The 2025 IIHF Continental Cup continues this weekend with second-round tournaments in Italy´s Ritten and Brasov, Romania.

In the round-robin format of the 2025 IIHF Continental Cup, the top-placed team from each group advances to the penultimate stage of the tournament. Round 3 is scheduled for 15-17 November 2024.

Here is what to look out for during Round 2.

Group C

• Acroni Jesenice (SLO)
• Sokil Kyiv (UKR)
• KHL Sisak (CRO)
• Rittner Buam (ITA)

Site: Ritten Arena, Ritten, Italy

Following a five-year hiatus, Rittner Buam returns to fight for Continental Cup glory. Just as in the 2018 competiion, the reigning Alps Hockey League (AlpsHL) and Italian champions hope home advantage can propel them into the next round. With Jamie Russell as the new head coach, the hosts will square off against familiar faces, as Jesenice and Sisak are AlpsHL rivals.

Veteran Rittner Buam forward Marco Insam, who skated for Italy at the World Championship last spring has enjoyed a spirited start to the season. Team captain Simon Kostner and Markus Spinell are set to skate in their sixth Continental Cup campaigns for the hosts.

Acroni Jesenice will travel across the border with unfinished Continental Cup business. During their most recent visit to Ritten Arena, they suffered a devasting 6-1 defeat against the hosts in the second round of the 2019 Continental Cup. With six all-time appearances in this tournament, the Slovenian steelmen enjoyed their biggest success two seasons ago in the third round.

Seeking a return to those heights, coach Niko Eronen´s team has already edged group C rivals KHL Sisak 3-2 in extra time in league play this season. A key member this weekend is Acroni Jesenice netminder Zan Us, who most recently played for Slovenia at the Final Olympic Qualification Group E in Riga, Latvia.

A behemoth in the Continental Cup, Sokil Kyiv enters its 16th tournament stint. Last season was a tough go as the Ukrainians exited in the second round following two defeats. Crowned Ukrainian champions for the past three seasons, Oleh Shafarenko´s crew arrive in Italy desperately short of competitive action. Several key players represented Ukraine during the Final Olympic Qualification Group E, including Viktor Zakharov, Denis Borodai, and Vadym Mazur. Expect national team goalie duo Bohdan Dyachenko and Oleh Petrov to be busy this weekend.

Coinciding with hockey celebrating its 90th anniversary in Sisak, 2024 marks a new exciting chapter for Croatian hockey. Having thundered through the previous round of the Continental Cup last month, KHL Sisak has since made a flying start to their inaugural season as the first Croatian team competing in the AlpsHL.

Twelve members of the current Sisak roster played for Croatia in Division II Group A action last season. It includes a core group of the Croatian U20 national team that won back-to-back World Championship golds in Division II Groups B and A in just three months in 2022. Add a handful of prolific foreign scorers to the mix, such as free-scoring Australian Tyrone Bronte, and KHL Sisak appears well-equipped to ruffle a few feathers in Ritten.

Group D

• Ferencvarosi TC (HUN)
• CSM Corona Brasov (ROU)
• Energija Elektrenai (LTU)
• HK Mogo (LAT)

Site: Olympic Ice Hall, Brasov, Romania

Loaded with experience from representing Latvia at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships and  the Olympics, HK Mogo travels to Transylvania as the top seeds.

Players such as the remarkable 43-year-old blueliner Krisjanis Redlihs, Kristaps Sotnieks and team captain Gints Meija are all in the twilight stages of their stellar careers. Nonetheless, the reigning Latvian champions have started the season by winning nine out of 10 games against Baltic opponents in the Latvian OHL league. A tricky opener awaits in Group D versus hosts Corona Brasov, a team the Latvians beat 5-3 at this stage in the 2020 Continental Cup

Group winners in the second round last season, Ferencvarosi TC will be aiming for a repeat in very familiar surroundings. Locking horns with their fierce rivals in the Hungarian-Romanian Erste Liga, Ferencvaros finished second-best in last season´s final series against Corona Brasov. Szabolcs Fodor, now in his seventh season as head coach, has made recent wholesale changes, including the addition of Michael Keranen, one of five Finns on their roster. Injuries have so far hampered the start to the season for the Hungarian powerhouse, which also included a 5-3 loss to Brasov.

Last season, early defensive lapses versus Latvian opposition (Zemgale Jelgava) effectively sank Corona´s chances to progress from this stage of the Continental Cup. One year later, the Romanian club aims to march into the third round in their sixth outing in this competition. Head coach Dave MacQueen has a proven track record of pulling surprises out of his sleeve. The Canadian was on the bench last spring to guide Romania to a fine fourth-place finish at the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A in Bolzano, Italy. Seven members on the current Brasov roster played a key part in Romania´s surprise success.

Entering as group winners with a perfect record from the earlier round, Lithuania´s Energija Elektrenai can expect a much tougher task this weekend. National team players Tadas Kumeliauskas, Aivaras Bendzius and Dovydas Laimutis are all capable of finding the net. A question mark lingers over the roster depth with three intense games in as many days awaiting Arunas Aleinikovas´s team. The Lithuanian champion's spirited start in the Latvian OHL league also appears to have petered out of late, including two tough 7-2 losses this month against Continental Cup opponents Mogo.