Welcome again to the preview of the next Steelers games.
This weekend sees the Steelers take a much needed break from domestic action as they travel out to Belarus to compete in the Super Final of the 2017-18 Continental Cup; the same trophy won by the Bears down the road last season in Italy. The reward is huge if the Steelers manage to upset the odds, a place back in the Champions Hockey League. We are clearly the underdogs in the Final, but when least expected the boys can pull it out and rip up the form book.
We start the competition at 7:00pm Belarusian time on Friday, which is three hours ahead of GMT, to face this time to start with:
Nomad Astana are the team that won the other semi-final held in Ritten, Italy and present a huge opening task for Paul Thompson's team. The team is a feeder team to Barys Astana who play in the KHL, and qualified for this season's Continental Cup by winning the end of season play-offs in the Kazakhstani League despite finishing third in the regular season. This season they are leading the league, and with an average of just 22 years old per squad member will undoubtedly be fast and quick in attack.
After the opening game we are back in action on Saturday, again at 7pm Belarusian time. The opponents on Saturday night are the hosts:
On home ice, Yunost are most people's favourites to win the tournament. They caught us incredibly cold in Rungsted and clinically dispatched us 7-1 there with Robert Dowd scoring our sole strike. Therefore we will be well versed in their systems and should know what to expect when we lock horns again on Saturday. It would be nice to exact a bit of revenge results-wise this time out and if we can get a result from this and from Friday's game then we could be in a very good position for the final game.
The final game sees Steelers play in the early game for the only time in this round robin tournament, this means a face off at 3pm Belarusian time or 12 noon GMT. We play these last of all:
It's the Italians Ritten Renon, who these days play in the Alps Hockey League as opposed to Serie A ice hockey. The game will be the first time the two sides have ever met, but Ritten do have an indirect Steelers relationship. They are the team that former Steelers and GB forward Ashley Tait had a productive spell with in 2009-10 after two seasons in Sheffield before re-joining the Steelers in 2010-11. Also at Ritten that season was Greg "Juice" Jacina who iced for the Panthers as recently as 2014-15. Depending how we have performed in the two previous games, this could be either a dead rubber game or one where a lot is at stake.
Personally I don't think we will be successful, but I'll gladly be proven wrong. Now if we had held this tournament on our own ice, then I would have been a little bit more hopeful. Finishing 3rd would be my prediction as I think we are considerably better than Ritten. Yunost are my pick to take the sandwich tray home with them. How about you?
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