Rittner Buam are already looking at the Continental Cup

Ritten wants to make history in Minsk and be the first Italian team ever to win the Continental Cup. Milan achieved their best result so far in 2002, when the Lombards came second behind the ZSC Lions. In last year's final in Klobenstein, the Buam had to be content with fourth place. The winner of this tournament will also take part in the Champions Hockey League 4.

Stamler and Jean back again

Ritten can again rely on Canadian defender Bretton Stamler and US attacker Kyle Jean in the final. Both players were already on the squad in the semi-finals of the Continental Cup and in the AHL. However, Stamler will miss the first final game as he was suspended for one game after a match penalty in the last semi-final game against Miskolc.

Opening against the hosts

The Lehtonen squad always plays their matches at 15 p.m. local time (13 p.m., CET). The “Buam” will play their opening match against hosts Yunost Minsk. The 7-time Belarusian champion has already won the Continental Cup twice, in 2007 and 2011. Coach Mikhail Zakharov's club is currently in second place in the "Extraleague" and has only lost once in 20 competitive games. Yunost's star player is Belarusian Viktor Turkin. The 28-year-old center is having a very strong season and has already scored 43 points (16 goals and 27 assists). Yunost is a very experienced team. The Canadian Daniel Corso has 77 NHL appearances (25 points), another fifteen players also played in the Russian KHL. In addition to 31 Belarusians, Yunost has two Russians as well as a Canadian, a Ukrainian and a Slovenian in its squad. In mid-November, Yunost came top of the group ahead of English champions Sheffield in the second Continental Cup semi-final in Rungsted, Denmark.

The following day Ritten will face Nomad Astana. The two teams already know each other from the semi-finals in Klobenstein, where the Kazakhs won 3-1. Nomad Astana is a very young club, as it was only founded ten years ago and has been taking part in the Kazakh championship since the 2013/14 season. In the first three KHC seasons, Astana always failed in the quarter-finals, and last year the club became champions for the first time. In addition to 18 Kazakhs, the team also includes 15 Russians. Twelve players have KHL experience. The team's most famous player is 30-year-old Kazakh-Russian defender Artemi Lakiza with his 124 KHL games. The Kazakhs have a very young team, with an average age of 22,64 years they are the youngest team in the final round.

The third and final game against the Sheffield Steelers is on Sunday, January 14th. The English champions qualified for the final as second in the group, but clearly lost the direct duel against Yunost Minsk with 1:7 goals. Coach Paul Thompson's cracks are taking part in the Continental Cup final for the second time after finishing third in 2010. The crowd favorite in Sheffield is the Brit Robert Dowd, who scored an impressive 400 points in exactly 337 games with the “Steelers”. The 23-member squad consists of 70% foreigners. In addition to seven local players, Thompson also has seven Canadians, three Swedes, three Americans and one Latvian, Welsh and Finnish at his disposal. At 28,83 years, Sheffield is also the oldest team in the final.

Continental Cup in Minsk from January 12th to 14th, 2018

Friday, January 12th 13 p.m.*: Rittner Buam - Yunost Minsk 17 p.m.*: Nomad Astana - Sheffield Steelers

Saturday, January 13th 13 p.m.*: Nomad Astana - Rittner Buam 17 p.m.*: Yunost Minsk - Sheffield Steelers

Sunday, January 14st 13 p.m.*: Sheffield Steelers - Rittner Buam 17 p.m.*: Yunost Minsk - Nomad Astana

*Central European Time

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Rittner Buam are already looking at the Continental Cup

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