Continental Cup 2018/2019

[Ciremya]

First round, 28-30 Septembe 2018:

Group A in Sofia, Bulgaria: Irbis-Skate Sofia (BUL), Zeytinburnu Istanbul (TUR), Vikingar Akureyri (ISL), HC Bat Yam (ISR).

Second round, 19-21 October 2017:

Group B in Renon/Ritten, Italy: Ritten Sport (ITA), MAC Budapest (HUN), Acroni Jesenice (SLO), Crvena Zvezda Belgrade (SRB).

Group C in Riga, Latvia: HC Donbass (UKR), Kurbads Riga (LAT), Txuri Urdin San Sebastian (ESP), Winner Group A.

Third round, 16-18 November 2017:

Group D in Lyon, France: Arlan Kokshetau (KAZ), HK Gomel (BLR), Lyon Lions (FRA), Winner Group C.

Group E in Belfast, United Kingdom: Belfast Giants (GBR), GKS Katowice (POL), Medvescak Zagreb (CRO), Winner Group B.

Final, 11-13 January 2018:

The top-two teams of each semifinals group advance to the final tournament, hosted in one of four finalists venue

http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/n...26e910930db646

http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/c...9-preliminary/

[Ciremya]

First a look at the missing countries... Denmark is not represented for the first time since 2010. Aalborg Pirates having won both the league and cup titles, this made either Herning Blue Fox (regular season champion and playoffs finalist) or Rungsted Ishockey (Bronze game winner and cup finalist) as prime candidates to represent the Metal Ligaen this year... There will be no Romanian team either which is a first in the tournament's history, despite SC Csíkszereda winning their first national crown since 2013... Finally Estonia is not back after Narva's one-off last season, I guess Viking remembers its visa problems back in 2013...

To replace them, Medvescak Zagreb will be the big draw this season. The Croatian club won (again) the national championship through its reserve and will align its EBEL team, reminding some of Donbass' VHL/KHL years... This mark the first time the Austrian-based league will be represented since Red Bull Salzburg won the big plate in 2010... Slovenia is back with Acroni Jesenice after a year hiatus... As well as Israel with HC Bat Yam...

Great to see Vikingar following in Esja's footstep...

I guess the CHL board has been pressuring the IIHF a bit... Ritten Sport has been pushed down the second round while GKS Katowice has been brought up into the third, despite Italian teams being historically more performant than the Polish ones in this competition...

That Group B-Group E pathing looks deadly to me...

[Snapshot]

Medveščak is favourite to win it all...

[RexKramer]

Wouldn't underestimate the Belarussians but the Bears should be the team to beat.

[Ciremya]

Group E in Belfast, United Kingdom: Belfast Giants (GBR), GKS Katowice (POL), Medvescak Zagreb (CRO), Winner Group B.

Dates for Group E were confirmed today. It will be from Thu. 15th to Sat. 17th November.

https://twitter.com/IIHFHockey/statu...45099567190017

[ElTres]

Can anyone understand the seeding?

[rowan]

Can anyone understand the seeding?

Geograhy. Results of the national team and from the clubs together. Those 3 points.

Greetings,
Rowan

[Ciremya]

So Rungsted was indeed the chosen representative for Denmark this year but the IIHF opposed that move as the team didn't win the Metal Cup...

http://www.faceoff.dk/iihf-saaede-tv...ntinental-cup/

Not sure why such a decision, considering Poland's GKS Katowice didn't win anything either... I can only assume they would have prefered Herning... Still, I think it's a bad move...

[Snapshot]

So Rungsted was indeed the chosen representative for Denmark this year but the IIHF opposed that move as the team didn't win the Metal Cup...

http://www.faceoff.dk/iihf-saaede-tv...ntinental-cup/

Not sure why such a decision, considering Poland's GKS Katowice didn't win anything either... I can only assume they would have prefered Herning... Still, I think it's a bad move...

katowice lost in the polish league finals, which means they can play in CC as polish champion has spot in the CHL.

[Ciremya]

katowice lost in the polish league finals, which means they can play in CC as polish champion has spot in the CHL.

Same scenario in Denmark where the champion gets a CHL spot as well... Sure Herning was the playoffs finalist and Rungsted finished only third but that was the pick the Danish NA went with so why not... especially when another club will line up a totally different team from the one who got the qualification in the first place...

[ElTres]

From what I understand, the CC spot in Denmark is given to the Cup winner. Herning won the cup, but also won the championship, so they gave the spot to the cup finalist Rungstedt. Makes sense to me.