ZURICH – The Rouen Dragons were selected as host for the 2016 IIHF Continental Cup Final that will take place from 8 to 10 January 2016.

The Dragons finished the semi-final round with the best record and will face Denmark’s Herning Blue Fox, Italian champion Asiago Hockey and Polish champion GKS Tychy in the battle for the winners’ plate.

The Rouen Dragons have hosted the Continental Cup Final before, in their small but loud Ile Lacroix rink located on an island at the River Seine.

The venue will host the final tournament for the fourth time after 2009, 2012 and 2014. In 2012 the Dragons won the Continental Cup on home ice in the city 120 kilometres northwest of Paris – one of the biggest success stories for French ice hockey in international play.

Rouen, currently in second place in the Ligue Magnus, was also one of the hosts in the preliminary round.

The Herning Blue Fox, who won the other semi-final tournament in Asiago, is the other unbeaten team but had a tough start in domestic play where they’re currently eighth in the ten-team Metal Ligaen.

Italian champion Asiago Hockey, currently fourth in the Serie A, and Polish champion GKS Tychy, currently third in the Polish Hockey League, also qualified for the final tournament finishing their respective groups in second place.

Like last year the four finalists of the Continental Cup will not only play for the right to raise the winners’ plate. The Continental Cup winner will also get the chance to play in the Champions Hockey League in the 2016/2017 season subject to formal approval by the CHL Board.

Last year Neman Grodno from Belarus won the Continental Cup and had a good start into the CHL with a 2-0 blanking of German champion Adler Mannheim before losing the other games against Mannheim and Vitkovice Ostrava.