Devils face Bruleurs de Loups for Continental Cup glory

Cardiff Devils' Zach O'Brien scored twice against GKS Katowice

The opening game of the Continental Cup saw Cardiff Devils sweep aside GKS Katowice with an impressive 6-3 victory at the Vindico Arena.

Cardiff are now one win from becoming only the second British side to collect a European trophy.

After a breathless first period it remained goalless despite the Devils' 18 shots on target, compared to Katowice's eight.

After 40 seconds of the second period Katowice took the lead against the run of play through Canadian forward Jean Dupuy.

Cardiff levelled on the 24-minute mark after Josh MacDonald pounced on a spilled Joey Martin shot, and Reid Duke's goal gave the Devils a first lead of the game just before the halfway mark.

On 33 minutes the Devils went 3-1 up with a goal from Great Britain forward Brett Perlini, and less than a minute later Zach O'Brien scored Cardiff's fourth.

Cole Sanford scored the Devils' fifth goal of the second period, assisted by Gleason Fournier, as Cardiff put the game beyond Katowice.

Two third-period goals from Katowice forward Bartosz Fraszko gave the scoreline a more respectable look, while O'Brien's second finished off the scoring for Cardiff.

The hugely dominant display over the seven-time Polish champions will boost Cardiff's hopes of lifting their first ever European trophy.

Having finished third in the second-tier European tournament for the last two years, victory over French side Bruleurs de Loups on Sunday will guarantee Devils the 2025 Continental Cup title.

Bruleurs de Loups beat GKS Katowice in a shootout on Saturday evening to set up the winner-takes-all clash on Sunday.

IIHF Continental Cup 2025 final round matches

Thursday, 16 January:

Cardiff Devils 6-3 GKS Katowice

Saturday, 18 January:

Bruleurs de Loups 3-2 GKS Katowice (Shootout)

Sunday, 19 January:

Cardiff Devils v Bruleurs de Loups (18:00 GMT)