dragons won the playoffs without a single loss against Dijon, Angers and Briançon.

Rouen earned the right to host the tournament in their Île Lacroix Arena which is named after the island in the River Seine the arena is built on. It’s already the club’s fifth participation in the Continental Cup. 2004 they qualified for the final by winning a third-round tournament in Herning, Denmark, but they finished last after three defeats in the final tournament in Gomel, Belarus.

Rouen performed its biggest international upsets in the early nineties in the European Cup. In 1992-1993, they beat Swedish champion Malmö, 4-3, in the semi-final home tournament to qualify for the final round. Two years earlier, they also qualified for the final tournament thanks to victories over Swedish champion Djurgården Stockholm and Czechoslovakian champion Dukla Jihlava.

After 21 games in the 14-team Ligue Magnus this season, the Rouen Dragons are currently in second place, two points behind last year’s vice-champion Briançon.

This year as a host, the club hopes for a better result in the final tournament than five years ago.

“Sport has an important place in the daily life of our people, that’s why we are especially proud to host the Continental Cup final in Rouen,” says Didier Marie, the President of the Seine-Maritime region.

MHC Martin, Slovakia

MHC Martin earned the right to play in the Continental Cup as the third-best team of the 2007-2008 Slovakian Extraliga where they were ranked just behind the CHL teams Slovan Bratislava and HC Kosice.

However, the post-season was less successful as they lost to Dukla Trencin in the quarterfinals in seven games. The all-deciding last game was lost in overtime on home ice.

This season, the club also suffered a setback as the team is in eighth place after 44 games. The club from Martin, a city of 59,000 in the North of the country, has to fight for its playoff spot and might face one of the “big two” teams, Slovan Bratislava or HC Kosice, in the quarterfinals.

“We hoped to continue as in the previous season and it looked good in the beginning but then it got worse and we also had eight players injured,” MHC Martin General Manager Aurel Naus summarizes the current season. The team fell from third place in November to current eighth.

The club management reacted by replacing head coach Ladislav Slizak with Dusan Gregor, whose last stations were other Slovakian teams like Dukla Trencin, HC Kosice and MsHK Zilina as well as Czech team HC Liberec.

In Rouen, the team will have some change of scenery and it wants to bring home a medal. “Even though we haven’t done so well in our league, I think that all teams have the equal chance to win and we can start from zero in Rouen,” Naus said. “Our new coach has now a team in full strength but we don’t know yet the quality of the other teams so well. The last season was very satisfactory for Martin as a hockey town and for the club which celebrated the 75-year anniversary a year ago. It’s an honour and reward for us to play in the Continental Cup.”

MHC Martin joined the Slovakian Extraliga in 1994 but was relegated twice (1999, 2004) for one season. The third place in the regular season was their best finish together with the same placement in 1996. “We haven’t had a comparable success as to play in an event like this yet, so the participation will be a great opportunity and I hope that we will contribute to the quality of the tournament,” says Raus.

Keramin Minsk, Belarus

Keramin Minsk is no stranger to the Continental Cup and now they’re back after having won their second Belarusian championship (after 2002) last spring. The club was founded in 2001 as the successor of HK Minsk.

The capital city team is currently in fourth place in the Belarusian Extraliga which is considered as the strongest league from the countries that have not been part in the Champions Hockey League. Belarus is ranked eighth in the 2008 IIHF European League Ranking. Yunost Minsk, HK Gomel and Metallurg Zhlobin are currently ahead of Keramin in the domestic league.

The Belarusians won the third-round tournament in Liepaja, Latvia, that ended with a thriller as three teams – Keramin Minsk, Sokil Kyiv and Liepajas Metalurgs – had all six points. Keramin needed a win by a three-goal margin against Liepaja – and Irek Khafizov scored the 5-2 goal at 57:02.

“I am satisfied how the team is doing in the season until now. The team plays quite well and the goal for our league can only be to win a medal,” head coach Andrei Gusov told IIHF.com.

After having lost two road games against leader Yunost Minsk and Khimvolokno Mogilyov, Keramin won its last game before the departure to France on Monday with a 4-3 shoot-out win on home ice over Neman Grodno.

Keramin also became the farm team of Dynamo Minsk, the Belarusian team in the Russian KHL, this season. Seven players from Keramin’s long list (Slovakian goalkeeper Matus Kostur; defencemen Alexander Makritsky and Vadim Sushko; forwards Alexander Zhidkikh, Alexei Strakhov, Andrei Stas and Evgeni Kurilin) appeared in KHL games for Dynamo this season.

“No weak team can qualify for the Continental Cup Final, so there is no real favourite. We can win the tournament if we play up to our potential and show a good team spirit in each game,” Gusov says. “The participation in the final tournament is very prestigious for us and it reflects the level of our league. It’s a huge honour for us to represent Belarus in this tournament. I hope that the participation of our club could become one more prove that Belarus deserves to host the 2014 World Championship that would make another great push for the development of hockey in Belarus.”

Bolzano Foxes, Italy

Bolzano is one of the most successful hockey towns in Italy with 17 championships. They had several championship streaks including four consecutive between 1995 annd 1998. But after winning the playoffs in 2000, there was an eight-year draught in the South Tyrolean capital until they won the championship in 2008 and the Super Cup against the Italian cup winner Pontebba in September.

In goal, the club counts on Finn Pasi Häkkinen. Also in front of him, the team is very internationally diverse with two Canadians (forwards Kenny Corupe and Ryan Jardine), an American (Josh Olson), a Latvian (Sergejs Durdins), a Swede (Carl-Johan Johansson) and Netherland’s national team player Jamie Schaafsma.

The team has plenty of international experience as eight players appeared in the World Championships or in the 2006 Olympics in Turin with Luca Ansoldi, Christian Borgatello, Alexander Egger, Leo Insam, Jonathan Pittis, Stefan Zisser, Florian and Roland Ramoser.

After having taken part in the European Cup and the European Hockey League until the ‘90s, the 2008-2009 Continental Cup is the first international appearance for the club for almost ten years.

“We are very happy with our situation in our league so far,” says the Foxes’ Finnish coach Jari Helle. “We are in first place in our league and we are also going to play in the Italian Cup final tournament one week after the Continental Cup.”

Helle sets three goals for his team this season; winning the Serie A, the Italian Cup and being competitive in the Continental Cup. “I think that MHC Martin and Keramin Minsk are the main favourites but if we manage to play better as a team than them, if we have great goaltending and a bit of luck, we could also win the tournament.”

The club is excited to be part of the Rouen in tournament as General Secretary Norman Libardoni states: “Our participation to the Continental Cup gives us the possibility to showcase Italian Hockey to the world and to measure ourselves with great teams. We want to bring hockey at a higher level in our country and to write a piece of history.”

Bolzano qualified by winning the third-round tournament on home ice. A tight 1-0 win against the British champion Coventry Blaze decided about the participation.

Note: The final rosters of the four teams will be published here on Thursday night.

MARTIN MERK

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