Three teams have advanced to the next round from this past weekend's IIHF Continental Cup action. The Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven and HK Sanok won their respective groups, while the Belfast Giants also advance to fill the void vacated by a Ukrainian club.

News Update

The winner of this year's IIHF Continental Cup will qualify for next year's Champions Hockey League and, although there is still a long way to go, a couple of teams took a step closer to realising that dream.

In Brasov, Romania the hometown Corona Brasov fell to Polish club KH Sanok on Sunday evening in Group C's decisive game by a 4-3 score, with former NHLer Michael Danton scoring the game- and group-winning goal on the power play with just 3:30 left to play in regulation time. A single point would have been enough to see Brasov through.

In Group B, played in Bremerhaven, Germany, was won by the hometown Fischtown Penguins, who beat the Belfast Giants in the last game. Nonetheless, both teams are off to the next round, as Belfast will take the place of withdrawn Ukrainian club Kompanion Kyiv.

There are now eight teams left in the battle for the Continental Cup, although only seven are eligible to win - Bremerhaven cannot advance past the third round, due to a CHL rule that does not allow teams that do not play in their country's highest league. Bremerhaven plays in DEL2, Germany's second-highest league.

The next round of games will take place 21 - 23 November. Group D, which will be played in Ritten, Italy, will consist of host Ritten Sport, Bremerhaven, the Herning Blue Fox from Denmark and Yertis Pavlodar from Kazakhstan. Group E will be played in Angers, France, and will include the host Angers Ducs, Sanok, Belfast and Neman Grodno of Belarus. The top two teams in each of those groups will advance to the Super Final, to be played 9 - 11 January.