After Unia Oświęcim shined in the Champions Hockey League, it was GKS Katowice’s turn in the Continental Cup. The Continental Cup is an annual club hockey competition featuring champions and runner up squads from the mid and lower tier leagues of Europe. This year’s semi-final round featured clubs from Denmark, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom.

GKS Katowice had prequalified for the semi-final round, where they would face other pre-qualifiers the Aalborg Pirates (Host, Metal Ligaen) and Brûleurs de Loups (Ligue Magnus) in Group F. For the final spot, Romanian club CSM Corona Brasov (Erste Liga) qualified after winning a quarterfinal round.

Games:

Nov. 15 | GKS Katowice vs. CSM Corona Brasov: 9-2 W

Nov. 16 | GKS Katowice vs. Brûleurs de Loups: 2-4 L

Nov. 17 | Aalborg Pirates vs. GKS Katowice: 1-4 W

The tournament started with a huge 9-2 win over the back-to-back Romanian champions. Twelve Katowice skaters got at least a point in the opening match, with Patryk Wronka leading the way recording four points (1G-3A-4PTS). In game two, Katowice would fall to their French opponent after blowing a 2-1 first period lead. It was a strong effort from star goalie John Murray who stopped 38 out of 42 shots. With how the rest of the tournament fell GKS Katowice’s chances to advance were slim. The club would need a big win over the host to see a few tiebreakers fall their way. A quick start would see three goals in the first five minutes with GKS Katowice coming out on top 2-1. After a scoreless second period, Katowice needed to score multiple goals in the third or see their tournament end prematurely. Polish national team stars Bartosz Fraszko and Patryk Wronka would find the back of the net, resulting in a 4-1 final that gave Katowice the standings tiebreaker by a single goal.

It is always interesting to see Polish clubs take on teams from around Europe, especially to see how Polish players fare. National team stars Grzegorz Pasiut and Patryk Wronka tied for the lead in scoring at the tournament with seven points a piece. Bartosz Fraszko and longtime THL import Jean Dupuy both were apart of the five way goal scoring lead tie with thee goals. John Murray finished second in the group with a .902 save percentage, but it was his backup, Michal Kieler, who stole the show on the final day with 34 saves in the final game.

With Katowice taking first place in the group, Brûleurs de Loups took the second. Over in Slovakia the other semi-final, Group E, was won by Kazak club Arlan Kokshetau (Pro Hokey Ligasy) and the UK’s Cardiff Devils (Elite Ice Hockey League). The four teams that earned promotion will compete against each other in one more round robin tournament from January 16th to the 19th. The host country will be determined among the four remaining clubs.

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