Dutch champion, HYS den Haag emerged victorious in the 2nd round, Group B, of the IIHF Continental Cup in Miercurea Ciuc. The group pitted three relative even teams: Hys Den Haag, Upjest TE of Hungary and the Romanian host SC Miercurea Ciuc. The 4th team, FC Barcelona, which won the 1st round of the Continental Cup in Ankara last month, lacked the depth and physical strength to compete with the other teams.
As in the other group of the Continental Cup this weekend (Group C in Krakow), the second match of the opening day turned out to be the key game. Here, HYS den Haag narrowly beat the home team 4-3. Miercurea Ciuc took the lead after five minutes, but halfway in the 1st period, HYS den Haag responded with three unanswered goals within one and a half minute. Miercurea Ciuc roared back in the 2nd period outshooting the Dutch champions 19:6, but den Haag's Canadian goaltender, Tim Knudsen played a great game during this stretch and only allowed one goal. Miercurea Ciuc closed the gap to a one goal lead for the Dutch after 7 min in the third period, but this was as close as the Romanians could get.
On the second day, HYS Den Haag virtually earned its advancement to the semifinals of the Continental Cup by beating Upjest TE 6-2. The game remained tight until the last 10 minutes where den Haag scored four unanswered goals.
Early Sunday afternoon, HYS den Haag sealed the group win by beating FC Barcelona 9-1. SC Miercurea Ciuc closed the tournament by beating Upjest TE 5-0 thanks to a great second period. In the end, HYS den Haag's experience and better condition proved to be a decisive factor in a tournament where den Haag faced a lot more resistance than generally from the teams in the Dutch league. Den Haag's reporter noted that at the moment HYS den Haag is probably the only Dutch team that could have won the tournament in Romania. The games vs SC Miercurea and Upjest TE were both physically and mentally tougher than most of the games den Haag plays in the Dutch league.
AWARDS
Best goaltender: Tim Knudsen, HYS den Haag Best defenseman: Brian Mullally, HYS den Haag Best forward: Zsolt Molnar, SC Miercurea Ciuc MVP: Aleksandr Selivanov, HYS den Haag
GP
W
OTW
OTL
L
GF:GA
P
1.
HYS den Haag
3
3
0
0
0
19:6
9
2.
SC Miercurea Ciuc
3
2
0
0
1
19:7
6
3.
Upjest TE
3
1
0
0
2
11:14
3
4.
FC Barcelona
3
0
0
0
3
7:29
0
SCORING LEADERS
GP
G
A
P
1.
Levente Hozo
SC Miercurea Ciuc
3
4
3
7
2.
Brian Mullally
HYS den Haag
3
4
2
6
3.
Zsolt Molnar
SC Miercurea Ciuc
3
3
3
6
4.
Jan Bohac
HYS den Haag
3
3
2
5
5.
Aleksandr Selivanov
HYS den Haag
3
2
3
5
6.
Ladislav Sikorcin
Upjest TE
3
1
4
5
GAME SUMMARIES
23 October
Újpesti TE-FC Barcelona 9-3 (3-0, 3-2, 3-1)
1-0 04:44 Ladislav Sikorcin
2-0 06:00 Vitaly Kurychenko (Borbas)
3-0 12:38 Gergely Borbas (Kiss)
3-1 20:21 Aleksandar Kosic (Boberg)
4-1 24:38 Vladimir Dubek (Sikorcin, Nagy) PP1
4-2 26:33 Danilo Didkovskyy (Zapata)
5-2 26:59 Peter Nemeth (Berzins)
6-2 28:35 Attila Rafaj (Hetler)
6-3 40:34 Mikael Boberg (Didkovskyy, Kosic)
7-3 54:14 Ladislav Sikorcin SH1
8-3 54:33 Ladislav Sikorcin SH1
9-3 57:17 Attila Rafaj (Dubek, Kyrychenko)
UPJ 5x2, BAR 10x2, SOG: 66:16 (20:2, 24:8, 22:6), Att: 115
